Resume check: Oregon gains significant ground in latest bracket projections
Oregon’s win over Washington State on Thursday didn’t secure the Ducks a trip to the NCAA Tournament, by any stretch of the imagination.
But it absolutely got them closer to an at-large berth.
When Oregon and Wazzu tipped off at T-Mobile Arena Thursday afternoon, the Ducks were tabbed by ESPN bracket expert Joe Lunardi as the last of his “next four out” — meaning that Lunardi believed at least seven other programs had more tournament-worthy resumes than Oregon.
After UO’s gritty victory over the Cougars, though, Lunardi has moved the Ducks up two spots in his latest bracket projection.
That is due, at least in some part, to Oregon’s surge in the NET rankings. Following Thursday’s win, the Ducks climbed from No. 47 to No. 44 in the NET.
Only Oklahoma State, Clemson, Nevada, Wisconsin, and North Carolina are queued ahead of Oregon for the final at-large bid, according to Lunardi.
CBS, meanwhile, still lists the Ducks as the last of its eight “bubble” teams, with Arizona State, Clemson, Michigan, Mississippi State, North Carolina, Nevada, and Oklahoma State listed ahead of them.
Sporting News has the Ducks listed as the last of its “first four out” in its latest projection, with Utah State, and Clemson listed ahead of them, while Arizona State is the outlet’s last team in the field.
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The team that may have done the most harm to Oregon’s cause this week is ASU. The Sun Devils delivered an upset over USC in the Pac-12 tournament quarterfinals late Thursday evening and surged five spots in the NET rankings to No. 60 as a result.
Lunardi currently has ASU listed as his “last team in.”
Oregon will have an opportunity to potentially cement its status as a tournament team Friday evening when it squares off with No. 2 UCLA in the Pac-12 tournament semifinals.
The Bruins currently sit at No. 4 in the NET rankings and will, of course, serve as a Quad 1 matchup on Oregon’s resume. The Ducks are 2-8 in Quad 1 games this season.
Oregon and UCLA are scheduled to tip off at 6 p.m. PT at T-Mobile Arena.
“We know what we’ve got to do — we’ve got to outrebound people, and we’ve got to defend,” Oregon coach Dana Altman said following Thursday’s win. “We haven’t been successful against UCLA twice because they outrebounded us. They got us both games in the second half; we led both games at the half and they just outrebounded us in the second half. So we’re going to have to do a better job there.”
