“This is kind of the game that happened to us a year ago (when Arizona defeated OR 80-52 in the championship game) and we weren’t that bad”.
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Utah: Kuzma was limited to five points on 2-of-4 shooting and appeared to be in the coaches’ doghouse after a shaky start to the game….
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.
The NCAA selection committee released a 68-team bracket with its fair share of surprises. After their early exit from the Pac-12 Tournament, Lunardi has Arizona newly projected as a five seed in the West playing Buffalo. Utah is projected to be around a 3-seed, and is built to make a run deep into the NCAA Tournament.
In a year in which six teams held the top spot in The Associated Press poll – one short of the record – there was no doubt there would be some debate about who belonged in the four top spots. “Oregon gets a 1-seed on paper ahead of Villanova and ahead of North Carolina”. The rest of it raised eyebrows.
In their third head-to-head meeting of the season, the Oregon Ducks walked away victorious against the Utah Utes in a Pac-12 Championship Game that said blowout straight from the opening tip.
“Everyone’s watching. It’s just fun all around”, Loveridge said.
“Very close. It was a vigorous debate”, Castiglione said. OR was 6-1 against Arizona, Utah and Cal, the only other truly formidable teams in the league.
Moments after clinching a Pac-12 Tournament championship title Saturday, Oregon players left the court and waded into a section of the stands in MGM Grand’s Garden Arena awash in green and yellow to celebrate with the UO fans in attendance.
OR now has won four conference tournament championships.
Fresno State will begin selling tickets to the NCAA Tournament on Monday at 559-278-7160. Benjamin, who averages eight points and three rebounds in 23 minutes a game, tallied just one rebound and no points in his 12 minutes against the Utes. “I think we’ve gotten better collectively talking with each other and letting guys know what they’re going to do”.
The Bulldogs are dancing for the first time since 2001, but their first-round matchup will be a motivated opponent. Since it’s an even-number year, it must mean the Bears are destined to make a run, no?
KENTUCKY Two things stood out about the Wildcats.
To note is that game times and channels have not yet been announced for the first and second round. Those detract from the Ducks’ case a bit, but the committee should take under consideration that the Rebels were at full strength back in December and that standout freshman Tyler Dorsey was unavailable for both games.
“We just want to play Friday and try to get out of that (game)”, Benjamin said. “To me, why they’re so, so good is because of how together they are. But at the end of the day, they’re not stealing my joy”.
The Ducks also scored 23 points off 17 offensive rebounds and had 16 assists with seven turnovers to win their fourth Pac-12 title in the second-most lopsided game in tournament history. It’s the fifth-most efficient attack in the country, per kenpom.com, with four double-digit scorers, all of whom shoot better than 45% from the floor. “With most teams, it comes down to making shots”.
The Ducks are 7-1 against the RPI top 25, 10-3 against the top 50 and 20-4 against the top 100.
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Dillon Brooks has been a formidable Pac-12 Player of the Year candidate scoring 18 points per game.
