“Two roads diverged in a wood
And I took the one less traveled by
And that has made all the difference.”
— Robert Frost
If Oregon had a choice, it wouldn’t travel at all. It would play every game at home.
But the Ducks don’t have a choice. They’re on a road often traveled, a road that has led them to a 3-6 conference record, but a road they hope will lead them to the NCAA Tournament next week.
Oregon (20-9 overall, 10-8 Pacific-10 Conference) heads to the Staples Center in Los Angeles today for its first-round game in the Pac-10 Tournament, a rematch with Arizona State at 3:50 p.m. The game will be televised on Fox Sports Net.
The Ducks’ three conference road wins this season were against Washington State, Oregon State and UCLA in overtime. Officially, today’s game is at a neutral site, but even in those situations, the Ducks haven’t fared well this season. Granted, they did defeat Kansas at the Rose Garden, but that was essentially a home game.
In their only true neutral environment this season — at the Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, N.J. — the Ducks were blown out by Cincinnati, 77-52, in front of a national ESPN audience.
Fast forward to last week, when Oregon closed out the regular season by getting swept in the desert by Arizona and Arizona State.
“We’re glad there is a Pac-10 Tournament right now,” junior guard James Davis said. “All our games are big games at this point. We need to get another win. Mentally, we need a win.”
Both Oregon and Arizona State (19-10, 11-7) need a victory to quiet critics and bolster their standing with the NCAA selection committee. A loss could mean the NIT.
“I haven’t allowed myself to go there yet,” Oregon head coach Ernie Kent said of the NIT. “If we can get another win, if we can do our job (today), we can take it out of (the committee’s) hands.”
The key for Oregon is controlling the key. But with Pac-10 Freshman of the Year Ike Diogu roaming the paint for Arizona State, the Ducks will have their hands full.
Diogu posted 17 points and 14 rebounds in the Sun Devils’ 91-77 win in Tempe a week ago, and had 27 points in Oregon’s Jan. 4 win over ASU at McArthur Court.
“Diogu is going to get his points, you just try to keep him from having a monster game,” Kent said.
But containing Diogu does not guarantee victory. Case in point: Tommy Smith (24 points, 11 rebounds) and Curtis Millage (27 points) both had big games last week against the Ducks.
“If you focus on Diogu, those other guys will kill you,” Kent said. “It’s kind of like pick your poison with them. Each time we had a breakdown, they made us pay for our mistakes.”
The Ducks led Arizona State and Arizona at halftime, but collapsed in the second half.
“We know we haven’t been closing out games like we should,” Davis said.
Oregon point guard Luke Ridnour had 20 points in the first half against ASU last week, but the Sun Devils didn’t give him many open looks in the decisive second half.
“We gotta be more aggressive offensively, and defensively we gotta get stops,” Ridnour said. “We know what they’re going to run; it’s going to be who wants it more.”
And who wants to dance the big dance more.
“We’re going to play with absolute intensity — that’s our mindset,” junior forward Luke Jackson said.
“We’re going into this tournament trying to win it,” Ridnour said. “This time of year is when you gotta step up.”
Or hit the road.