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A week ago, the future of the Oregon Ducks men’s basketball team looked bright as the team was enjoying an upward trend that included wins over No. 3 UCLA and No. 5 USC, both of which came on the road. They had finally turned their season around and looked to be safe from being on the wrong side of the NCAA Tournament bubble, likely projecting to get into March Madness as one of the last 4 teams at the very worst.
Then came a loss at home to a mediocre Colorado Buffaloes team. That certainly let a bit of the air out of the balloon and had the chance to pop Oregon’s bubble.
In his latest version of Bracketology, ESPN’s Joe Lunardi looked at the landscape of college basketball and predicted what the bracket would look like should the season end today. The Ducks, who were safe in the last version of Bracketology, are now way too close to the edge for comfort. Lunardi has Oregon as the ‘Last Team In’ to the tournament.
Of course, you’d rather be part of the ‘Last Four In’ rather than the ‘First Four Out,’ but when you’re that close to the door, it makes every game a playoff game in essence, and the Ducks can’t afford any more stumbles.
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That makes the upcoming stretch for Oregon even more important than it already was. On Saturday, they will host the Oregon State Beavers, whom they beat 78-76 just a couple of weeks ago, and then they make the incredibly difficult “Mountain Road Trip” to face Colorado in Boulder, and Utah in Salt Lake City. The Ducks have never defeated the Buffaloes on the road, going 0-10 when playing Colorado in Boulder.
If they want to keep their postseason hopes alive, it’s going to take some perfect basketball over the next month, and there’s no room for error. That starts this coming week with some of the toughest games on the schedule.
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