Busting Brackets
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Bracketology 2022: Duke, Indiana, and Houston among week’s losers

By Tristan Freeman

Oregon's Jacob Young, left, and De'Vion Harmon celebrate in the closing second of the game against Stanford as fans cheer beyond Feb. 10, 2022.Eug 021022 Uo Stanford 08
Oregon's Jacob Young, left, and De'Vion Harmon celebrate in the closing second of the game against Stanford as fans cheer beyond Feb. 10, 2022.Eug 021022 Uo Stanford 08 /
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California Golden Bears guard Jordan Shepherd Oregon Ducks Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports
California Golden Bears guard Jordan Shepherd Oregon Ducks Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports /

Oregon Ducks – 16-8 (9-4 in Pac-12)

After losing to then-No. 1 Baylor in December, the Ducks have been on a tremendous run. Before this weekend, Oregon had won 10 of 11 games, including big victories over top-5 teams, UCLA and USC back-to-back. After falling down such a hole to start the season, the Pac-12 program had crawled its way back to the bubble with a top-50 NET ranking.

But like how all good things much come to an end, so must Oregon’s winning ways. But after beating Stanford by eight points earlier in the week, the Ducks found themselves on the end of a 24-0 first-half run at home to California, who entered the game with a 10-15 overall record, 3-11 in the Pac-12. But thanks to a career-high 33 points from Jordan Shepherd, the Bears pulled off a major road upset and delivered a Quad 3 loss to the Ducks.

That now makes it three Quad 3 losses for Oregon to answer for, joining setbacks to Arizona State and Colorado. And while earlier losses to both Houston and BYU aren’t bad, the blowout fashion in which it occurred affects the overall metrics, which still doesn’t love this team.

The good news for Oregon is that they still have games against Arizona, UCLA, and USC to get another 1-2 Quad 1 wins on the resume before the conference tournament. And after losing at home to Cal, they now definitely need to get at least one of them to get back on the good side of the bubble, something they were doing until Saturday.

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