Up, down, up, down. Now that the 2013-14 Oregon basketball season has come to a close, the only thing missing from this roller-coaster ride is a picture of Dana Altman with his hands flailing in the air.

Young will anchor Oregon's offense next season â€“ if he returns to Eugene.

The Ducks began the season as a trendy pick to challenge Arizona at the top of the Pac-12 conference and even a dark horse Final Four pick for some. Through the first two months of the schedule, they certainly played the part.

Oregon began their season not only on the road, but on another continent. Participating in the 2013 Armed Forces Classic, the Ducks took on the Georgetown Hoyas in front of members of the U.S. Army at Camp Humphreys in South Korea.

Led by transfer guards Joseph Young and Jason Calliste, Oregon dispatched of the Hoyas and ran through their non-conference schedule without a loss. The team played their first nine games without sophomore contributors Dominic Artis and Ben Carter as they served suspensions for selling their team-issued shoes.

Even without Artis and Carter, the Ducks were able to pour on the points, leading the nation in scoring at one point in time. It seemed like a different Duck rose to the occasion each time out on the court, maybe because that's exactly what happened.

Young led the Ducks with 24 points against Georgetown. UNLV transfer Mike Moser scored 24 against Ole Miss while senior guard Johnathan Loyd had a career night with 23 points and 15 assists. For Oregon's first crack at BYU, Calliste carried the team with 31 points and a 13-13 performance from the free throw line.

Oregon entered January at 12-0 and ranked 10th in the nation. Ready and raring to begin Pac-12 play, nobody could have predicted what was in store.

After a last-second steal and dunk bailed Oregon out of an overtime battle with Utah, the Ducks took their first loss of the season against Colorado. Then they took their second, third, fourth, and fifth.

By the end of January, Oregon had gone from 10th in the country to 10th in their own conference and looked to be in dire straits. All of a sudden, the Ducks couldn't score nor defend.

Calliste set a new Oregon record for 3 point percentage and pump-fake fouls.

The team's points-per-possession dropped by .07 over the month while opponents' rose by .05. Those may be tiny numbers, but multiply it out by the Ducks' average of 71 possessions per game, and they aren't so tiny anymore.

As the calendar turned to January to February, the situation turned only bleaker. Oregon had golden opportunities against UCLA and the Arizona schools yet lost all three games by just two points. Now the Ducks were not only sliding further off the map, they were doing it in heartbreaking fashion.

Sitting at 3-8 in the Pac-12 and 15-8 overall, the discussion surrounding the team was about if the team had completely collapsed and who was at fault. Inside the locker room however, the team still believed.

Altman said multiple times that the schedule was about to turn in the Ducks' favor and Loyd said after the win over Oregon State that the team was about to go on a run. Analysts figured that Oregon needed to win at least five of their last seven games to have even a prayer of making the NCAA Tournament, if not more.

The Ducks then proceeded to make Loyd look like a prophet and ripped off an eight-game winning streak, beating UCLA and both Arizona schools the second time around en route to earning a seven seed in the Big Dance.

The wins didn't come easy and weren't always pretty. Facing a UCLA team down star guards Kyle Anderson and Jordan Adams, Oregon stumbled down the stretch and allowed a desperation shot by David Wear to force a pair of overtimes. Against Arizona State, the Ducks raced out to a 15-0 lead before the Sun Devils closed to within 58-54 in the second half.

Wins are wins though, and Oregon finished the regular season with a statement. The Ducks triumphed over third-ranked Arizona in Eugene for the second straight season, punching their ticket to the NCAA Tournament in style. What had once seemed a given, then improbable, had finally come to fruition.

Selection Sunday came and brought Oregon a dream draw in the process. The selection committee granted a rematch with BYU and a neutral site in Milwaukee. Without guard Kyle Collinsworth this time around, the Cougars were up against it from the start and the Ducks moved on to face second-seeded Wisconsin. The win marked the first time in program history that Oregon won NCAA Tournament games in consecutive trips to the Dance.

After racing out to a 49-37 halftime lead over the Badgers, Wisconsin roared back behind their home-state crowd to regain the lead. Senior Ben Brust traded blows down the stretch with Oregon's Young, but it was Brust who landed the knockout blow and ended the Ducks' season.

Oregon finished 2013-14 with a 24-10 record and more importantly a foundation for the future. As Altman transitions the rebuilt program from reliance on transfers to self-sufficiency, so to returns the chance for national relevance.

With games against Illinois, Ole Miss and two of VCU, Michigan, and Villanova, the Ducks will have ample opportunity to build their resume and solidify their spot among the elites of the resurgent Pac-12 scene.

Continue reading below for individual player grades.