12 March 2016: Oregon head coach Dana Altman cracks a smile as time expires on the clock during the men’s Pac-12 Basketball Tournament championship game between the Utah Utes and Oregon Ducks at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, NV.
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Of the at-large teams, 25 came from teams from the Power Five conferences, with 11 from the smaller conferences.
Utah will have to take care of the ball this time – and slow Fresno’s Marvelle Harris, who averaged 22.7 points, 5.1 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 2.6 steals. Poeltl had 14 points, eight rebounds and four assists.
“It was just a insane game”, Poeltl said. “You just have to hope”. OR has been bounced by Wisconsin in the second round the last two years. Sound familiar? Courtesy of the 70-foot miracle shot by Jalen Adams that pushed the conference semifinal against Cincinnati into a fourth overtime, the Huskies didn’t have to sweat Selection Sunday.
OR has won most of the season by spreading the floor, identifying a mismatch and attacking off the dribble, but lately the Ducks have defended almost as effectively as they’ve piled up points. “They have guys that can make shots”. They got a 7-seed and will face VCU on Friday.
“I thought our activity on defense was really good”. It was just good karma.
The Utes had trouble finishing at the rim and the Bears had trouble everywhere – except for Wallace. Brandon Taylor and Kuzma had 15 points each. “You obviously have to be healthy, catch a few breaks and have your best players perform”, said Jayhawks coach Bill Self. “We’ll get to work on those two and send somebody else to think about another game, because I focus on one game at a time”. “They made a couple plays at the end”. “They did a great job executing what they were trying to do”. Get the popcorn ready. “They have an very bad lot of firepower”. They do other things. By contrast, Big East champion Villanova has only three top 25 victories, ACC champion North Carolina has only five top 50 victories and Big Ten tournament finalist Michigan State has only 12 top 100 victories. They moved the ball around in typical Utah fashion.
Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim, whose team made the tournament despite a midseason stumble while he served a nine-game suspension for NCAA rules violations. I haven’t seen enough basketball across the country. Utah made 18 of 37 shots (48.6 percent) inside the arc. At one point, the Ducks led by 36.
“It was exciting for all of us”, Dwayne Benjamin said after learning the team got a one seed. I like where we’re at. “We played well and that’s something to build on”.
Cal forward Ivan Rabb, who probably had his best game (21 points, 15 rebounds) against OSU, said he is looking forward to the semi-final. “We battled hard, we fought”, he said.
Orange Get In: Syracuse – along with Temple, Tulsa, Vanderbilt and Wichita State – sneaked into the field at the expense of hopefuls like Monmouth, St. Bonaventure, St. Mary’s and Valparaiso.
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Said Krystkowiak, “I wouldn’t want to play them”. And we have big-time players as well. “With most teams, it comes down to making shots”.
