There have been some heartbreaking endings for Dana Altman and the Oregon Ducks men’s basketball team over the years, with deep runs in the March Madness NCAA Tournament coming to a close in bitter defeat.
While the 2017 season might have been the toughest, with a Dillon Brooks-led Ducks’ team losing to North Carolina in the Final Four, 77-76, it’s safe to say that the year before that was hard to swallow as well, with Oregon losing to Oklahoma in the Elite Eight, 80-68.
It wasn’t frustrating because of a heartbreaking defeat, but rather the fact that the Ducks went up against a player whom nobody in the nation had much of an answer for.
That player was Buddy Hield, who won the John R. Wooden Award and Naismith Player of the Year Trophy that season. While Hield has gone on to have a very successful NBA career, some Oregon players from that year remember back to 2016 and what it was like to face the unstoppable Oklahoma Sooner.
“We didn’t have a chance,” Jordan Bell said recently on the Locked on Sooners Podcast.
Former Oregon Ducks star Jordan Bell talking about his experience against Sooners great Buddy Hield in the NCAA tournament.
"We ran into Buddy, we didn't have a chance."
Hield scored 37 points.
Via Run Your Race and @TidalLeague @LockedOnNetwork @LockedOnCBB @LockedOnDucks pic.twitter.com/Xj7jeLye01
— Locked On Sooners Podcast (@LockedOnSooners) January 22, 2024
Hield ended up scoring 37 points in the Elite Eight victory for Oklahoma, hitting 8-of-13 three-pointers. The Sooners went on to lose to Villanova, the eventual National Champions, in the Final Four.
That was an impressive tournament run for the Ducks, with Altman leading the squad to a win over Coach Krzyzewski and the Duke Blue Devils in the Sweet 16. Of course, the next season, Oregon would go on to beat Michigan in the Sweet 16 before upsetting Kansas in the Elite Eight. They then lost to North Carolina by just one in the Final Four.
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