Dana Altman 'not sure' where Oregon stands entering conference tournament

Several teams, specifically the ones on the bubble, are taking note of their position for the NCAA Tournament. Even with Oregon on the outside looking in, though, Dana Altman isn’t entirely sure, or at least isn’t very interested, in any opinions about where the Ducks are projected at the moment.

All Altman said he was worried about following his team’s 73-68 win over Stanford is that they have the momentum of three straight wins behind them as they enter the Pac-12 Tournament. From there, he is focused on maintaining Oregon’s defensive success while also finding enough contributors on the offensive end.

“Not sure, not sure,” Altman said. “At least we’ve got a little momentum.”

“Our guys understand that, defensively, we’ve gotta play our tail off because, offensively, we’ve been inconsistent. And our turnovers, at times, have hurt us,” said Altman. “But we’ve had 18 wins. And, in all 18, we’ve held all of our opponents to under 70 points. So, if we’re gonna have a chance, it starts with the defense. We’ve got to rebound the ball better…We start with those two things and then guys start stepping up and hitting a few shots?…We’ll just have to have someone hit them.”

Oregon’s record finished at 18-13 overall with their win over the Cardinals. That included a 12-8 mark in the Pac-12, which was good for a fourth-place finish in league play. However, the Ducks still have work to do to make the NCAA Tournament field. In Joe Lunardi’s latest Bracketology update, he has them sitting in the final ‘Next Four Out’ spot on the bubble.

With all that said, Altman has laid out the blueprint for how Oregon can get enough wins next week in Las Vegas to make the field one way or another. It’s now on his team to execute it when their opportunity inside T-Mobile Arena begins on Thursday afternoon this week.