When former University of Utah basketball coach and current ESPN college basketball pundit Rick Majerus mispronounced “Oregon” (as in “Or-ee-gone”) in making his prediction for the Oregon-Winthrop match-up in the Round of 32 of the NCAA tournament this weekend, something seemed amiss. I####uy botches the name of an entire state, most of what follows has to be looked at as somewhat suspect. So, when Majerus lauded Winthrop’s tenacity and dangerous inside-outside threats and dismissed Oregon as a vulnerable perimeter-only team, his analysis seemed shaky, if only because he hadn’t even been able to pronounce one of the teams correctly.
On a separate segment, longtime college hoops personalities Digger Phelps and #### Vitale echoed Majerus’ evaluation of the match-up: Winthrop – tenacious, versatile; Oregon – one-dimensional, inconsistent. And Winthrop had the “Cinderella” factor going for them. As an 11-seed, the Eagles were one of only two double-digit seeds still left in the tournament field. However, as recently as last year, another 11th-seeded team, George Mason, reeled off a shocking string of wins to advance all the way to the Final Four. So, the sentiment was there for an unlikely school from a small conference (Big South) to knock off one the “power” conference big shots.
And in fairness to Majerus, Digger, and Dickie V, Oregon (as in “Or-eh-gun”) didn’t play well in their first-round game against Miami (Ohio), barely edging the heavy underdog Redhawks. Meanwhile, Winthrop simply outplayed a very good Notre Dame team, getting 24 points from center Craig Bradshaw and 20 from guard Torrell Martin.
However, Oregon reached the NCAA tournament as a #3-seed for a reason. They’re a pretty good basketball team. Although they struggled against Miami (Ohio), shooting just 5-for-16 from 3-point range, senior guard Aaron Brooks never panicked and never let his teammates to do so, either. Brooks led the Ducks with 18 points, was perfect from the free throw line, and had only two turnovers to go along with five assists. So, even when the perimeter shots aren’t falling, Oregon can stay in games a lot longer than most, because they are very good at protecting the basketball and can knock down their free throws. And when the 3’s are falling, the Ducks can score with the best of them.
Just ask Winthrop.
Though the Eagles had looked very impressive against Notre Dame and were carrying a gaudy 29-4 record into the game against Oregon, they just couldn’t get untracked against the Ducks. Oregon’s quick, swarming defense gave the Big South champions problems, and Bradshaw and Martin, who had combined to score 44 against Notre Dame, were held to 25 points on 9-of-24 shooting.
Conversely, the Ducks found the long-range shooting touch they had been missing in their opening-round game. Against Winthrop, Oregon hit on 48% of their shots beyond the arc. Brooks was 5-of-9 from 3-point range, while Tajuan Porter hit on 4-of-8 long distance shots. The result was a convincing 14-point win. And just like that, two of the smallest players on the floor rang midnight on Winthrop’s Cinderella season.
Credit the Eagles on a brilliant year, though. It was a season that saw a conference championship title and one of the few upsets in this year’s NCAA tournament.
For the Ducks, their season continues. A tough match-up beckons with another team fresh off a big upset win. The UNLV Runnin' Rebs are not the same snarling, high-flying machine that Tark the Shark took to the NCAA title in 1990 with Larry Johnson and Stacey Augmon intimidating opponents into the fetal position. However, Lon Kruger’s current UNLV team is a tough bunch. They rely on Kevin Kruger (Lon’s son), Wendell White, and Wink Adams for points and Gaston Essengue and Joel Anthony to sway shots away in the paint. And they play tough defense. They’ve already sent Georgia Tech and #2-seed Wisconsin home and are as hungry as any team left in the field.
Meanwhile, Oregon enters the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2002 with an eight-game winning streak and a rediscovered outside shooting touch. Brooks and Porter pace the offense but Bryce Taylor, Malik Hairston, and Maarty Leunen can be dangerous as well.
It shapes up to be a fast-paced showdown in St. Louis for the right to move on to the Elite Eight. And let’s just hope that being among the final 16 teams still standing in college basketball has earned the Ducks a little prestige, like having pundits pronounce their name correctly while making predictions, even if those predictions lack that same degree of accuracy.
Nooch is a lifelong sports fan who believes that Indianapolis ended up with a slightly better QB than San Diego in the 1998 NFL Draft, the Golden State Warriors may not make the NBA playoffs again in his lifetime (how was I supposed to know that Chris Mullin would make a coaching hire and a mid-season trade that would basically save the franchise?), and that Mike Ivie's pinch-hit, game winning grand slam for the Giants against the Dodgers in 1978 may have been the greatest moment in baseball history.
