The Sports Brewery

Pack the Pit: Stand and salute Tajuan Porter

Posted on 06. Mar, 2010 at 5:30 am by Kinger in Oregon Ducks Basketball, PAC-10 Basketball

It’s senior day at the Pit.

A farewell to not only the old building (well, sort of) but the last glimpse at Tajuan Porter.

Porter, the diminutive guard out of Detroit who has gone from media darling as a freshman in the run to the Elite Eight, a ‘chucker’ as a soph, to a bulls-eye for fans frustrations his last two years.

It is true, statistically this year is Porter’s worst as a Duck. As he has posted career worsts in points per game, minutes played, assists, field goal percentage and three point percentage. But, at a certain point, is anyone surprised? At 5’6”, to say TP is limited in the Pac10, would be an understatement.

Limited as the first-option, certainly. But, how much of that is his fault?

As a freshman, with Aaron Brooks carrying the load and TP as the 4th or 5th option, we saw him thrive.

His sophmore year, making the NCAA’s while deferring to Malik, Maarty and Bryce, TP still played his role well. Even though, his role was expanded to playing the point, a role he never grew adept at or should have been put into, in a perfect world.

Thus, bringing me to my point.

Tajuan should have never been placed in the situation to be playing the point, and being the teams #1 option on offense. The blame for that lays squarely on Kent’s broad shoulders, and I bet if given truth serum, he would tell you the same. But because of misses in recruiting (namely Kamryon Brown) it happened.

And like it or not, Porter has been the only Duck the last two years that wanted anything to do with the “go-to” role. One has to give him some credit for having the chutzpah to take every single big shot (as many as last place teams can have…) and being unafraid to either shoot the Ducks into games (like he did in wins at Wazzu going for 31 after New Years or last week in scoring 29 at UCLA) or out of them  (losses to OS and ASU going 6 for 20 and 1 for 11).

As TP has no doubt become the on-court poster boy for the Ducks troubles, he keeps showing up, keeps playing hard and keeps shooting. For that, I appreciate him. As frustrating as he has been to watch at times, jacking up 40 foot three point shots, or dribbling 20 seconds off the shot clock and accomplishing nothing, I can’t help but think what his legacy would be if he was surrounded by casts akin to his first two years.

My guess, there may be a push to put his jersey in the rafters of Matt Court, and at the very least, a fan favorite for years to come. Think about it Duck fans, is TPs game really much different on the surface than that of Orlando Williams? I’m not so sure it is, but Williams is still revered for being the gunner that he was (OOOOOOOO….) while TP is admonished in most circles.

So please, pack the Pit and send Tajuan Porter out with a lengthy standing ovation, as he is the last on-court link (aside from the bit role Catron played) to winning the Pac10 tourney and marching onto the Elite Eight. Remember him for that. Remember TP for being the all-time active leading scorer in the Pac10,  the 4th all-time leading scorer in school history and as a guy this….close to becoming the league leader in career three pointers made. And now he is a victim of circumstance, and I fear he will be remembered for that.

If we can cheer Brandon Roy, surely we can blow the roof off for Tajuan. Send the Pit and TP out the right way; by shaking the rims and scoreboard one more time.

Tags: Brandon Roy, Mac Court, Oregon Ducks basketball, Tajuan Porter, The Pit