Pac-12 men's basketball tournament field set following Oregon's regular-season finale
After a hectic final weekend around the conference, the bracket is officially set for next week’s Pac-12 men’s basketball tournament in Las Vegas.
The No. 4-seed Oregon Ducks will receive a first-round bye in the conference tournament and will kick off postseason play on Thursday, March 9 at 2:30 p.m. PT.
The Ducks (18-13, 12-8 Pac-12) will face the winner of Wednesday’s matchup between No. 5 Washington State and No. 12 Cal.
Oregon entered the week with plenty of question marks regarding its postseason status. In order to earn an all-important first-round bye in Las Vegas, the Ducks needed to close out the regular season with wins over Cal and Stanford in Eugene, and also needed Arizona State to lose to UCLA on Thursday.
All three of those events did, indeed, occur. Now, the Ducks will get a bit of a breather before setting their sights on a conference tournament that serves as their only realistic path to the NCAA tournament.
As of Sunday morning, ESPN’s Joe Lunardi had the Ducks listed as the last of his “next four out” meaning he believes that there are at least seven other teams with better at-large tournament resumes than Oregon.
Of course, if the Ducks reel off three straight wins in Vegas next week and win the conference tournament, they will receive an automatic bid to the big dance.
“We’ve got a little momentum,” Oregon coach Dana Altman said following the Ducks’ win over Stanford on Saturday. “Guys understand that defensively, we’ve got to play our tails off. Because offensively, we’ve been inconsistent and turnovers have hurt us. We’ve had 18 wins and in all 18 wins, we’ve held our opponent under 70 points. If we’re going to have a chance, it starts with the defense.”
Following a rocky month of December, the Ducks closed out the regular season with three consecutive wins. Their senior day victory over the Cardinal featured plenty of promising moments on the offensive end of the floor. Kel’elk Ware, Keeshawn Barthelemy, and Quincy Guerrier all made big contributions off the bench, while Will Richardson and N’Faly set the tone late in the afternoon.
Now, after a roller coaster of a campaign, Oregon will hope to play its best basketball when it matters most and make an unlikely run through the conference tourney.
“We’re not where we want to be. Where not where we should be,” Altman said. “But we can’t change what’s in the rearview mirror. We’ve got to look forward and hopefully make something happen in Vegas. We have before.
“I just hope we can go down swinging.”
