Less than one month remains before the inaugural Pac-12 tournament begins in Los Angeles.
That means seven conference games for Oregon, four at home and three on the road, including a trip to Corvallis in two weeks. What the Ducks are fighting for this year is simple: one of the top four seeds come the second week of March.
Each of the top four Pac-12 teams at the end of the regular season will earn a first-round bye at the conference tournament. If the season ended today, Washington, California, Colorado and Oregon would secure those spots. Teams like Stanford, Arizona and UCLA would play on opening day, something Oregon has become accustomed to in recent years.
In 2009, Oregon went one-and-done as the No. 10 seed. The following year, again at No. 10, the Ducks escaped the first round before losing to top-seeded Cal the next night. Last year’s team that bounced Arizona State and No. 2 seed UCLA on back-to-back nights figures to be a little more comparable to the current veteran squad.
Senior Garrett Sim, the only Oregon player with three conference tournaments under his belt, believes a top-four finish is worth fighting for.
“I think it probably would make a difference, getting that bye in the first round,” Sim said before practice on Tuesday. “Another day off (and) you’re already advanced one round. But it’s a fun experience down there, so wherever we land we’ll be ready to play.”
In reality, anything less than a top-four finish for this team would be a disappointment. Oregon brought in more than a handful of experienced transfers this offseason, and there’s a general feeling — if based on nothing other than personnel — that the program is heavily invested in making the NCAA Tournament this year.
If you’ve followed Oregon basketball over the last four years, you know this team is as good as any the Ducks will put on the floor in the foreseeable future. Five of the team’s top eight are seniors — Olu Ashaolu, Devoe Joseph, Tyrone Nared, Garrett Sim and Jeremy Jacob — though a nice core is expected back next year with Tony Woods, Carlos Emory, E.J. Singler and Johnathan Loyd. @@http://www.goducks.com/SportSelect.dbml?&DB_OEM_ID=500&SPID=235&SPSID=4295@@
Assuming (hoping, rather) that the Pac-12 will continue to strive to be a competitive conference nationally, this could potentially be one of the last few down years for a historically respected conference. If that proves to be the case, Oregon wants to be at the forefront of that return to power.
Dana Altman takes a game-by-game approach with the Washington schools looming later this week, as he rightfully should. But deep down, Altman knows that with each win they take one step closer to March Madness, and with each loss he questions why this team hasn’t come together quite the way he expected.
One thing, he says, is for certain — talk is cheap.
“If we play well enough then we’ll get in that top four,” Altman said. “If we don’t play well enough, then talking about it is not going to do anything. We’ve got to focus on Washington and try to go win a ball game.”
Unlike last year, Oregon figures to have some postseason opportunities even if it doesn’t reach the NCAA Tournament. The Ducks won the College Basketball Invitational with a barely above .500 record last season, which arguably stemmed from the noise they were able to make in Los Angeles the week before.
“That was our only chance of a postseason, we thought at that time,” Sim said. “We took it very seriously and maybe (other teams) looked past us.”
That surely won’t be the case this year, should the Ducks put a stranglehold on a top-four seed.
It will be a telling month for Oregon. That much is clear. All the proverbial eggs are in this basket, and over these next few weeks we’ll see if Altman can truly pull off this remarkable one-year turnaround.