Oregon Ducks signee and Northwest Florida State College sophomore guard Chris Duarte has been selected as the NJCAA national player of the year.

The award marks the third Oregon signee to receive the prestigious honor during Dan Altman’s tenure, as Duarte joins Chris Boucher and Kavell Bigby-Williams on the esteemed list.

This season, the 6-foot-6 guard averaged 19.0 points (54 percent from the field, 40 percent from three-point range), 7.1 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 1.2 steals and 1.1 blocks a game, leading NW Florida State College to an Elite Eight appearance at the junior college level.

“Chris is everything a coach wants in a student-athlete,” NW Florida State College coach Steve DeMeo said in a news release. “He is a great student, great person and a very special basketball player. Chris has really set the bar high here at Northwest Florida for all of our future Raiders, and I look forward to watching him grow and develop at Oregon and even beyond college.”

Duarte is part of Oregon’s four-man 2019 recruiting class, which also consists of five-star small forward C.J. Walker, four-star power forward Chandler Lawson and four-star post Isaac Johnson, who is planning to take a two-year LDS Mission before returning to the fold in 2021.

The Ducks may not be done on the recruiting trail, however, as they remain firmly in the mix for consensus five-star guard and reigning McDonald’s All-American Game MVP Cole Anthony, who is considered a North Carolina lean.

Regardless of Anthony’s eventual decision, Oregon appears poised to build on this season’s surprise Sweet 16 run - even with the recent announcement from Louis King that he is declaring for the NBA draft and intends to sign with an agent - as it is projected to return much of its core.

Duarte will certainly be relied upon to bolster that returning nucleus, and has proven to be up to that task over the past season.

-- Andrew Nemec