Dana Altman loves to reminisce and offer lessons through past stories.

In fact, it’s all the Oregon men’s basketball coach did in the press conference following the Ducks’ season-ending loss to Texas A&M in the second round of the NIT on Saturday.

“I wish I had a magic wand, but I don’t,” Altman said. “I have been fortunate to have workers. Chris [Duarte] 90 percent of the time was the first one to be at practice and the last one to leave. Eugene [Omoruyi] was right behind him. Payton Pritchard before that. I had to chase Dillon [Brooks] out of the gym before a game. I told him ‘Bud, we got a game tomorrow. Get out of here.’”

Then Altman closed the press conference with a statement as anti-climactic as the Ducks season, yet much more powerful.

“I didn’t chase anybody out of the gym this year,” he said.

Four days after Altman earned win No. 300 at Oregon, one of his most frustrating seasons ended. He barely addressed the team’s woes on Saturday. Instead, he took a holistic approach, contrasting the work, or lack thereof, that his team put in throughout the season.

Ducks fans tend to hold the highest expectations for their squads. This iteration of the men’s basketball team fell short, to say the least, but the roots of the disappointment started earlier than the losses.

Oregon’s season was snakebit months before it played a meaningful game.

“We didn’t have a good summer and I really think it affected our season,” Altman said, pointing to center N’Faly Dante’s prolonged injury recovery among other factors that derailed the Ducks’ summer training regimen.

Inopportune injuries followed Oregon throughout the regular season and into the postseason. Leading scorer Will Richardson missed the last five games of the season with Mononucleosis.