Oregon moves to "Next Four Out" in Joe Lunardi's latest NCAA tourney projections
Entering the day on Thursday, Oregon was sitting squarely in the “First Four Out” category for Joe Lunardi’s NCAA Tournament projections. He said a week ago that for the Ducks to make the postseason tourney, they’d need to split games against USC and UCLA, then sweep the Washington schools.
Oregon got a win over UCLA, but then lost by one point to USC. On Thursday night, their tournament hopes probably flat-lined, barring something drastic in the conference tournament. Oregon lost to Washington 78-67, and Friday morning Lunardi dropped the Ducks into the “Next Four Out” category of his bubble projections, teetering on falling off altogether.
— Joe Lunardi (@ESPNLunardi) March 4, 2022
The Ducks (18-12, 11-8) also slipped behind Colorado to No. 5 in the conference standings, meaning an automatic bid to the tournament would need to come from a four-wins-in-four-days run through the field in Vegas.
With the Ducks falling nearly falling off the bubble, it’s looking like the Pac-12 will get just three into the Field of 68—Arizona (a 1-seed for Lunardi), UCLA (4-seed), and USC (7-seed).
Oregon plays Washington State on Saturday at 1 p.m. PT.