With the NCAA Tournament cancelled, there will be no chance at a championship for either men’s or women’s basketball. After the women’s team won the Pac-12 Tournament last week, the men were not able to compete in their scheduled conference tournament. In a rapidly evolving situation, men’s head coach Dana Altman, senior point guard Payton Pritchard and women’s head coach Kelly Graves held a press conference on Friday afternoon.
The women’s team, winners of 19 games in a row, were poised for a national championship run. This group, which had defeated Team USA in the fall and received extensive national media coverage, will never have a satisfying conclusion to their story.
“When we look back it was still an incredible season,” Graves said. “Incredible, not just in winning, but actually the attention they brought to the game of basketball. I don’t know if there has been a women’s basketball team outside of UConn that has gotten that kind of attention nationally. I think it’s unprecedented quite frankly.”
Oregon had spent the entire 2019-2020 season breaking barriers for women’s basketball and receiving support from NBA legends like the late Kobe Bryant, whom Sabrina Ionescu gave a eulogy for. The team had widespread support this season from fans across not only the community, but the entire state of Oregon.
“We want to thank the fans, and we feel for them too,” Graves said. “The energy, it’s not just the numbers. It’s the energy. They appreciate good basketball and we never let off the gas. They were watching an iconic group.”
The men’s team also had an impressive season, never falling out of the top 25 and winning the Pac-12 regular-season championship
“Those were special moments,” Pritchard said. “Our next big goal was to win the Pac-12, and we achieved that.”
The team relied on many graduate transfers like Shakur Juiston and Anthony Mathis, not to mention the four-year senior Pritchard, who had their dreams cut short and seasons abruptly ended.
“Both of those guys are fifth-year guys and they are both probably anxious to get their pro careers started,” Altman said. “As far as Payton goes, he’s ready. He could’ve went [to the NBA] last year. He turned down a very good financial offer a year ago.”
The Ducks were prepared to play their quarterfinal game against Oregon State in Las Vegas on Thursday, as the Pac-12 didn’t cancel its tournament until Thursday, meaning that first-round game had already been played.
The NCAA has considered releasing a bracket which would have shown hypothetical first-round matchups, but with none of these games actually scheduled to be played, both Altman and Pritchard were uninterested in the proposal.
“At the end of the day, we don’t get to play it as players, so it doesn’t matter,” Pritchard said.
With the sports world at a standstill, it’s impossible to gauge a timeframe for a return to normalcy. But for Oregon basketball, a potentially special March has been lost.
