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The Oregon Ducks’ road sweep in the elevation of the Rocky Mountains seems to have impressed the decision-makers a little bit more than we expected. Just days after completing a sweep on their mountain road trip to Colorado and Utah, the Ducks saw a big bump in ESPN’s latest version of ‘Bracketology.’
Joe Lunardi, who updates his NCAA Tournament predictions weekly, now has the Ducks projected to be a No. 10 seed, fitting in the group of ‘Last 4 Byes’ rather than ‘Last 4 In.’
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As a 10-seed, the Ducks are currently predicted to see 7-seed LSU in the first round of the tournament.
With a 15-7 record, Oregon currently sits at No. 2 in the Pac-12 and should feel confident going forward. They have a 9-game stretch coming up over the next month that features a number of winnable games against the likes of Stanford, Cal, Washington, and Washington State. At the end of the month, things could get tough, with games against Arizona, USC, and UCLA, all of whom are ranked inside the top-25. Two of those games, fortunately, come at home, with Oregon traveling to McKale Center to play the Wildcats.
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Should the Ducks find a way to get out of this next stretch with at least 6-7 wins, there should be no doubt that they make it into March Madness with a decent seed next to their name. If more stumbles are in the future, though, it could be major crunch time when the Pac-12 tournament comes around in early March.
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