So now it starts.
After a season of low expectations, the Oregon men’s basketball team shocked the country and won the Pacific-10 Conference title.
But years from now, the Ducks will be remembered for how they performed in the NCAA Tournament. They will be a Sweet 16 team, or a Final Four team.
Or, if Montana has its way, the Ducks will be a first-round team.
“We’re so focused in on getting ready for our next opponent,” Oregon head coach Ernie Kent said.
Oregon, the No. 2 seed in the Midwest regional, will face 15th-seeded Montana at 2 p.m. today. With the country, or at least the region, watching on CBS, the Ducks will try to win in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1960.
Montana is an enigma. They went through the Big Sky regular season with a 7-7 record and seemed destined to watch the Big Dance from home. But then came a magical Big Sky Tournament run, and the Grizzlies ended up as the automatic qualifier from the conference.
The Grizzlies and Ducks have history in more than one way. Montana standout Brett Cummings played against Oregon guard Luke Ridnour in the Washington State AA championship game in 1999. Ridnour’s Blaine Borderites won that game over Cummings’ Pullman Greyhounds, and also won the state title the following year.
As far as team history, the Ducks and Grizzlies played in the same conference, the Pacific Coast Conference, in the early part of the 20th century. Oregon leads the series, 21-4, but Montana has had luck in modern times.
The Grizzlies were the last team to beat the Ducks in a season opener. But “beat” is too nice a term. Montana clobbered Oregon, 78-38, in the opener of the 1991-92 season. That game was the Ducks’ first without star Terrell Brandon, who was drafted after the 1990-91 season.
Of course, this meeting is much different. The Ducks have heaps of pressure on them to perform in the tournament, but Kent said they won’t feel that pressure.
“They’re the Pac-10 champions,” Kent said. “They’ve handled themselves extremely well the entire year, with all that same pressure on them for the last 12 or 13 games. Biggest game in school history, must-win games — all of that. This pressure won’t affect them at all.”
Perhaps the Ducks aren’t feeling the pressure of the high tournament seed because they feel it’s a reward for hard work on and off the court all season long. Ridnour said the players even talked about the tournament before the season started.
“We talked about making it to the tournament and going as far as we could,” Ridnour said.
The Ducks see tough defense as important to a deep run in the NCAA Tournament. Oregon is a noted offensive team — the Ducks ended the season ranked first in the Pac-10 in scoring with 85.9 points per game — but will need to play defense to win in the postseason.
“We’re going to stay with our defense,” Kent said. “That’s the key to our destiny.”
As the Ducks get set to take on Montana today, they aren’t thinking about their fate in the 2002 Big Dance. When asked if he was looking forward to a possible matchup with Kansas in the Elite Eight, Kent responded immediately.
“Not at all,” Kent said. “We’re not looking any further than Montana.”