Bracketology 2021: Duke, Kansas, and Florida State among big winners
By Joey Loose
Oregon
It’s been on full display in recent years, but the Pac-12 has really struggled as a conference. These Ducks themselves were in the Final Four back in 2017, but aside from that, it’s been a whole lot of disappointment in the league. This season has marked a positive step forward for the competition in the conference, but it won’t matter if the league can’t secure a bunch of bids (and to successful teams).
With a pair of wins this week, Oregon went a long way to securing its place. On Thursday, Chris Duarte had 18 points and seven rebounds as the Ducks took out a Colorado team that many have considered one of the top teams in the league all season long. On Saturday, the Ducks held on to get another win over a pesky Utah team, running their winning streak to five games.
Oregon is now 14-4, with their 9-3 mark in the Pac-12 situating themselves in 3rd place at the moment. They haven’t exactly played a murderer’s row schedule, but during the pandemic, it’s not exactly their fault. They’ve yet to play either of the Los Angeles schools, the two ahead of them in the standings but have worked their NET ranking back up towards the top 40.
The bad news for Oregon is that their remaining schedule will take them on the road, with four scheduled road games in the last two weeks of regular season play. The Pac-12 might not be the toughest power conference, but these will still be some tough tests for the Ducks in the coming weeks. This week however they did what they needed to do.