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Oregon may not have a commitment from 2014 power forward Ray Kasongo (UPDATED)

kasongo

(UPDATE: After the news broke on Wednesday night that Kasongo had picked the Ducks over UConn, the big man tweeted out the following:

I am still undecided, and haven’t made a commitment yet. I need more time to think about this and will decide where I go later on this week.

— Ray Kasongo (@RayKasongo32) October 3, 2013

Maybe Kasongo isn’t committed to Oregon after all. Stay tuned.)

At the conclusion of the 2013-14 season the Oregon Ducks will lose three front court upperclassmen in Richard Amardi, Waverly Austin and Mike Moser. This fact means that the Ducks, who would return Ben Carter and Jordan Bell (and Arik Armstead, who’s a member of the Ducks’ football team), needed to land some more interior muscle for its 2014 recruiting class.

On Wednesday evening head coach Dana Altman received a verbal commitment from 6-foot-9 power forward Ray Kasongo, who chose the Ducks over UConn according to multiple outlets. UConn, which received a commitment from Buford, Ga. power forward Rakim Lubin on Monday, was looking to land a second 2014 power forward within a three-day span.

Kasongo joins point guard Casey Benson and wing Dwayne Benjamin in Oregon’s 2014 class. A native of Canada, Kasongo currently attends Phase 1 Academy in Phoenix and has the athletic ability needed to be an impact player for the Ducks when he arrives on campus next summer.

And that’s important given the aforementioned roster issues for the Ducks at the end of this season. Bell has yet to play a college game, and Carter posted averages of 2.4 points and 2.3 rebounds per game as a freshman last season. Carter played an average of just 10.4 minutes per game in 2012-13, a number that’s likely to rise given the fact that Arsalan Kazemi and Tony Woods are no longer a part of the front court rotation.

But it should be noted that under Altman the Ducks have enjoyed success when it comes to recruiting transfers, and given the rising number of players who seek “greener pastures” thanks to possibilities such as the graduate student waiver many have taken advantage of there may be additional options from which to choose next spring.

Follow @raphiellej