Oregon Women’s Basketball: Ducks On Outside Of Associated Press Top 25 Poll

The Oregon Ducks have won five straight and nine of their last 10 and are starting to get noticed with votes in the Associated Press Weekly poll.

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The Oregon Women’s Basketball Program has come a long way in the time that Kelly Graves has been Head Coach. They have won nine of their last ten games. The team is on a five game winning streak in the Pac-12 Conference, something they have not done this late in the season since 2004. There are plenty of teams in Women’s College Basketball that have built a legacy. Connecticut comes to mind. In the Pac-12 Conference, Stanford is there just about every year. Winning is not something that happens over night, but Graves has a proven background of honing talent and this team is learning how to win on the job.

When the Associated Press poll was released on Tuesday the Oregon Ducks were not ranked in the Top 25, but going down the list were inside the Top 40, coming at at 35th. This is significant. It shows that voters are paying attention and with the statistics mentioned above, how could you not. Oregon has an opportunity this week to return to the rankings for the first time since starting the year by beating North Carolina on the road.

The Oregon Ducks started the season undefeated during the non-conference slate and began Pac-12 play with five straight losses, but have rebounded to now five straight wins. The Ducks will be hard pressed to make a big move into the AP Poll with Oregon State sitting in the top ten with just three losses. Jillian Alleyne and Company host 12th ranked UCLA on Friday night at Matthew Knight Arena. Winning or losing that game will not make or break their season for the Oregon Ducks, but a win could be a statement win into the NCAA Tournament.

One thing this team deserves are fans to come watch. Sunday will be Alleyne’s final game in an Oregon uniform and she has done so much for this program, a fuller house at Matthew Knight Arena is much deserved for her and the Seniors on this team that have been through two different coaches, different styles of play on both sides of the ball – 19 wins is not an easy mark, but they did it and they did it together as a team. They deserve to be seen.

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The Oregon Ducks hosts Cal on Friday at 6pm Pacific Time and USC on Sunday at 2pm for Senior Day.