Utah is right where it wants to be – playing for the conference title. Trailing by seven points to an upstart Cal team, who has been as hot as anyone in the country these last couple of weeks, Utah looked as if it was in store for another semifinal exit from the Pac-12 Tournament.
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OR swept the regular season series between these two, but that certainly won’t be on Utah’s mind when they hit the court. Standing in the way was the second seeded Utah Utes who OR had downed by over ten points in both matchups this year.
Utah looked poised to make the game a runaway, bursting out of the game for a 14-4 lead after barely 3½ minutes.
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And in an 88-57 thumping of Utah in the Pac-12 title game, OR sent a pretty strong message to the NCAA selection committee.
When the final buzzer sounded, Utah players and coaches went into a frenzy, typical behavior of a team that just won an emotional overtime game to head to its first conference championship game since joining the Pac-12.
Isaiah Whitehead, the Big East Tournament MVP, was spectacular from start to finish, capped off with 26 points in the final. Kyle shot a lights out 11 of 12 for 23 points from the floor with 7 boards, way to go kid! Poeltl finished the game with 29 points and 11 rebounds. Unfortunately, the national feed is not as accessible, and regional feeds didn’t show live games from teams in other regions.
Cal had designs on winning its first Pac-12 tournament title, but Utah center Jakob Poeltl had different ideas.
Regardless of whether the Ducks are a one or two seed, this is clearly a risky team with an athletic lineup that blends veterans and rising star younger players.
Freshman guard Tyler Dorsey led the Ducks with 23 points on 9-of-16 shooting while grabbing nine rebounds.
“I just tried to play him as physical as possible without fouling”, Rooks said. “I know that”, Utah coach Larry Krystkowiak said about the NCAA Tournament. Chris Boucher had 15 points and tournament MVP Elgin Cook added 11 with six assists. “We just didn’t have the energy or the focus to come back from those easy baskets that we gave them”.
After opening as a 1-point favorite the Ducks are now -1.5 to beat the Utes according to oddsmakers from online sports book BetDSI.
In the updated college basketball RPI, the Oregon Ducks rank second in the nation.
There aren’t going to be many Oregon Ducks fans that will be pleased if their school is seeded behind the Virginia Cavaliers when the 2016 NCAA tournament brackets come out.
OR has now officially booked its fourth straight trip to the NCAA Tournament.
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Even if he wasn’t willing to admit it, Dorsey had some extra motivation to play well against the Wildcats: despite giving a verbal commit to Sean miller and Arizona before the ninth grade, Dorsey ultimately withdrew, choosing OR after getting cut by Miller’s Team USA U18 roster. It can also be streamed online via a live stream via the Pac-12 Network Live.
