With thousands of fans at McArthur Court watching the selection show and the rest of the nation watching Mac Court, Oregon’s ancient arena erupted Sunday afternoon with the announcement that the Ducks’ dream season will get even dreamier.
The Oregon men’s basketball team received a No. 2 seed in the Midwest region for the NCAA Tournament. Thousands of fans who showed up to watch the selection show at Mac Court cheered when the seeding was announced, and CBS carried a live national feed of the crowd’s reaction.
The No. 2 seed means Oregon will play as close to home as possible, in Sacramento, Calif., on Thursday. The Ducks will play 15th seed Montana, which went through the Big Sky Conference regular season with a 16-14 record.
“I thought we were in position to get anywhere between a two and a five seed,” an elated Freddie Jones said after the seeding was announced. “They gave us the better one.”
The high seed is a reward for the Ducks’ 22-7 regular season and Pacific-10 Conference championship. It is the highest seeding ever for Oregon, and could lead to the Ducks’ first win in an NCAA Tournament game since 1960.

The close proximity of the first round site has Oregon players hoping that fans will make the trip to Sacramento.
“I don’t have that much money to pay for them all,” Jones said. “But it would be nice if they could make the trip.”
Forward Robert Johnson simply said to the fans: “Come out.”
“It’s not that long a trip,” Johnson said.
If Oregon gets past Montana in the first round Thursday, the Ducks will play Saturday against the winner of the game between 7th seed Wake Forest and 11th seed Pepperdine. Oregon defeated Pepperdine this season, 88-64, in Eugene in December.
But the Ducks said they won’t look any further than Montana.
“You can’t look past any team in this tournament,” forward Luke Jackson said. “They all deserve to be there. We know a little bit about Montana, and we’re looking forward to learning more about them this week.”
Other teams in the Midwest bracket include top-seed Kansas, No. 3 Mississippi State, No. 4 Illinois, No. 5 Florida and No. 6 Texas.
Oregon was the highest-seeded Pac-10 team in the tournament. Arizona received a No. 3 seed in the South region, while No. 4 Southern California, No. 6 California and No. 8 UCLA also ended up in the South. Stanford received the No. 8 seed in the Midwest.
For now, Oregon head coach Ernie Kent said the Ducks will try to use the emotion from Sunday afternoon and channel it onto the floor Thursday, with Oregon entering the NCAA Tournament with more pressure than ever before.
“We are really ready,” Kent said Sunday. “This team is anxious to play again.”