Superstars in the traditional sense do not define the 2022-23 Oregon Ducks, but that doesn't mean coach Kelly Graves' squad is shining any less bright compared to recent campaigns. In fact, as Oregon embarks on the challenging San Diego Invitational, the whole of the Ducks' parts could prove championship worthy. 

Sensational Sabrina Ionescu commanded the national spotlight as leader of Oregon basketball a few years ago, guiding the Ducks to a Final Four in 2019. Replacing the do-everything guard in 2020 would have been a tall task for any program, say nothing of one competing in the stacked Pac-12. 

After advancing to the Sweet 16 in 2021, Oregon indeed discovered the challenge of competing for a Final Four every March with last season's 1st-Round exit against Belmont. But heading into the 2022-23 campaign, the Ducks had every reason to anticipate making run akin to its 2019 postseason, culminating in the championship weekend where league counterparts Arizona and Stanford advanced the previous two tournaments. 

A central piece to Oregon's aspirations coming into this season — central in a quite literal sense — was to be 6-foot-7 Sedona Prince. But an elbow injury sustained just weeks before tipoff created another void in the Ducks lineup. 

While not quite comparable to replacing Ionescu, Prince's sudden removal from the rotation challenged the Ducks to once again fill a key player's role heading into a season. So far, Oregon has done that admirably. 

UO heads to the San Diego Invitational one of three participants ranked in the AP Top 25 along with opening-day opponent Arkansas and Ohio State. The fourth member of the field, USF, is an always-tough out and the likely class of the American Athletic Conference, giving the field in America's Finest City a quartet all capable of advancing past the first weekend of this season's NCAA Tournament. 

The team that emerges from the San Diego Invitational undefeated will have the launching pad into conference play and beyond necessary to build momentum for a Final Four run. And why not Oregon? 

The Ducks may not have another Sabrina Ionescu, who Graves half-jokingly called a "superhero" at Pac-12 media day in October. But Oregon has filled the void left since the generational talent's departure for a standout WNBA career with one of the most effectively balanced team identities in college basketball. 

All five Oregon starters average at least 9.8 points per game, the baseline mark set by center Phillipina Kyei. Kyei has stepped into the middle where Prince would have played and been outstanding for the Ducks on offense with a 51.6 percent field-goal percentage, tops among the starting five; on the glass with a team-high 10.1 rebounds per game; and defensively with 10 blocked shots in eight games. 

Chance Gray and Te-Hina Paopao have each shot the 3-pointer effectively, contributing to one of the most efficient offenses in all of college basketball. 

Grace VanSlooten does a little of everything, scoring efficiently, distributing the ball for more than assists per game, and both generating takeaways and blocking shots on defense. 

And then there's Endiya Rogers. 

It's fair to deem Oregon as being a team without a superstar in the traditional sense — the Ducks had no preseason All-American, no one among the nation's top 150 scorers. Heck, leading scorer Rogers barely cracks the top 200 scorers in Div. I. 

But true hardwood legends emerge in March when the spotlight's the brightest and stakes the highest. And Rogers has the potential to be a postseason hero. 

She scored 34 points against Pac-12 rival Oregon State, one week before the Ducks are set to tip off the San Diego Invitational. 

"We're gonna win this game," Rogers said following her breakout showing, per GoDucks.com. "No matter what I have to do, no matter what we have to do, we're going to win the game."

Graves cited Rogers' scoring when Oregon "needed it most," reflecting the clutch potential the guard brings to a balanced rotation. 

At just under 15 points per game and distributing around four assists per game, Rogers has been key to the Ducks offense. She's a name to know as the season progresses and March Madness approaches. 

Until then, however, Oregon is winning without a clear superstar. It's a somewhat new formula for the program, but it could produce unprecedented results.