The Oregon women’s basketball team has held steady in most March Madness projections throughout the nonconference season and is still being seen as a bubble team now in the thick of conference play.
The Ducks (12-5, 3-3 Big Ten) have started .500 in Big Ten play, defeating Northwestern, Wisconsin and Penn State but falling to No. 4 USC, No. 9 Ohio State and Illinois. Four of the Ducks first six Big Ten games have been on the road, with the latest a 69-60 loss to the Buckeyes on Sunday.
Despite a few losses, the Ducks are ranked No. 36 in the NCAA NET rankings and are largely viewed as a bubble team just over halfway through the season.
Next up, the Ducks will take on Purdue on Wednesday and Iowa on Sunday, with both games at home.
Here are the bracketology projections.
Oregon women’s basketball NCAA Tournament projections
ESPN: No. 10 seed, facing No. 7 Mississippi State in Storrs, Connecticut (listed among last four byes).
Her Hoop Stats: No. 9 seed, facing No. 8 Harvard in South Bend, Indiana.
Oregon women’s basketball March Madness resume
Oregon’s No. 36 NET ranking corresponds to approximately a No. 9 seed. The Ducks are 1-4 against quadrant 1 teams, but 11-1 against all other opponents, meaning they’ve beaten who they are supposed to have beaten and lost to most of the top teams in the country. Oregon’s lone quadrant 1 win came against Baylor (ranked No. 26 in NET) in November.
Oregon women’s basketball NCAA tournament history under Kelly Graves
Before Oregon coach Kelly Graves was hired in 2014, the Ducks hadn’t made the Big Dance in nine seasons. The former Gonzaga coach took the Ducks to the tournament in his third year, beginning an unprecedented golden run in Oregon women’s basketball history. The Ducks made the Elite Eight in back-to-back seasons starting in 2017 and made a run to their first ever Final Four in 2019.
The COVID-19 pandemic forced the NCAA Tournament in 2020 to be cancelled, with Oregon the presumptive national title favorite with Sabrina Ionescu, Ruthy Hebard and Satou Sabally at the helm. The Ducks made the tournament in 2021 and 2022 but have missed each of the last two tournaments since.
Alec Dietz covers University of Oregon football, volleyball, women’s basketball and baseball for The Register-Guard. You may reach him at adietz@registerguard.com and you can follow him on X @AlecDietz.
This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: Oregon women’s basketball March Madness bracketology predictions
