Could The Oregon Ducks Earn A Number One Seed In The NCAA Tournament?

The Oregon Ducks still have work to do to land a top seed for the NCAA Tournament, but they are off to a good start entering the Pac-12 Tournament.

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On Saturday afternoon the Oregon Ducks won their first Pac-12 Regular Season Title since 2002 and are heading into the Pac-12 Tournament this week as the top seed, but do they have a chance at a number one seed in the NCAA Tournament next month? This past week has seen some upsets and there will likely be a few more this week as the Pac-12 Tournament begins in Las Vegas on Wednesday.

As far as the experts are concerned the Oregon Ducks are on the right track heading into the Pac-12 Tournament. Joe Lunardi from ESPN and Jerry Palm from CBS Sports both agree that Dana Altman’s team will play close to home in Spokane. Lundardi has the Oregon Ducks as a three seed, Palm a three seed. With the two wins this week Oregon added to an already impressive resume and evened their Pac-12 Road record in their last ten home and away games to to 5-5 and an even .500 mark.

Bracketology Breakdown: ESPN’s Joe Lunardi

• Oregon is a 2 Seed, Will play first two rounds in Spokane, Washington
• 1st Round vs 14 Seed UAB, Other schools in Spokane: 6 Seed Baylor, 11 Seed Monmouth

Thoughts: What is interesting here, aside from the sunglasses that may need to be worn of Baylor meets Oregon is that the Ducks have a win against the Bears earlier this season and could be a big advantage for Oregon.

Bracketology Breakdown: CBS and Jerry Palm

• Oregon is a 2 Seed, again, playing in Spokane, Washington
• The Ducks face 15 Seed New Mexico State in Round 1
• Temple and Seton Hall await in Round 2, the top seed is North Carolina in the West Bracket and would be the likely Round 3 matchup for Oregon

Thoughts: The Oregon matchup with Temple could be fun to watch, for just the storyline of a historic program going against a Pac-12 team who is still  working toward getting there. If Oregon gets past the Spokane bracket they would face a second historic program in North Carolina.

If the Oregon Ducks can continue their run and take the Pac-12 Championship, they would have a shot at a number one seed, but it would likely take a top team falling in their respective Conference Tournament for Oregon to move up. If the Ducks fall out early in the Pac-12 Tournament I don’t see them falling very far, maybe a seed or two but no lower than a 4 seed.

Next: Oregon Named Pac-12 Regular Season Champions

The Pac-12 Tournament begins this week in Las Vegas on Wednesday. Oregon will get a first round bye and play either the 8 seed Washington or 9 seed Stanford on Thursday.