Oregon men’s basketball received a No. 8 seed in the West bracket from the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee and will face No. 9 seed Oklahoma State next Thursday in Omaha, Nebraska. The Ducks are coming off an 80-52 loss to the Wildcats in the Pac-12 title game.
“It never gets old,” Altman said about making the tournament. “I’m as excited now as I was the first time in 1987. It’s an unbelievable feeling to be included.”
The two teams faced each other in the Round of 64 in 2013, where Oregon dispatched Marcus Smart and the Cowboys 68-55.
The at-large bid marks Oregon’s third consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tournament. The Ducks advanced to the Sweet 16 in 2013 as a No. 12 seed before losing to No. 1 overall seed Louisville and dropped in the Round of 32 to No. 2 seed Wisconsin 85-77 in 2014.
“No way should they (Oregon) be satisfied,” Altman said. “I want them to feel good about what they’ve accomplished. We didn’t do well against Arizona, they’re a bad matchup for us and we struggled with them. There’s so much more they can grow into.”
If the Ducks can advance past Oklahoma State, they’ll likely face No. 1 seed Wisconsin and Wooden Award candidate Frank Kaminsky.
“We won’t be looking past Oklahoma State,” Altman said. “Our guys know better than that and we know we’ll have our hands full. Those 8/9 matchups are always tough.”
Notables
– Joseph Young and Elgin Cook are the only two returners from last year’s NCAA tournament team.
– Dana Altman, who coached at Creighton for 16 years, expects to have a lot of friends and family in attendance for their first round matchup against Oklahoma State.
“Personally, we’ll have a lot of family,” Altman said. “Just got 60 texts from people wanting tickets already, so phone’s been blowing up here.
– Oregon’s three straight NCAA tournament appearances is program best.
– Oregon ended the season having won seven of their last eight games, while Oklahoma State has lost the last six of their seven games.
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