Ducks dump Duke, do Pac-12 proud

ANAHEIM, Calif.

You would have never known the sort of pressure Oregon’s basketball team carried here Thursday night, the weight of an entire conference, the burden of proving its worth on a national stage, the importance of making a significant statement.

I’m not sure players this quick and athletic are ever impeded by anything.

The Pac-12 might have stunk up the bracket during this NCAA Tournament, but the one remaining representative appears more than capable of atoning for the sins of its brethren.

It appears capable of winning the whole darn thing.

Oregon ended Duke’s quest to defend its national championship by being too fast and too bouncy and too long and too everything, eliminating the Blue Devils 82-68 in a West Region semifinal before 17,601 at the Honda Center.

The top-seeded Ducks next face second-seeded Oklahoma in an Elite Eight game on Saturday at 3:09 p.m., with the winner advancing to the Final Four next week in Houston.

“Every year, a few leagues are evaluated for not playing well in the NCAA Tournament because there is so much emphasis on it,” Oregon coach Dana Altman said. “I’ve only been in our league for six years, but this one was the best. I’m a little disappointed, like everyone else, our league didn’t fare as well in the tournament.

“We didn’t do well as a conference. That’s fair.”

It’s not new. The Pac-12 has been stumbling along March Madness for a while now. It received a record seven bids this year and all but the Ducks were eliminated before the first week’s games concluded. Arizona was one-and-done. So was California and Colorado and Oregon State and Southern California. Utah might as well have been, given its second-round game was a disastrous 82-59 loss to Gonzaga.

Translation: The conference office today is offering a huge dose of thanks for these Ducks.

Duke and its limited bench probably went as far as its numbers and ability allowed this season, and when you consider Oregon’s wave of speed and pressure and explosive nature, the idea of Mike Krzyzewski’s team being able to keep up over 40 minutes grew sillier with each breakaway dunk by the guys wearing white.

“They were the better team,” Krzyzewski said. “That was pretty obvious. Great athletes playing together. They just knocked us back and were always in control. You think your guy is open and then … they have guys who defend laterally and once you get past them, they have others that go horizontal. We can’t practice against that. We can’t simulate that. Not a lot of people can.

“With the injuries we’ve had this season and the limited number of guys, for us to win 25 games and make the Sweet 16 was a terrific year. I wish we could have played better, but Oregon didn’t let us play better. We expect to win every time we step on the court or I shouldn’t be coaching. But (Oregon) played so well. They’re so good, playing them isn’t very smooth. We lost to a hell of a team.”

It’s more than keeping the Pac-12’s heart beating this March for Oregon. It’s also about a football school that has made major strides in basketball under Altman, who spent 16 years at Creighton before agreeing to leave Omaha for the Pacific Northwest, to the state where Nike houses its headquarters and the school most defined by a swoosh sits in the charming college town of Eugene.

But there is no greater measuring stick to gauge a program’s progress than facing Duke, especially this time of year. Oregon is obviously the better team today, but nothing makes a louder and more emphatic statement than beating the team from Durham. The Ducks did more than that. They ran Duke out of the building.

Oregon comes at you from so many ways. Five players scored in double figures Thursday, led by about as versatile a player as the nation knows in sophomore Dillon Brooks. He finished with 22 points, five rebounds and six assists in 38 minutes.

The Ducks are now 21-0 when holding opponents under 70 points.

They are 26-0 when leading at halftime, which they did by five.

They have a school-record 31 wins.

“Any time you get to play someone as established like Duke, with all Coach K has done, it’s a great opportunity,” Altman said. “Our basketball tradition is not that great. We are working to improve that. We haven’t been to a Final Four since 1939. Duke has proven itself over and over. It is a household name. Our guys knew the significance of playing Duke as a defending national champion, all the Final Fours and titles they have won. It was a different feel for our team, our fans. It was a special for our program.

“We’re excited to be in the (Elite Eight). It has been a long time coming for our school, for our coaching staff. We do have good teams in the (Pac-12), but right now it’s about Oregon. It’s about us.”

They carry the banner, the pressure, the weight and burden of it all.

You would never know it.

They are too fast and bouncy and long and everything.

Ed Graney can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4618. He can be a heard on “Seat and Ed” on Fox Sports 1340 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. On Twitter: @edgraney