The Pac-12 Conference might just have three teams from the men’s side in the NCAA Tournament. Right now, Arizona and Washington State are locked in and a couple of teams are on the outside.
Colorado and Oregon are two Pac-2 teams on the bubble, but the Ducks were mentioned as a loser in the latest bubble watch by Jordan Mendoza of USA Today.
Oregon may have quickly risen into NCAA Tournament consideration, but it may fall just as fast after the shellacking it took from Arizona.
One of the first teams projected to miss the tournament, the Ducks stood no chance against the Arizona buzzsaw Saturday, falling behind early and unable to pull itself out of a hole in a 103-83 defeat.
It was a tall task for Dana Altman’s team to go into Tucson and beat a Wildcats team that has only lost at home three times in the past three seasons, but a win was necessary when Oregon just entered the conversation as a fringe tournament contender. It only took 10 minutes for Arizona to build up a 17-point lead, and at one point, the Wildcats led by 28.
Not all hope is lost for Oregon; it has another Quad 1 opportunity against Colorado next week. But what happened against Arizona might hurt the Ducks too much to recover from.
Oregon is 19-10 on the year and they finish the year with games against Colorado and Utah this weekend. If they do well and make a run in the Pac-12 tournament, that could help their case.
If not, it could be a slim Pac-12 watch in the Big Dance.