text: If I'm being "glass half full" in the spirit of the holiday season, I'd say the Ducks playing almost all their remaining non-conference games at home is good, but so is them being dropped in the rankings, to #23 in the new AP ranking. The highest ranking Pac-12 team is UCLA at #11. Hopefully, the preseason hype is all but a faint memory and the team can just bear down and focus on being more efficient on team defense, shot selection, transition, etc.
  
  I appreciate Altman's candor and specificity about his team's performance and letting the public know. In the report above, he discusses Brooks' performance as he returned from his injury, and the need for Bigby-Williams and Smith to be better and earn more playing time to improve the team's depth, and pointing out Dorsey's improved footwork on shots. By the way, this level of info is what we the fans never got from Helfrich. It's a bit ironic that he is now faced with not knowing his own fate because the AD hasn't given him any info.