Oregon Ducks Dodge the Bronny James Circus
By STEVEN VAUGHAN, 750 THE GAME
Bronny James has finally made a decision.
His decision is to stay in Los Angeles and attend USC.
Oregon was considered to be among the finalists for Bronny, along with Ohio State.
John Canzano, however, thinks James is a better fit at USC than he would have been in Eugene.
“I think it was really good for USC to get Bronny James,” Canzano said on 750 The Game. “I actually think it’s better for USC than it would have been for Oregon.
“I think down deep, Oregon had mixed feelings about Bronny. And I’m not saying that because I live in the state of Oregon and I work in the state of Oregon. I’m saying that because Bronny James staying in LA where he can be the next LeBron is way more important to his family and it makes more sense.”
Canzano says Dana Altman left clues with his end-of-season comments about the type of player he wants at Oregon, and a player like Bronny James may not fit those descriptors.
“If we’re listening to Dana Altman and what he said at the end of last season, about getting back to the kinds of players who are going to be in the gym at 6 a.m. in the morning — he even mentioned junior college players who are hungrier.
“I just think the whole Bronny side-show with bodyguards, entourage, and a documentary film crew flies in the face of where Dana Altman wants to correct.”
Altman has been in the mix for a lot of top recruits but Canzano said something that the Oregon coach recently told him.
“He wants to get away from the one-and-done circus, the club mentality,” Canzano said. “I think he wants the best player — and he told me this — the best player who will get his butt in the gym and work hard.”
It remains to be seen how Bronny will handle college basketball. Andy Enfield and USC bring back a lot of returning talent and welcome a lot of new talent, including Bronny, who is not a certainty to be a starting guard from day one.
But we know the Oregon Ducks won’t be a part of the Bronny James business.
Listen to the segment at 20:00 in the podcast below. Catch the Bald Faced Truth with John Canzano afternoons 3-6 p.m. in Portland exclusively on 750 The Game.
