For countless women’s basketball fans, the magical years of Sabrina Ionescu and the rise of the University of Oregon dynasty were fascinating and riveting. To them, the sun may have risen in the East but the day didn’t start until Sabrina rose in the West.
From 2017 through 2020, the Ducks of Sabrina were 97-12 and generally considered national champions of the crisis-cancelled championship tournament of 2020.
Sabrina was the prime Duck. The prime mover. The primary reason Oregon dominated. She shattered more records than most of us knew existed and her record for triple-doubles was so overwhelming that it’s hard to imagine it will ever be broken.
Perhaps just as important as her effect on Oregon basketball is the question of why she chose Oregon in the first place. She had offers from every major program in America, so why Oregon?
In her own words, Sabrina said that the difference between Oregon and the others came down to one person: Oregon associate head coach Mark Campbell.
She explained that Campbell had been recruiting her since she was in the seventh grade. “Just always seeing him at my games and seeing that familiar face in the crowd helped, and then obviously as I got older, talking to him… all of that helped.”
Campbell had only been the associate head coach and handed the keys to the UO recruiting machine seven months earlier so signing Ionescu so soon turned a lot of heads in the basketball world.
Head coach Kelly Graves recognized Campbell as a winner and said of his associate, “He’s a tireless worker and a tremendous recruiter.”
As Sabrina’s senior season was beginning in 2019, Oregon made another astounding announcement. The Ducks had just recruited five Gatorade All Americans and locked up the number one recruiting class in the nation.
Three months later, Sabrina graduated.
Twelve months later, Campbell resigned.
Twelve months later, all five Gatorade All Americans had transferred away.
Campbell left Oregon to become the head coach at Sacramento State, a move that stymied basketball analysts who believed he could have held out for a better opportunity.
Fans familiar with the Sac State program scratched their heads. CSUS had finished its season with only three wins, the program hadn’t won more than ten games in nearly a decade, and it had never been to the NCAA tournament.
My thoughts were exactly the opposite. I was ecstatic.
The Hornets’ point guard and top scorer was one of my former travel ball players. I had been watching Jazmin Carrasco play basketball since she was seven years old. I have vivid memories of her first game, sitting with her fabulous family and watching the kid score 25 of her team’s 27 points. She was small, but she was deadly.
I was overjoyed that she would have a coach with the success and high character of Mark Campbell.
In his first season at Sac State, Campbell tripled the program’s wins from the year before. In his second year, he led the Hornets to the Big Sky Conference title and last March, they received the program’s first ever NCAA tournament bid.
The Hornets were pummeled by UCLA in the first round of that tournament, but losing to his good friend, UCLA head coach Cori Close, softened the loss as did winning a school record 25 games.
Two days after that loss, Campbell was named the new head coach at TCU, a program that had been 14-47 the previous two seasons and 3-33 in two years of Big 12 Conference play.
Campbell went to work with recruiting and getting his players conditioned and unified. All of that paid off when the Horned Frogs won their first 14 games this season and were ranked 23rd in the nation at the end of calendar year 2023.
The new calendar year has come with a tougher schedule and on January 6th, Campbell lost his 6’7” starting center, former Duck Sedona Prince, who broke her finger and is out indefinitely.
Although replacing her 21 points and 11 rebounds per game will be difficult, the Horned Frogs should win at least six more games, get at least 20 wins, and receive their first invitation to the NCAA tournament in more than a decade.
The Oregon Ducks haven’t fared as well in recent years and fan blogs have become more vocal with discontentment of coach Graves. Discontent is understandable. After all, humans are 90% water so we’re basically just cucumbers with anxiety.
But, I think it is too soon to jettison a coach who has won more than 70% of his games despite having to rebuild two abysmal programs and has endured the loss of Ionescu, Campbell, and all five of those Gatorade All Americans.
Also, I am seeing solid signs that this program is beginning to rise once again.
For example, last year’s recruiting class consisted of Sofia Bell, Sammie Wagner, and Sarah Rambus. All three of those players were in the top 70 of ESPN’s national rankings which is evidence that Oregon is adjusting to recruiting without Campbell.
All three of those freshmen have made it clear that they are no nonsense players with strong work ethics.
Bell became an instant starter and is third on the team in minutes played. She averages seven points per game. But, it is her energy on defense that earns her playing time. She leads the Ducks in steals and she’s third in blocked shots. Clearly, when you open Bell’s lunch pail, you’ll find grit and tenacity.
If Sarah Rambus played as many minutes, she would have a double-digit scoring average. She already has the team’s third-best field goal percentage. She would be second in rebounding and she would lead the team in blocked shots. Rambus is extraordinarily athletic and accustomed to floor burns.
Wagner has been working on defense and is just now getting on the court in meaningful minutes. Here’s something you may have missed this past weekend against Arizona State. Wagner came up with one rebound for each minute she was on the court! Think about that. Protracted over the course of a game, that’s 40 rebounds! You don’t get rebounds unless you do the energy work — body-up, spring to the ball, and out-wrestle your opponent.
Two years ago, before the Gatorade Five transferred away, Graves complained, “I think at times our players have acted and performed entitled.” You won’t hear him say that about this year’s group because these kids are hard boiled, hard nosed, and hard hatted.
Although some cucumber fans want Graves gone now, I think he has earned some patience and a chance to continue to mold what appears to be a very special group of young players.
But, suppose the cucumbers win and Graves is gone. Is there any reason we should believe that Mark Campbell would give up what he has at TCU and come back to the Ducks?
Absolutely.
Campbell was born in the Northwest (Mt. Vernon, WA). He started his college playing career in Oregon at Clackamas Community College. His first coaching “gig” was also at Clackamas CC. His first, big time college assistant coaching position was at Oregon State. His first associate head coaching position was at Oregon.
He married Ashley Smith.
Who?
Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten. Ashley Smith was an All American point guard at Oregon City High School and one of the top recruits in the nation before signing with Vanderbilt. While at Vanderbilt, she led the entire SEC in assists — as a pure freshman.
Once finished in Nashville, Ashley returned to Oregon whereupon she and Campbell were married.
Both of their families still reside in the Northwest. If you don’t think that is important to Campbell’s return then you are underestimating the power of grandparents.
TCU is an excellent fit for Campbell, but the facilities, brand name, and family ties of Oregon are more than enough reasons to think he would indeed come back.
Be assured, all it will take is a call.
In the meantime, don’t be a cucumber.
Savvy Game Line 