Oregon Basketball: 3 keys to a deep 2021 NCAA Tournament run

Oregon basketball’s first-round NCAA Tournament matchup with VCU won’t be a cakewalk, but here’s how the Ducks can win and make a deep run.

The Pac-12 season didn’t end quite as Oregon had hoped as the Ducks fell to a surging Oregon State team in the semifinals of the conference tournament.

That loss led to Oregon getting a 7-seed in the NCAA Tournament instead of a No. 6 or No. 5 seed like USC and Colorado, respectively. If the Ducks had won the conference tourney, there was even talk that they would have gotten a 4-seed or better.

It’s easy to play the “what if?” game, but Oregon still has a decent road ahead of them, starting with 10-seeded VCU on Saturday night and if the Ducks win that one, they’ll likely face No. 2 seed Iowa in the second round — that’s also a tough, but winnable, matchup.

Don’t doubt Dana Altman in March, though.

What are the main keys for another deep run for Altman and the Ducks in the 2021 NCAA Tournament?

3. Stop settling for low-percentage shots

One of the common themes in losses this year is settling for low-percentage shots. The most recent, yet prime, example of this was the Oregon State game in the Pac-12 Tournament.

The Ducks got down early and tried to make up the deficit with 3-point jumpers because the deep-ball worked so well against the Beavers in the season finale (Oregon made 15-of-23 against OSU in the finale). It wasn’t working and the Ducks were coming up with empty trip after empty trip when they could have pounded the ball in the paint or could have taken open mid-range jumpers that are higher-percentage shots.

Oregon finished that game 6-for-25 from deep while shooting a solid 57 percent from inside the arc. That just goes to show that they are extremely efficient when they realize that the 3-point shot isn’t falling and they work the ball inside.

If the shots aren’t falling early, don’t settle and continue to work the ball toward the basket. This will avoid big deficits early.