The Oregon Ducks are getting to start their postseason on Tuesday night in the first round of the NIT tournament. The opponent will be the Utah State Aggies, a team that showed some promise during the regular season, but ultimately struggled down the stretch, losing six of their final nine games of the season.
So what are the Ducks’ changes in Tuesday’s game? They are arguably the more talented team, but does that mean that they will show up and ultimately move on in the invitational tournament?
To try and find out the answer, we sat down with Mountain West Wire writer Jeremy Mauss to get to know more about the Aggies
Tournament Hopes
Question: The Ducks and Aggies had pretty different roads to get to this first round NIT matchup. For Oregon, not making the NCAA tournament was ultimately a disappointment for what once looked like a promising season. What was the 2021-22 season like for Utah State? Did they ever have a chance at making the big dance?
Answer: Utah State had a new coach with Ryan Odom who came over from UMBC as he replaced Craig Smith who went just up the road to take over as the University of Utah head coach. The Aggies had talent back but their preseason expectations were basically what they ended up, by finishing seventh in the conference. They showed signs of being able to compete with the top of the conference but only went 1-8 vs. those NCAA Tournament teams with five of those losses coming by single digits. There was never any real feeling they would make an NCAA Tournament appearance outside of winning the Mountain West tournament.
Up Next: Players to know…