Tag: oregon ducks basketball

Ducks control their destiny ahead of Washington road trip

The Oregon Ducks are among the first four teams out on Joe Lunardi’s latest bracket, but they have a good path toward getting into the dance.

The midway point of February is when college basketball teams on or around the bubble start to count the games left. Every game is important, but when the number of games left on the calendar starts to dwindle it becomes even more crucial to take care of business lest you fall into the dreaded NIT field rather than participating in the fun that is March Madness.

No team is as squarely on the bubble as Dana Altman’s Ducks, who are currently listed as the first team out on Joe Lunardi’s Bracketology report.

Fortunately for Oregon, the path forward is a relatively easy one. Oregon closes with five sub-.500 teams in Pac-12 Conference play, giving this team a golden opportunity to take care of business and push their way into the Field of 68.

If they do, they would slightly salvage what has been a disastrous hoops season for the conference of champions. Arizona and UCLA are both on the two line, but no one else from the Pac-12 is currently on the bracket. USC, who lost to Oregon and Oregon State last week, is also on the first four out line, while Utah is among the four next out.

Sending two teams to the big dance, when every other P-5 conference (and the Big East) are sending five or more, is a bad look for a conference looking to save their reputation.

The fact that UCLA and USC are among the best currently is a daunting sign for what could be to come, although at least one potential replacement will add some starpower.

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Pac-12 Power Rankings: Oregon’s big week has them back on the bubble

The Oregon Ducks moved up into the NCAA Tournament conversation after a nice week, while USC is back on the outside looking in.

The Pac-12 is trending toward having just two teams in the 2023 NCAA Tournament, with both UCLA and Arizona projecting as two seeds in Joe Lunardi’s latest bracket.

USC, Oregon, and Utah all remain in the conversation for a tournament spot, with Dana Altman’s squad making the biggest move with a win over USC last weekend.

The Ducks have a favorable remaining schedule, and they could easily find themselves within the Field of 68 if they don’t have any more slip-ups.

USC and Utah will have tougher paths, but stranger things have certainly happened. Regardless, every other P-6 conference has at least five teams projected in the big dance, signaling another disappointing season for the Pac-12 men’s basketball programs – and that’s with UCLA and USC still in the picture.

Teams like Arizona State and Colorado began the year with promise but have fallen out of consideration, while bottom feeders like Cal and Oregon State continue to drag down the entire conference, and will do so until they make changes to pick up their programs.

Here is a look at the conference power rankings with a few weeks to go until the Pac-12 Tournament in Las Vegas:

Game-by-game predictions for the remaining Oregon MBB schedule

The Oregon Ducks have five Pac-12 regular season games left. Will they be able to win enough games to make it into the NCAA Tournament?

The Oregon Ducks split a pair of crucial games last week, defeating USC by 18 at home and falling in a close match up to UCLA, 70-63, after second half struggles.

Dana Altman’s club now sits at 15-11 on the season and 9-6 in Pac-12 conference play, and while the team has had plenty of ups and downs they sit well within reach of an at-large bid in the NCAA Tournament.

ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi’s latest bracket has Oregon among the first four teams out of the field, while USC remains on the right side despite the recent losses to Oregon and Oregon State.

Two other teams above the Ducks – Kentucky and New Mexico – took tough losses recently, giving Oregon a chance to pave their way into the Field of 68.

The margin of error is razor thin for Oregon, but they have a fortunate remaining schedule which should help boost them even more.

Here is a look at each of Oregon’s remaining conference games, how they should do, and what that means for their NCAA Tournament chances:

Ducks listed among first four out on Lunardi’s latest bracketology

The Oregon Ducks are right on the cusp of being an NCAA Tournament team, with two huge games coming up this week in Eugene.

It’s been a topsy-turvy season for Dana Altman and the Oregon Ducks, but with roughly one month until Selection Sunday this program is on the cusp of being an NCAA Tournament team, at least according to resident ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi.

Lunardi’s latest report has Oregon listed among the first four out, alongside Texas A&M, Florida, and Seton Hall.

Only three Pac-12 schools are inside the Field of 68: Arizona (1 seed) UCLA (2 seed) and USC (10 seed) – although the Trojans were listed in the last four byes category, putting them in the bubble conversation as well.

The Ducks are 14-10 on the season and 8-5 in conference play, sitting in fifth place with only half a game separating them from the Utah Utes in fourth.

The good news for the Ducks is they have two chances coming up to secure marquee victories, as they host USC on Thursday and UCLA on Saturday. Two wins almost certainly puts them on the right side of the bracket – likely knocking USC out – and even a split in those two games helps their case.

