Other than senior Adam Zahn, the NCAA Tournament experience will be an entirely new one for the Ducks when they play Miami (OH) University on Friday in Spokane, Wash.
Oregon’s coaching staff and the program itself are not, however, unfamiliar with postseason success.
Coach Ernie Kent has guided the squad to a 3-3 record in NCAA Tournaments since becoming head coach in 1998. His team’s first showing came in 2000 when then-sophomore and current Portland Trail Blazer Fred Jones and the Ducks lost 72-71 in overtime to Seton Hall in Buffalo, N.Y. Kent said Oregon basketball was on the map long before eventual NBA players Jones, Luke Ridnour and Luke Jackson set foot in McArthur Court.
“I think it was on the map before then,” Kent said. “Jerry Green (Oregon coach from 1992-1997) put them on the map. They had a great run. Dick Harter (coach from 1971-1978) put it on the map. We’ve just taken it to another level.”
And taking it back even further – as in 1939 – Oregon actually won the first NCAA Tournament ever played. The Ducks were called the Tall Firs when they defeated Ohio State 46-33 in Evanston, Ill.
In total, Oregon has appeared in eight NCAA Tournaments and possesses a 9-7 record. It has climbed into its Regional Finals three times (1939, 1960 and 2002) and has made it into the Final Four just once (1939). The Ducks have battled into the Elite Eight four times (1939, 1945, 1960, 2002) and Sweet 16 twice (1960, 2002). Since 1995, when Oregon has competed in tournaments with either 64 or 65 teams, it has gone 3-4. The Ducks made it back into the tournament in 1995 for the first time in 34 years, but lost 90-73 to Texas with Green at the helm.
The most recent chapter in Oregon’s NCAA Tournament book ended on a sour note three seasons ago when No. 9 Utah edged out the Ducks, seeded eighth, 60-58 in the first round of the 2003 NCAA Tournament.
Kent said that team, which was headlined by juniors Jackson and Ridnour, was mentally tough – and very talented – but did not have the same fortitude that this year’s squad has built after years of highs and lows.
“This team is stronger and tougher in terms of all the adversity they had to go through,” Kent said. “So that’s brought them closer together. Luke and Luke was a very talented team. This team has just gone through so much more adversity, which has just made them tougher.”
Zahn, who redshirted in that 2003 season, could only watch as the Ducks fell just short. He traveled with the team to Nashville, Tenn., that year and said he got a taste of just how big the tournament is.
“I have been there so I have kind of felt what it feels like to have all the hype and media and all the excitement that goes along with going to the tournament,” Zahn said.
Seventh-year assistant coach Scott Duncan was there, too, and said Oregon’s current roster is deeper and more talented than the 2003 team.
“They are playing better than what that team was playing at that time of the year,” said Duncan, who grew up in Ohio.
Senior Aaron Brooks can only attest to experiencing the first stage of March Madness: Selection Sunday. But the advice he’s received from former Ducks – like Jackson advising him to play hard because every game could be his last and Jones telling him to enjoy every moment of every contest – has Brooks feeling confident. Well, as confident as one can feel before getting on the NCAA’s big stage.
“We’ve all been in pressure situations before,” Brooks said. “I have been getting advice from former players all the time and they just told me to play my game, don’t be nervous and go out there and play. You never really know how it’s going be until you get there though.”
The 2001-02 squad that featured Jones, Jackson and Ridnour were awarded a second seed in the Midwest Region. Oregon didn’t lose a game at home en route to a Pacific-10 title, and the Ducks carried that momentum as far as the Elite Eight, finally losing to No. 1 Kansas 104-86 despite an Oregon NCAA scoring-high 32 points from Jones. To get there, the Ducks beat No. 15 Montana in the first round (81-62), No. 7 Wake Forest in the second round (92-87) and No. 6 Texas 72-70 in a Sweet Sixteen thriller.
“We built momentum with each win (in the 2002 Tournament),” Duncan said. “I hope these guys can experience the atmosphere in the tournament, but more importantly experience the feeling of advancing in the tournament like we did with the Lukes … For the players, it’s all excitement, but for the coaches the excitement wears off pretty quick. You don’t enjoy the ride until the end of the tournament because you are so focused on the next game. It’s certainly a great journey.”
Duncan added the biggest thing that the squad needs to do in Spokane is stay away from distractions and stay locked on the prize.
Kent said the biggest theme he’s seen develop with this year’s squad is their resiliency. Now, he said, the team is focused and they are peaking.
“The gratifying thing is that they never, ever, ever gave up on themselves,” Kent said. “They knew that when it hit rock bottom and started to come back, it was gonna come back like a locomotive.”