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- Oregon basketball will not make March Madness this season.
- Instead, the Ducks will be playing in the NIT and head coach Dana Altman has a great comparison for the result.
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Oregon basketball lost to Colorado in the Pac-12 Tournament on Thursday night and effectively ended its March Madness hopes. After losing the game, the Ducks will not be invited to the NCAA Tournament and will likely end up in the NIT.
Oregon won its first round game against in-state rivals Oregon State, but the Buffaloes proved to be too much for the Ducks. Following the game, head coach Dana Altman offered a hilarious comparison for how his team’s season is going to finish.
“We had aspirations of going to the Rose Bowl and we’re going to the Weed-Eater Bowl,” Altman said in his postgame press conference.
The Rose Bowl, in this instance, is the Big Dance. The Weed-Eater Bowl is the NIT.
Altman expressed interest in playing in the NIT, since Oregon will not be invited to March Madness, but he is clearly disappointed by the result. In his words, it is like when a Pac-12 football team does not win the conference and competes in the Holiday Bowl or something of lesser status.
It is still worth the trip, and the Ducks always want every opportunity to compete, but it just isn’t the same. It’s a consolation bracket.
Oregon finished the year at 19-14 overall and 11-9 in the Pac-12. It is the least amount of wins that the Ducks have had under Altman since his first year with the team and rather disappointing.
Nobody wants to play in the Weed-Eater Bowl when the Rose Bowl has become the standard.