March Madness: Top takeaways from 2019 NCAA Tournament Round of 64

3) Oregon‘s potential

The Ducks were the only double-digit seed I had advancing to the Sweet 16 and, after their performance against Wisconsin, I’m even more confident in the Ducks making the second weekend.

Their dominant defense was on full display as they limited Wisconsin to just 54 points on 33 percent shooting, marking the eighth time over the past nine games in which they’ve held an opponent to 61 points or fewer.

That defense has been one of the two catalysts in Oregon’s late-season turnaround with the other being Payton Pritchard, who put forth another stellar performance with 19 points and eight assists. When he’s pacing the offense and is aggressive, it opens things up for everyone else on that end of the floor.

The other major factor that stood out against the Badgers was just how athletic they are. Oregon was obviously longer and quicker than Wisconsin at every position, as Kenny Wooten showed on several occasions.

Now, part of this is Wisconsin’s lack of explosiveness, which was on full display (I think they might be terrible next year without Ethan Happ), but Oregon deserves credit for their role in the performance. They’ll have similar advantages in the second round against UC Irvine as well and, should they get to play Virginia in the Sweet 16, they’ll have a major advantage athletically again.

Oregon is the double-digit seed to watch for me.