Oregon's up-and-down season looks to be heading in the right direction at the perfect time. A theme that Dana Altman coached teams tend to share. A five-game losing streak knocked the Ducks out of the AP Top 25 for the first time since early December.
The losing skid in late January and early February had the chance to derail a season with plenty of postseason potential. Thankfully for Oregon fans, that's the last time the team lost. Since Feb.11, the Ducks have had a seven-game winning streak and only have one game left until their inaugural Big Ten Tournament.
The huge swing of momentum during this win streak has Oregon looking like a potential 5-6 seed for the big dance. Before then, the Ducks have to take care of business against one of the most competitive conferences in the country.
As it currently stands, Oregon's new conference harbors five teams ranked inside the AP Top 25. Out of those teams, the Ducks have a combined 2-3 record and an overall 11-8 record against conference opponents.
That's where the main problem lies. Oregon has only lost one non-conference game all year long. The Big Ten, however, has been a challenging puzzle to solve.
They don't have much time to figure it out either. The Ducks will come into the conference tournament as the 8 seed with Indiana as their first test. The potential road to a Big Ten title is tricky, but thankfully the team is playing it's best basketball as of late.
The overtime win in Seattle on Sunday brought the active winning streak to 7 games. Now, there's nothing left but the postseason. The first Big Ten matchups begin on Wednesday for the 5-day long tournament. With the seedings finalized, I'm going to go over some potential matchups that could give Oregon the most trouble.
You can look at Oregon's 8 seed with a glass half empty half full approach. While the 1st round bye is a plus, lining up to face the top-seeded Spartans in the 3rd round is not.
Michigan State is one of the best teams in the country and is the only team besides Oregon with an active 7-game winning streak. The Spartans are a relatively young team, with only three seniors getting rotational minutes. What they lack in seniority, they make up for in efficient basketball.
The Spartans ended the regular season with the 13th-best free throw percentage in the nation and had the 15th most assists in the nation. They can move the ball around well and have plenty of options to choose from when it's time to stack points. Seven players are averaging at least 7 points or more, with Jaden Akins leading the way, averaging 13 per contest.
If Oregon can get past Indiana, the rematch with Michigan State will be set. In the first meeting between the two schools, Oregon lost by 12, with the electric freshman Jase Richardson scoring a career-high 29 points.
To get the upper hand this time, the Ducks will need to focus on grabbing the glass and keeping Richardson's hot hand to a minimum. Michigan State outrebounded them by 13 en route to the dominate victory.
Out of all the teams on this list, UCLA may scare me the most. The Bruins come into their inaugural Big Ten Tournament as the 4 seed. While UCLA has the worst overall record on this list, they have done something that no other team in the country has done.
Twice this year, the Bruins have come out victorious against the Ducks. The first game in December was a heartbreaker, losing by a two due to a game-winning three on the other end.
Revenge was expected for the second meeting, but UCLA had other plans. In January, the Bruins annihilated the Ducks in Los Angeles by a whopping 26 points.
Oregon could potentially see them a third time in the semifinals, and it will be a tough ask to break the streak. The most challenging part about the Bruins is their ability to play clean. In both of the previous matchups, Oregon lost the turnover margin and picked up a lot more fouls than UCLA.
They aren't as hot right now, though. Over its last five games, UCLA only has a 2-3 record and hasn't been ranked inside the AP Top 25 since early January.
They'll enter the tournament against either Wisconsin or the winner of Minnesota vs Iowa and will be one of the top contenders to win the whole thing.
I still had to include Maryland on this list despite being the only team on here that Oregon has already beaten. That game in early January was when things were a lot different. Oregon was the No. 9 ranked team in the nation, while Maryland wasn't even ranked. Now, Maryland comes into the postseason as the No. 13 ranked team in the nation, while the Ducks are no longer ranked.
Things change quickly in college basketball and the Terrapins have seen that in full throttle. After losing to the Ducks, Maryland went on to go 13-3 to close things out as the second best team in the conference.
Led by a monster freshman in Derik Queen, who's averaging 16 and 10, the Terrapins are one of the better-scoring teams in the conference. Every starter in their lineup averages at least 12 points a game.
On the other hand, they have one of the worst-scoring benches in the nation, and that's where Oregon has the edge.
In the first matchup between the two teams, the Ducks had two bench players score in the double digits. Shelstad added 23 of his own to help outlast the Terrapins. If the two teams meet again in the conference final, I think that will be the key factor. If the Ducks can utilize the bench, they'll have a very good shot at another win.