This isn’t Dana Altman’s final dance, however may or not it’s his final hurrah?
Oregon’s 66-year-old coach mentioned not too long ago that he “absolutely” doesn’t plan to retire anytime quickly. He might be again within the NCAA Event subsequent yr and the yr after that and yearly for the following 5 years.
However he may not have one other likelihood like this — an opportunity to remove a longtime rival, topple the match favourite, remind the game why he’s a grasp of March and put the bow on a Corridor of Fame profession.
It’s all arrange for Altman, whose workforce began the season sturdy, stumbled within the center and completed with greater than sufficient momentum to gasoline a match run.
It was all so Oregon.
So Altman.
What number of instances have the Geese performed their finest in March, with the system and the expertise and the strain all converging to create a dynamo? It occurred in 2013 and 2016 and 2017 and 2019 and 2021.
One run produced an Elite Eight.
One other propelled Oregon into the Remaining 4.
It hasn’t occurred as usually not too long ago. The Geese missed the match altogether in 2022 and 2023. And given the rugged nature of the Large Ten and the roster challenges posed by the switch portal period, there are zero ensures Oregon will probably be an everyday participant within the NCAAs within the second half of the last decade.
Or that Altman can have a possibility just like the one looming subsequent week within the Candy 16.
First up, in fact, is Liberty, the 28-game winner of Convention USA. The Flames favor a gradual tempo and tight protection — there’s a cause the fifth-seeded Geese are favored by simply 6.5 factors. We count on a wrestle for 30 or 35 minutes till Oregon’s expertise takes cost.
If kind holds within the East, the Geese will face fourth-seeded Arizona in Seattle within the second spherical. The final time they met, 370 days in the past in Las Vegas, Oregon upset the Wildcats within the semifinals of the Pac-12 match.
From right here, it appears to be like precisely like a toss-up.
And if the Geese survive, they possible would face the No. 1 seed, Duke, within the Candy 16 in Newark.
Altman and his 18 match victories in opposition to Jon Scheyer and his … 4.
The Blue Devils have the presumptive No. 1 choose within the NBA Draft, ahead Cooper Flagg, plus two different candidates for the lottery portion, massive man Khaman Maluach and wing Kon Knueppel, and a late-round prospect in wing Isaiah Evans.
No one on Altman’s roster is presently pegged for the primary spherical.
The Blue Devils are 3/1 favorites to win the match.
The Geese are 180/1.
And but, there’s a path to victory for Oregon.
What if Flagg’s injured ankle doesn’t heal in time? What if he returns pain-free however out of kinds? If Flagg’s return truly discombobulates the Blue Devils ever-so-slightly?
What if Oregon massive man Nate Bittle continues his stellar stretch-run play and will get the higher of Maluach?
What if veteran guards Jackson Shelstad and TJ Bamba, erratic from 3-point vary all season, discover their kind simply when it’s least anticipated?
What if the items coalesce and the boldness soars and Altman pulls all the proper strings as he has completed so usually previously?
It could be a stunner, for certain. And really, very Altman.
This may not be his final match look, but it surely might be his last likelihood to return from nowhere and topple the favourite and remind the game {that a} grasp craftsman is tucked away within the Willamette Valley, quietly plying his commerce.
A minimum of for just a few extra years.
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