Ducks rep well for state in tourney

At the close of Oregon's men's basketball loss to Arizona in the second round of the NCAA Tournament Sunday, I was yelling at my television in the hopes some kind of energy would make it to the court in Seattle and help the Ducks win.

I was yelling for a simple thing to happen - Jackson Shelstad to suddenly become more selfish. I had the idea Oregon would have the best chance of winning if Shelstad would score 30 or more points, and that required he either passed less, or got more passes directed to him, and as the game wore down and the Ducks were attempting a miraculous comeback ... he needed to be more selfish. And, he wasn't.

So, my yelling at the TV was in trying to get him to realize he needed to shoot more, like players do when they score 30 or more points in key games.

Ultimately, he scored 25 points, and Oregon lost by four, 87-83. Arizona senior Caleb Love led all scorers with 29 points on 18 shots. Shelstad had 14 shots.

Shelstad's blunder of not shooting enough went through my head that way for a short time, but then I settled on the fact that he played a great team game, and the Ducks represented very well for the state (even better than the football team did in the national playoffs, I argued with myself) due to the fact the team had so many Oregon players on the roster, something that's tough to accomplish in these portal days, and they seemed to play to their abilities.

The Ducks were seeded fifth in the East Region, and played every bit as well as the fourth-seeded Wildcats, but just missed out in those closing minutes the way a fifth seed might lose to a fourth seed.

‍

‍