Be thankful that Oregon basketball has reached a point where its performance in the Pacific-10 Conference tournament only factors into its seeding for March Madness rather than being its only method of reaching it.
This team’s come a long way from the one that was playing for its life last year. Every Duck fan should be grateful that they can watch the Pac-10 tournament knowing Oregon’s postseason fate doesn’t hang in the balance.
While that’s the reasoning and beauty of the conference tournament season – that any team can make the Big Dance regardless of its record – it’s also the reason why Oregon shouldn’t play with the same reckless abandon that it did last year. It has its NCAA bid secured and the difference between the Ducks winning the Pac-10 tourney and losing its first or second game will result on being two or three seeds higher.
Is that worth it? Is playing three intense, beat-em-up games against the best teams in the conference worth the effort to be seeded as a three instead of six?
You can have your own opinion of whether or not Oregon should try to win the thing. I say they should know better than to play like its season is at stake.
This Ducks have already been accused of playing tired too many times this season and if they look tired before bouncing out of the first round of the NCAA’s, well, that’ll be disappointing for everyone.
Washington might have benefited from losing to Oregon last year in the second round of the conference tournament. While the Ducks were trying to make up for a disappointing regular season, the Huskies weren’t inspired to expend the energy necessary to keep up with Oregon.
The result? Washington reached the Sweet 16 as a No. 5 seed, beating Utah State and Illinois before losing to No. 1 University of Connecticut.
Of course, UCLA was the winner of the Pac-10 regular season and conference tournament (a likely scenario for this year as well) and ended up playing in the NCAA Finals (less likely).
Because Oregon won’t be a No. 2 seed like UCLA was last year and will likely be seeded between a No. 4 and 6, the Ducks should consider saving themselves for the tournament that matters most.
With that, I’m not saying that Oregon should give up in today’s game. Tanking exclusively for the benefit of having energy for playing a game that’s a week away is likely to be more detrimental than beneficial for the team. The Ducks have been playing with a new-found intensity as of late and hopefully translate that in today’s game in order to build some confidence before March Madness begins. If they purposely lose, they’ll likely lose whatever momentum they had.
The best case scenario? Beat Arizona today, lose to UCLA in a contested game Friday and end up as a four or five seed on Selection Sunday.
And, if Oregon’s playing in games that have little impact on their season, maybe Kent should consider (and hopefully is) giving Chamberlain Oguchi extended playing time in Los Angeles.
Oguchi nearly carried the team to the tournament finals last year, scoring 63 points in three games.
While Oguchi has been unable to match that performance for the entirety of this season, hopefully he can regain his magic three-point stroke just in time when a team may need to rely on a sixth man the most.
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