Altman’s club closes the Pac-12 regular season with five beatable opponents: first on the road to Washington and Washington State, followed by a road trip to Corvallis and two home games against Cal and Stanford before heading to Vegas for the Pac-12 Tournament.

Oregon is as healthy as they have been all season, and a late push to get back into the big dance is well within reach for this team – who have won three of their last four.

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Pac-12 bubble watch: Oregon hurts Arizona State’s NCAA tourney hopes

Oregon beating ASU means the Sun Devils are several spots outside the NCAA Tournament. UO and ASU are both in trouble.

The Pac-12 Conference might get only three teams in the NCAA tournament once again. A few weeks ago, it looked like four or maybe even five teams were going to get in.

One possibility was Arizona State, which started the season strong before plummeting quickly. The Sun Devils are now 16-8 overall but just 7-6 in the Pac-12, including losses to Washington and Washington State.

The Sun Devils’ latest loss, a 75-70 defeat to Oregon in Tempe on Saturday, is a significant blow to their NCAA at-large hopes.

If anything, this is a boost to Oregon’s resume, and it could put the Ducks as an at-large team instead of Arizona State (h/t Zachary Neel of Ducks Wire).

“After a tough loss to the Arizona Wildcats on Thursday night, the Ducks were able to pull out a scrappy, ugly, and hard-fought 75-70 victory over the Arizona State Sun Devils,” Neel wrote. “It certainly wasn’t pretty, but it was good enough to keep Oregon’s hopes of getting an at-large bid in the NCAA March Madness Tournament alive and well.”

Dana Altman’s team has been up and down all season, but the Ducks have wins over Arizona, Utah, and Nevada, all of which help their case when fighting for a spot in the Big Dance.

The Sun Devils have now dropped five of their last six games, and they will likely need at least one win against Arizona or UCLA in the final stretch of the regular season to boost their resume.

Arizona State faces Stanford, Cal, and Colorado over the next couple of weeks, and a loss to one of those lower-tier Pac-12 teams might be the final nail in the coffin for Arizona State this season, especially if it can’t beat UCLA or Arizona.

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Mapping out USC’s path to the NCAA Tournament: must-win games, overall targets, and more

Payton Pritchard comments on playing time situation in Boston

Former Oregon Ducks guard Payton Pritchard is unhappy with his playing time situation in Boston with the Celtics.

Former Oregon Ducks guard Payton Pritchard has found himself in a shrinking role with the Boston Celtics over the past three years.

His playing time peaked at 19.2 minutes per game as a rookie, fell to 14.1 minutes last year, and now sits at just 12.5 minutes through his first 35 games of the 2022-23 season.

Pritchard was behind Dennis Schroder and Marcus Smart last year, and this year his minutes took a tumble after the team acquired Malcolm Brogdon over the summer.

The 25-year-old guard spoke candidly with Andre Iguodala and Evan Turner on the Point Forward podcast, indicating he is hoping for a bigger role over the next few years of his NBA career.

“Obviously after I’m done here, after this year, I’d like to look — be a part of a bigger role a little bit,” Pritchard said.

He went on to explain that – while he doesn’t know what his future holds – he feels he owes it to himself to get an opportunity to play a bigger role.

It’s obviously what I work for. I think that’s what Brad and them know, too. We’ve had that discussion but — a bigger role. I want to be part of a winning culture but I want to also help that, be a really big piece of that. I’m not saying it’s the best player on the team but I don’t know what my future holds unless I can take that next step. I don’t know what it is in five or 10 years but I just want to look back and know that I put my best foot forward. I put all the work in so whatever happens I can live with as long as I did it my way. That’s the most important thing for me.

Pritchard is under his rookie contract through the 2023-24 season, and considering he’d only cost Boston about $4 million it is hard to imagine the team dealing him right now, since he provides valuable guard depth and would be unlikely to fetch a return compelling enough for Boston to give that up.

Still, it is worth monitoring if Pritchard will get moved, either in the next few weeks or over the summer, and how a chance of scenery might impact the West Linn product and his ability to play a bigger role at the NBA level.

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Pac-12 Power Rankings: USC and Oregon trending up in conference play

Despite a two game losing streak, UCLA remains the team to beat in the Pac-12 as the calendar turns to February.

The college basketball season treks on as the calendar nears February – one month before the greatest sporting event in the country takes place in March.

