The month is March, and the Oregon Ducks are playing their best basketball
Success in sports, and especially college basketball, can sometimes boil down to hitting your stride at the right time. The Oregon Ducks certainly hit their stride last November, when they won The Players Era tournament in Las Vegas, beating two Top 25 teams along the way. But in February , when the Ducks lost five Big Ten games in a row, it seemed to many Oregon fans that the team from November was gone and the lasting memories of this season would be of unrealized potential.
But not these Ducks. These Ducks have their stride of November back — and the swagger of a team made for March.
Oregon's 73-64 win over Indiana on Tuesday night was its sixth straight victory — a direct and convincing response to the February five-game slide. Although they sit at the middle of the Big Ten table, the Hoosiers are a talented team, and the significance of the Ducks closing a tight game on a 10-0 run after trailing with 90 seconds to play can't be understated.
It's clear on every Oregon player's face when shots are falling, the crowd is going wild, and the opposing team has no choice but to put their hands together for a timeout: These Ducks are having fun. Obviously, it's fun to win six games in a row, but the Ducks are playing with more joy than your average winning college basketball team, and it's making an impact. The far corners of Matthew Knights Arena's upper deck — seats that haven't seen action in years — are full on weeknights, and the crowd is loving the show.
"We're all going out there playing for each other," Oregon shooting guard TJ Bamba said after the Ducks' win over Indiana. "If (Barthelemy) is hot, we're going to feed him. You saw that against USC. Even on a day like today when he's not hot, and none of us were, we're still going to preach confidence to each other. We're always telling each other, 'Two minutes, it's a one point game, let's just be killers. Forget whatever happened in the past, let's move forward.' I think the connectivity and the brotherhood we have right now is at an all-time high."
It takes a lot to be a good basketball team, but it's the belief of many basketball lifers that strong defense, exquisite guard play, and making your free throws, are the biggest keys to success in March. Well, the Ducks have all three in droves, and they were on display Tuesday night against the Hoosiers. Oregon allowed just one Indiana field goal in the final eight minutes, made 19-of-21 free throws in the game, and the Ducks' guards were shining on both ends. Bamba suffocated any chance Indiana had on offense, and point guard Jackson Shelstad laced the improbable go-ahead three-pointer with less than 90 seconds to play — and he knocked down 5/6 FTs to close out the win.
Oregon's five-game losing streak in February has begun to feel like the distant past, but in reality, the Ducks turned their season around in a heartbeat, making something very difficult look easy. A month ago, Oregon fans sat hoping the Ducks could hang on to an eight or nine seed in the NCAA tournament. Now, they're a five or a six, with plenty of opportunities for advancement ahead in the Big Ten tournament.
"We've got the longest collegiate sport," Oregon head Coach Dana Altman said. "We started October 1, and we're in our sixth month. And for the guys to stay together, it shows a lot of character. The guys that aren't getting to play have been great. They haven't been pouting, they've been cheering the guys, which takes a lot of character.
"A lot of teams fold. A lot of teams give into it. I'm glad this group didn't."
Oregon is playing fantastic basketball, but although the month is March, the regular season isn't finished, and these Ducks haven't accomplished anything yet. This time a year ago, Oregon was dead in the water but found a way to pull off the improbable, winning the Pac-12 tournament and in the first round of March Madness.
The Ducks aren't dead now. They are alive and thriving. So how do we define success for this team? Is it a Big Ten Championship, multiple NCAA tournament wins, or is it just refusing to let this winning streak end? Maybe as fans, we shouldn't look forward at all and savor each incredible Oregon Ducks basketball game as it comes to us.
This article originally appeared on Ducks Wire: Oregon Ducks Basketball is playing its best at the right time of year
