Dana Altman and Oregon basketball are just a couple of weeks away from tipoff.
It's been a long offseason since losing to Creighton in heartbreaking fashion in the Round of 32. Altman had a chance to upset his former school which was a No. 3 seed in the Midwest and even took the Bluejays to overtime and then another overtime before crumbling late and losing by 13.
That games still lives rent-free in my head (because, like, how?) but it's time to move on and look ahead to the 2024-25 season in which the Ducks are expecting to build off of last year's 24-12 team.
Oregon also won the final Pac-12 Tournament ever and that got them to the NCAA Tournament as a 12-seed. It was honestly a really cool story and that first-round upset of South Carolina was fun to watch. This team was really fun to watch at the end of the year and there are many who believe they'll be dancing in March this year, too.
One of those people is actually college basketball expert and ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi. The go-to voice for early bracket projections has Oregon making this year's tournament.
Lunardi has the Ducks projected as a No. 9 seed in the Midwest, facing 8-seeded Clemson in the first round and the winner would take on the overall No. 1 seed: Kansas.
If all goes as planned, the Ducks will contend in their first year in the Big Ten as the conference is expected to be slightly down this year with Zach Edey gone and Purdue taking a step back. Beware of teams like Indiana, Illinois, Purdue, Michigan State, Michigan, and Ohio State, though.
There's still a lot of work to do, but the Ducks are getting some preseason love.