Following Oregon’s 19-point win over Oregon State on Saturday afternoon, sophomore forward E.J. Singler was asked a question he may not have expected to field this season.
A reporter inquired about the Ducks’ postseason hopes, which have been recognized as a very real possibility during Oregon’s turnaround this past month.
“We’re looking to get into the NCAA or the NIT tournament,” said Singler, who scored 13 points and grabbed seven rebounds against Oregon State. “We have our sights set on doing well in the postseason.”
Oregon, currently 14-12 overall and 7-7 in Pacific-10 Conference play, has four league games remaining, beginning Thurston night against California. Contests with Stanford (eighth in the Pac-10 at 6-9) and Arizona State (last in the Pac-10 at 2-12) follow as two very winnable games.
Then the Ducks close out the regular season in Tucson against league-leading Arizona, a sure-fire NCAA tournament squad at 23-4 overall. With his team holding down the fourth spot in the league standings, head coach Dana Altman is keeping his focus on the game at hand.
“I don’t want the guys thinking ahead,” Altman said on Tuesday. “I don’t want them getting ahead of themselves. We just need to continue to focus on trying to get better every practice.”
If Oregon finished out the year with three wins in its next four games, it’d be 17-13 overall, and 10-8 in Pac-10 play. Only an outright conference bid, earned by winning the Pac-10 tournament in Los Angeles beginning March 9, would guarantee Oregon a slot in the NCAA tournament.
Regardless, the likelihood of the Ducks taking home the Pac-10 title remains an outside shot. And without that crown, an NCAA tournament berth remains out of the question.
The 32-team field for the National Invitation Tournament could still potentially be out of the Ducks’ reach, as well. Those squads are chosen after the NCAA selects the 68 teams to participate in its tournament. After that, the College Basketball Invitational and the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament each invite a 16-team field to their respective showcases.
The CBI and CIT aren’t generally well-received by most coaches and players, and some schools will simply decline the invitation. But with Oregon’s two veterans — Jay-R Strowbridge and Joevan Catron — vowing to see their final college seasons end in the postseason, the Ducks could potentially attend one of these third-tier tournaments.
“We have great seniors,” Singler said. “Jay-R and Joevan have done a great job leading us. We’ve stayed true to who we are and believed in Coach and his philosophy, and it has paid off.”
[email protected]