Oregon Opens NCAA Tournament against VCU

Oregon (20-6, 14-4) kicks off the NCAA tournament with something to prove. The team, given a No. 7 seed, wants to prove that it's top dawg in Pac-12 after a disappointing 75-64 loss to Oregon State in the semi-finals of the conference tournament.

Prior to the loss the Ducks were on an absolute tear, ripping through a condensed slate of tough games on a two-week stretch, knocking off big names like Arizona and UCLA at home in Matthew Knight Arena. Scoring machine Chris Duarte (16.7 ppg), named a third-team all-American by the Associated Press, looks to anchor this team on a deep run into the tournament.

Fortunately for Oregon, other players stepped up towards the end of the regular season to take the pressure off of the Dominican guard. Eugene Omoruyi, who joined Duarte to headline the all Pac-12 first team, has been a do-it-all player, playing tremendous defense, knocking down threes and getting to the rim.

LJ Figueroa's sweet shooting touch and Will Richardson's resurgence after thumb surgery makes for a well-rounded offense. On the other end of the floor, the Ducks lead the conference with 7.46 steals per game, a main reason they rank in the top third of the Pac-12 in opponent points per game.

When the sneakers start squeaking on the hardwood, the Ducks will face No. 10 seed Virginia Commonwealth University (19-7, 10-4). The Rams come from the Atlantic 10 conference and played their last game against St. Bonaventure, a 74-65 loss in the conference title game.

The Atlantic 10 may not be the most prestigious conference, but VCU has some experience this season against bigger names schools like West Virginia, Memphis and Penn State. They may have lost those games, but the team knows they will get Oregon's best shot.

VCU's main scoring threat is Nah'Shon Hyland, who leads all scorers averaging 19.5 points per game. The sophomore guard has solid overall game, averaging 4.7 assists per game and pitching in from beyond the arc with 37.1% 3-point shooting.

From there, the offense drops off a bit. 6-foot-6 junior forward Vince Williams Jr. is the next man up, averaging 10.6 points per game. Similar to Oregon, the Rams like to get after it on defense, holding opponents to 65.2 points per game and averaging 9 steals per game.

The Ducks are 5.5 point favorites against VCU on Sportsbookwire. No. 7 seed Oregon will face No. 10 seed VCU at 6:57 p.m. PST, Saturday March 20. The game will be carried on TNT.

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Twitter-Max Torres @mtorressports