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Oregon lands Detroit transfer guard Jason Calliste

NIT Detroit Arizona St Basketball

Detroit’s Ray McCallum, left, and Jason Calliste strip the ball from Arizona State’s Evan Gordon (10) during the first half of their first-round game in the NIT college basketball tournament, Wednesday, March 20, 2013, in Tempe, Ariz. (AP Photo/The Arizona Republic, David Kadlubowski) MARICOPA COUNTY OUT; MAGS OUT; NO SALES

AP

During Dana Altman’s tenure in Eugene, the Oregon program’s had some good luck with one-year transfers. Last season Arsalan Kazemi led the Pac-12 in rebounding and helped lead the Ducks to their first Sweet 16 appearance since 2007. The hope for the 2013-14 season is that three such newcomers can help Oregon repeat last season’s performance.

As first reported by Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports, former Detroit guard Jason Calliste has joined the program and will be eligible to play immediately. Calliste, who averaged 14.4 points and 3.3 assists per game as a redshirt junior last season, joins former UNLV forward Mike Moser and junior college transfer Richard Amardi as one-year transfers on Oregon’s 2013-14 roster.

Calliste joins a backcourt that includes the likes of Dominic Artis (8.5 ppg, 3.2 apg), Damyean Dotson (11.4, 3.5 apg), Johnathan Loyd (5.0, 2.6 apg) and possibly Houston transfer Joseph Young. Young, who averaged 18.0 ppg as a sophomore at Houston last season, is still awaiting word in regards to his request for an immediate eligibility waiver.

If Young’s request is granted the Ducks will have one of the best perimeter rotations in the Pac-12. But if not, thanks to the addition of Calliste Oregon should still be fine in this area.

The question for Oregon as they look to repeat as Pac-12 tournament champions (while also improving their regular season standing in the conference) is how they go about accounting for the graduation of four of their top five rebounders from 2012-13. Waverly Austin (2.7 rpg) returns for his senior campaign, and he along with Amardi, Moser (averaged 6.1 rpg in 2012-13 and 10.5 rpg in 2011-12) and sophomore Ben Carter (2.3 rpg) will need to carry the load on the glass.

And given the interior talent that some of the other contenders in the Pac-12 currently possess, rebounding could be the deciding factor as to whether or not Oregon can win the conference.

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