The UCLA Bruins and Arizona Wildcats are locks to participate in the NCAA Tournament this year, and these two teams seem destined to be either No. 1 or No. 2 seeds in the big dance.

USC made big moves this past week under Andy Enfield, defeating Arizona State on the road and coming home to win a heated rivalry game against the Bruins.

The Trojans are now firmly in the NCAA Tournament discussion as well, although the rest of the Pac-12 has some work to do if they want to go dancing.

Oregon helped themselves out with nice wins over Colorado and Utah, while Bobby Hurley and Arizona State saw their chances dim significantly in the midst of a four game losing streak.

Here is a look at the Pac-12 Power Rankings as we head into the first week of February.

See where Kel’el Ware falls in Hoops Hype’s aggregate NBA mock draft

Oregon Ducks center Kel’el Ware is firmly in the first round conversation of the 2023 NBA draft, despite pedestrian numbers this year.

The 2023 NBA draft is still over six months away, but with the college basketball season across the halfway point it’s not surprising to see mock drafts out in full effect.

The folks over at USA TODAY’s Hoops Hype aggregated nine different mock drafts to provide a consensus of how NBA draft hopefuls are being viewed by the industry at this point.

For Oregon Ducks freshman center Kel’el Ware, the returns remain promising. Ware came in at No. 15 on the aggregate mock draft, and while that is his first time outside the lottery it is clear he is viewed as a near lock to go in the first round of the draft in June.

Despite playing only 19.1 minutes per game, Ware ranks seventh in the Pac-12 in blocks per game (1.4), and his ability to stretch the floor beyond the arc (.308 three-point percentage) intrigues NBA talent evaluators.

“Ware reminds me of Willie Cauley-Stein with three-point shooting ability,” an NBA executive told HoopsHype.

Ware’s numbers on the season don’t exactly jump off the page, as the freshman from Little Rock is averaging 7.4 points and 4.1 rebounds in about 19 minutes per game.

Still, his blend of size, athleticism, shot blocking ability, and outside shooting make him a tantalizing NBA prospect, and one who probably won’t be in Eugene after the conclusion of the college season.

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Dillon Brooks comments on halftime altercation with Shannon Sharpe

Former Oregon Ducks forward Dillon Brooks spoke out after his halftime altercation with Shannon Sharpe during the Grizzlies Lakers game.

Former Oregon Ducks forward Dillon Brooks was among a handful of Memphis players irritated with Fox’s Shannon Sharpe and his behavior during the Grizzlies’ loss to the Lakers.

“I ain’t talking about that,” Brooks said of his heated exchange with Sharpe, according to ESPN’s Dave McMenamin. “You can ask him. He’s the blogger or whatever he is. I don’t really care about all that. Next question.”

Sharpe and several Memphis players – including Brooks, Steven Adams, Ja Morant, and Morant’s father Tee – engaged in a shouting match with the Pro Football Hall of Famer, to the point where security and officials had to get involved.

Sharpe spoke about the incident, targeting Brooks specifically for his role in the encounter.

“They didn’t want this smoke, Dave,” Sharpe said. “They do all that talking and jockeying and I ain’t about that jockeying. It started with Dillon Brooks. I said he was too small to guard LeBron. He said, ‘F— me.’ I said, ‘F— you’ back. He started to come at me, and I said, ‘You don’t want these problems.’ And then Ja came out of nowhere talking. He definitely didn’t want these problems. Then the dad came and he obviously didn’t want no problems.”

Brooks is averaging 16.1 points and a career-high 3.5 rebounds for the Grizzlies, who are in second place in the Western Conference.

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Former Oregon Ducks with varying levels of success after transferring

11 former Oregon Ducks are playing D1 basketball at different schools this season after entering the transfer portal. How are they doing?

Like it or not, college sports have officially entered the transfer portal era. Student-athletes now have the freedom to explore other universities during the offseason, and for the men’s basketball program it has meant a lot of turnover in the past few years.

Additionally, an extra year of eligibility due to the COVID-19 season created a situation where some players have been in college since 2017 and are still suiting up and hooping, hoping to make it into the big dance.

Here at Ducks Wire we took a look at how Oregon’s transfer departures over the last half decade have performed elsewhere – pulling numbers on 11 former Ducks playing around the country after departing Eugene.

Some have found success at the mid-major level, like Victor Bailey and Eric Williams, one stayed in conference with a team up north, and some are – unfortunately – battling injuries or ineffectiveness in other programs.

Without further ado, here is a look at each Oregon transfer playing D-1 ball this season: