Oregon Ducks and Colorado Basketball

This is a special preview of the Pac-12 tournament, because I did a Q&A with Ralphie Report blogger Ash Jackson previewing the tilt between the Oregon Ducks and Colorado Buffaloes. Jackson is a contributor to the SB Nation Buffaloes site, and he was kind enough to answer three quick questions to help us get a better feel of the Buffs heading into the matchup.

Check out my answers to their questions.

1. Which of these two star guards will have the bigger game, Carlon Brown or Devoe Joseph? Do you think Joseph should have been the Pac-12 POY, or are you in agreement with the choice the coaches made on Jorge Gutierrez? How about Andre Roberson, who was my pick for Pac-12 POY?

My guess is Joseph (avg 16.8 ppg) will have more points than Carlon Brown (12.3 ppg) but that neither will have a 30-point game type of night. As far as player of the year; I don’t know if Joseph was consistent enough (but then again, neither was Jorge Gutierrez). I like Roberson for obvious reasons, and agree that he made the greatest difference for his team compared to some of the other candidates, but it’s also tough to argue that the conference’s player of the year is on a team that finished tied for 5th in the conference (again, with the consistency). I’ve always thought it’s a little funny having coaches vote for those positions; on the one hand they know, but on the other hand they really don’t know.

2. Alright, same question to you. What does Colorado have to do to win and what must they do in order to avoid losing?

We have to keep Oregon off the foul line, and we have to be more patient with our offense when the perimeter is locked down.  We cannot commit ridiculous turnovers and we cannot let the game get out of hand. We must take every rebound…and actually convert them, and we must play well in transition.

3. Final thoughts, who wins this game? Does Colorado have a chance at making the NCAAs, and what do they have to do to achieve this? Is Oregon deserving of an appearance in the NCAAs? How many Pac-12 teams deserve to go to the Big Dance and which teams are they?

As close as our victory was against y’all a month ago, I see this one coming down to the wire, with Colorado prevailing in the end (surprising, I know). Colorado’s only chance of playing in the tournament is with an automatic bid. I think that if we don’t win the tournament we simply won’t be invited.  As for Oregon, their case would probably be made if they made it to the final game of the tournament. Deserving Pac-12 teams? Eeesh. My guess is that they’ll take the minimum they can; Washington and Cal.

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