Utah forward Brekkott Chapman looks for a rebound during the first half of the team’s NCAA college basketball game against California in the semifinals of the Pac-12 men’s tournament Friday, March 11, 2016, in Las Vegas. The Ducks’ dominance continued in the second half, and No. 8 OR finished with the 88-57 win.
Advertisement
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. It’s a testament to the depth of the Ducks that Cook was fourth in scoring tonight, behind Dorsey, Dillon Brooks, and Chris Boucher. Oklahoma’s Buddy Hield, a National Player of the Year candidate, hit a half court game-winner to beat West Virginia in the Big 12 Tournament semifinal – only for the shot to be waved off after replay showed he released the shot a millisecond too late.
Utah coach Larry Krystkowiak said most of the Utes’ problems Saturday, including 20 turnovers that led to 28 points for OR, were like “self-inflicted gunshot wounds”. The previous record went to Arizona in last year’s title game, when they whooped the Ducks 80-52.
Baylor (22-11) opens with a potentially-difficult game in Providence, Rhode Island, facing Ivy League champion Yale (22-6), which is in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1962, despite the dismissal of team captain Jack Montague.
Both teams came out fast and furious, giving no indication that they each battled for 45 minutes the night before just to get to this point.
Little changed in the second half.
The Jayhawks (30-4) are the overall No. 1.
“It’s fun to have the Beavers go dancing again”, Oregon State guard Gary Payton II said. They’ll join OR in the West Region and face off against #10 VCU on Friday night.
Oregon’s three wins over Utah (26-8) this season were by an average margin of 19.7 points.
Cook, had his usual hustling game scored 11 points, seven rebounds and three steals.
The NCAA selection committee released a 68-team bracket with its fair share of surprises.
Utah is in no danger of not making the tournament, and while they didn’t get the automatic in, it’s clear that Krystkowiak and company have their eyes set on bigger and brighter things. Calipari said. “When you mis-seed a team, it’s not that team you hurt, it’s the teams they play that you hurt”.
John Calipari and his Kentucky Wildcats chose to take the short flight home to Lexington after beating Texas A&M in the Southeastern Conference Tournament in overtime. “We know how good a team they are….”
OR did and can now win its first conference tournament title since 2013.
That actually was the fifth dramatic play made in the final 49.1 seconds, starting with Poeltl scoring a layup and free throw for a 66-65 Utah lead.
Michigan State is another popular team being predicted for one of the four top lines. The Ducks enter the tournament on an eight-game winning streak.
“I thought our ball movement tonight was really good and we made plays for each other”, Altman said.
Advertisement
On the flip side, CBS’s Jerry Palm said Villanova was vulnerable to losing its No. 1 seed depending on the results of the Pac-12 and ACC Tournaments.
