NCAA Basketball: Seniors who never got their moment in NCAA Tournament

Payton Pritchard, Anthony Mathis and Shakur Juiston – Oregon Ducks

Oregon came into the year as one of the best teams on paper and a trendy pick by many to compete for a National Title. Oregon like every other team that qualified for the tournament is never going to get that chance. The Ducks won the Pac-12 and had enough talent to make some noise in the NCAA tournament. For the group of Seniors, the Ducks had it has been a hard pill to swallow.

Payton Pritchard like many of the other four-year players accomplished a lot during his time at Oregon. The senior wrapped up his Pac 12 regular season by winning the Pac-12 player of the year. That was the icing on the cake that included a run to the final four his freshman year, and a surprise run to the Sweet 16 last year.  Pritchard was one of the best players in the country the entire year and was one of the preseason favorites for the Wooden Award. Even with the illustrious career, one that all fans in Eugene will always remember, Pritchard was still hoping to get his team to one last final four run. Pritchard was fun to watch, and college basketball will miss him a great deal.

The other two players for Oregon were both grad transfers who chose Oregon with the hopes of making a magical march run. Shakur Juiston joined the Ducks after spending the previous seasons at UNLV. UNLV was going through a coaching change and Juiston decided he wanted to go to a team that had a chance to make the NCAA tournament. Juiston didn’t have the year scoring the ball that he expected, and he saw his numbers dip, but he was a key piece to the Ducks as he started every game. Juiston had all but wrapped up an NCAA tournament appearance his last season. The forward was going to have a moment in the tournament. He was too good of a player to go quietly into the night. Coach Altman would not have started Juiston every game if he could not have made an impact every night.

Anthony Mathis was also a grad transfer after spending the last four seasons at New Mexico. Mathis was known for one thing and that was his ability to shoot from the outside. Mathis brought that ability to Oregon and was one of the best shooters in the Nation yet again this season. It would have also been the first NCAA tournament for the sharpshooting guard and he was going to be able to make shots in the NCAA tournament which were ultimately going to help the Ducks win some games in the tournament. Pritchard, Mathis and Juiston were a great trio and they should be remembered for the memories they provided this year, its to bad they were not able to show it in the tournament.