Oregon Game Thread

[The Buddha]

This Ducks team will be a handful. Grave doubts about this game.

[3ontheway]

Jays -5 1/2

I'm seeing -7 on DK. I'm sure it'll drop by tip

ESPNB has -5 1/2

[omajay]

Tons of injuries. Missing two starters and one five star recruit now. Dante missed a month or two earlier in the season. This team is athletic. Their freshman PG is a stud.

[Chicagojayfan]

At this point there really aren't easy games left. Oregon's playing the best they've played all year, and Altman's a heckuva coach

At least we're facing a team that won't be pulling Kalk out to the 3 PT line

[go_jays]

Kenpom would say -5.75 to be exact. But he's taking the season in as a whole. You really can't do that. Dante has only played 21 games. He was not available for the 99-91 loss to Alabama at home. I don't think he was available for the first ten games or so. So, this team can't be judged by its overall season. It's definitely a different team than it was even a few weeks ago.

I'm guessing that Mac will start Trey on Cousinard. Then we might see a switch to Baylor depending on how the game progresses. I think Mac will want Baylor available to help our rebounding given that Evans will probably be a handful for Miller. Or he might play Green as the game goes on.

Oregon is at the top of their game now. They have "found themselves". They'll have a lot of confidence and swag going into this game. But not unlike the Akron game, if we can limit the damage by Cousinard and Dante, the rest of the team looks pretty pedestrian. I think a stalemate between Kalk and Dante is acceptable. The key will be holding Cousinard down. I really doubt he'll throw down 40 again. We'll see.

Again, gonna point out that turnovers are gonna be critical to our success. You saw it in the Akron game and Baylor alluded to it in his post game interview. You have to make sure every possession counts. Sure, efficiency is important. But you need a significant sample size for those percentages to work themselves out.

I think this will be a nail-biter. But we have more weapons than they do. AND, Mac is familiar with Dana's match-up zone. The familiarity favors Mac, IMO. Mac is in a different world now that he has some elite talent to work with. I think Dana is still Dana.

Go Jays

[SeattleJay]

Hopefully, we can handle their match up zone. Thoughts?

[cu8493]

IMO, if we pass it around the perimeter and shoot 30 3s, it will not go well. Will have to attack the short corners and free throw line extended areas, and find gaps for offensive rebounds

[JayPak]

Creighton got a raw deal with Akron being a few hours from Pittsburgh. Not many teams can be traveling farther than Oregon. Hopefully the long travel and multi-time zone jump will catch up on, let’s say, Saturday. I’m cheering for an early game. That’ll be like Oregon playing at 9am PT.

Not going to happen. Only one early game, and it will be North Carolina/Michigan State.

Edit - I stand corrected. Will be Arizona/Dayton.

[Jaybird]

At long last, a chance at sweet revenge. Time for payback for Nike U’s bizarre camo court and that optical illusion of a time line of theirs. They beat us then with tricks and a cagey paint job. That won’t work in Pittsburgh.

Unless Nike sabotaged the team’s sneaks. I wouldn’t put it past all those lumberjacks out there.

[NUgradCUfan]

This Ducks team will be a handful. Grave doubts about this game.

Any fan going in doubting us in this game is a loser and has a loser, mid major mentality. No offense.