Dana Altman has a great incoming recruiting class at Oregon, but he won’t have a five-star big man from his previous recruiting class. Big man Kel’el Ware, who simply didn’t fit comfortably with the Ducks this past season, announced that he would enter the transfer portal and not the NBA draft. The move underscores the extent to which Altman — a coach with an excellent track record of making disparate pieces fit on a roster — has simply swung and missed in each of his last two seasons in Eugene.

Ducks Wire has more on the story:

“Ware, the former No. 7 overall prospect in the 2022 recruiting class, was initially believed to be a lottery pick in the 2023 NBA draft,” Zachary Neel wrote, “but after a freshman season in Eugene where he did not see the production that was expected, he will decided to stick it out for one more season in college at least before making the leap.

“’I am incredibly thankful for my freshman season at Oregon,’ said Ware, via 247Sports. ‘Sincere thanks to Coach Altman and the entire coaching staff for believing in me and helping me grow, both as a player and person. I will take the lessons that I have learned on and off the court this season into this next chapter. And to Ducks Nation and most importantly, my teammates: thank you for embracing me into the Oregon family.’”

“Ware played just 15.8 minutes a game, averaging 6.6 points and 4.1 rebounds per game.”