SPOKANE, Wash. – Oregon came in from the big-time conference. Oregon came in riding the wave of a seven-game winning streak. Oregon came in as the higher seed. Oregon came in with the higher-rated recruits. Oregon came in with, certainly, a home-court advantage.
And yet Oregon also came in playing like it had something great to prove to so many doubters – maybe even more to prove than the 11th-seeded Winthrop Eagles on Sunday.
To be certain, the Ducks heard all that was being said about them by analysts nationwide following their narrow 58-56 victory against Miami (Ohio) in the opening round on Friday. And that didn’t fall on deaf ears.
The Ducks are too soft. The Ducks are too small. Their switching mentality on defense won’t work. Winthrop is too strong inside. Winthrop is the Cinderella of the tournament.
Winthrop will beat Oregon.
“We heard quite a bit over the last couple days about our defense and we feel like we’re really a good defensive team,” Oregon coach Ernie Kent said. “This team did a great job of rising to the challenge.”
Oregon guard Aaron Brooks said: “I think that just gave us a extra little swagger. We were kind of put in an underdog role.”
And the Ducks essentially stole the Winthrop mantra. A team that calls itself the Junkyard Dogs, were picked to beat the Ducks here Sunday by many and that seemed to serve as motivation, much like it did for an Eagles team that picked up its first-ever tournament win two days earlier against heavily favored Notre Dame.
But the end result was a 75-61 victory for the Ducks against Winthrop. Oregon now advances to the Sweet 16 where it will face UNLV next Friday and the Ducks did it with a stifling defense.
Who knows, maybe Oregon enjoys this role of underdog.
Let’s see, no one expected much, certainly not a Sweet 16 berth, from Oregon this season, given that the Ducks finished last year with only 15 wins. Yet, the Ducks started the season 18-1 after an undefeated preseason.
When the ranking climbed to No. 7 with wins against Georgetown, Arizona and UCLA, and just when the buzz around this team circulated throughout the nation, Oregon lost six of eight games, had its tournament status in limbo, and questions again arose around whether or not this team was legit.
Yet, the Ducks responded with three impressive wins to end the season and a dominating run through the Pac-10 Tournament.
So who would have been surprised to hear the criticism again when Oregon struggled in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament against the Redhawks?
Sure, Miami effectively slowed the tempo, but this was a 14-seed hanging with a three-seed, right?
Truthfully, Oregon really didn’t look like a team capable of making a substantial run through the NCAA Tournament after Friday’s game and the doubters emerged. There wasn’t a lot of energy, not very impressive shooting, and a fairly vulnerable interior defense.
The undersized Ducks at least answered a few of those questions Sunday as they have time and time again this season.
Then again, maybe this underdog thing serves Oregon well.
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