PORTLAND, Ore. — Finally.
Oregon women’s basketball has finally reached the promised land. The No. 2-seed Ducks are flying southeast to Tampa Bay, Florida, for their first ever Final Four appearance.
The confetti is finally falling for the Ducks, the party is finally for them.
After back-to-back years of Elite Eight heartbreak, the Ducks have cleared the hurdle.
“Gosh, darn, we’ve been in this position a couple times, in a losing press conference,” head coach Kelly Graves said. “It’s really nice to make that next step. Who knows what happens from here?”
When Graves took over the program it was hard to imagine the team being a powerhouse. The Ducks played in the WNIT just three seasons ago.
“It takes great players. It truly does,” Graves said. “We started from scratch, so to speak. There were great kids in the program, really good players. We weren’t quite the championship level yet.”
Sabrina Ionescu changed all that. She has proven why she’s the best in the country time and time again, and on the Elite Eight stage she provided a near-triple-double performance, scoring 31 points, grabbing seven rebounds and making eight assists.
As a freshman, Ionescu helped lead the Ducks to an Elite Eight and did it again a year later. Now, the junior has lifted Oregon to another program first.
“This year, we had some pretty brutal losses, especially to Stanford in that championship game but I think that just proves that it made us hungrier and I’d rather take a loss in the Pac-12 Championship than a Final Four berth,” she said. “We regrouped and got back together so I think everything off the court, our chemistry and everything to this point is something very special and we’re never going to forget.”
Ionescu helped bring Oregon into a national spotlight. The program is now on the national stage, and will have all eyes on it in Tampa Bay.
The Ducks are in unprecedented territory. This team has set a new expectation for the program, which should benefit from this season’s success in the long run.
“I think it’s gonna start being a big attraction for more big-time players,” redshirt sophomore Morgan Yaeger said. “In the past, it’s been UConn, South Carolina, Mississippi State, Notre Dame, those sort of teams. I think we’ve been such a great team for the past two three years, but I think this really now puts us on the map and it’s gonna be a really big attraction for the next generation of players.”
Most of the current players took risks by joining Oregon. The team didn’t have the swagger it does now, it didn’t have the screaming fans and the sellout crowds. But that has all changed.
“They don’t have to really take a chance anymore like we did,” Ionescu said. “They’re going to come into a winning program and one that’s going to take care of them and incorporate everything that Oregon basketball has.”
Follow Shawn Medow on Twitter @ShawnMedow
