NIT: Oregon and Washington

Before the NIT started, I said that either Oregon or Washington will win the entire thing. I stand by that, but I will change my mind on which team wins this game. Washington’s 21 point win over Northwestern swayed me, while an incompetent defensive display against Iowa did not. Oregon is the better offensive team than Washington, but they are significantly worse defensively and are less talented. This is going to be a tough game, but Oregon will not pick up a win in Seattle and will go 0-2 on the season in road games against their rivals. Abdul Gaddy and the Huskies called out the Ducks, and they will defeat them.

There are definitely certain things playing in the Ducks favor, such as Devoe Joseph, a player I practically worship- and for good reason. He has been worth four wins this season, but that total jumps up to five if we factored in the six games that he missed for the Oregon Ducks this season. Joseph averages 1.21 points per possession, averages 1.4 steals per game, is a solid passer, rarely turns the ball over, and he has a 60.5 TS% and a 22.4 PER to the lead the team overall. He is the only player with the talent to match Terrence Ross for us.

However, the Ducks are built on efficiency and not talent. We have solid glue guys who are juniors and seniors (Tyrone Nared, Jeremy Jacob etc.) who play tough defense and do the little things to help us win. Tony Woods is our defensive star, and we have guys like Olu Ashaolu, E.J. Singler, and Carlos Emory who help shoulder the rebounding load and end up with solid, unspectacular rebounding totals. Oregon has a sharpshooter in Garrett Sim, the bench scorer in Emory, the high-flyer in Ashaolu, the superstar in Joseph, the tough defensive player in Woods, the leader and 20 PER sidekick in Singler, and the veterans who help patch everything together.

I really don’t want to pick against the Ducks, but I’m going to have to. C.J. Wilcox isn’t as efficient as Sim, but he’s certainly more talented. Devoe Joseph is great, but Terrence Ross is slightly better. The only advantage we have in the top three is E.J. Singler over Terrence Wroten. The Ducks have more depth and efficiency, but the Huskies have more talent, athleticism, and better defense. In the end, the Huskies win at home in the best game in the recent history of the NIT. If you can hold Drew Crawford to five points and dominate a solid team in Northwestern, then you can defeat your biggest rivals. Prediction: Washington over Oregon 85-82.

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