1st Round West Region: Ducks drown Crusaders

Joe Brannan, Staff Writer

Oregon

A large majority of the college basketball world was shocked when Oregon was announced as a number-one seed on Selection Sunday.  Michigan State and Villanova were thought to be much better candidates for the last number-one seed, but it was awarded to the Ducks of the Pac 12 Conference.  This appeared to anger Oregon as they played with a chip on their shoulder as if they had to prove they were indeed worthy of their seed.  A hungry number-one seeded, highly motivated, exceedingly talented team from a power conference going up against a mid-major with a losing record doesn’t yield much competition.  Maybe someday a number-one seed will fall to a sixteen-seed, but today just wasn’t meant to be.  Oregon was too much from the tip for the Crusaders as they never trailed in this game.  The Ducks were led in scoring by senior forward Chris Boucher with an impressive 20-point performance in only 17 minutes of action.  Oregon’s top two leading scorers coming into the game, Dillon Brooks and Elgin Cook, both dropped 11 points in the win.  Look for these two to be much more of a factor as the tournament progresses and the level of competition stiffens.  

As for Holy Cross, their magical run ends here.  They pulled off four straight upsets in their conference tournament and won a First Four matchup against Southern.  They were led in scoring by Robert Champion who poured in a game high 22 points.  Oregon moves on to the round of 32 to face St. Joe’s and their star player Deandre Bembry.