March Madness features 3 Oregon college basketball teams

Three college basketball teams from Oregon are competing in the NCAA Tournament, which started on Tuesday. The Oregon State women’s basketball team is a No. 3 seed and will make its first NCAA tournament appearance since 2021 on Friday, when it hosts Eastern Washington University. The University of Portland women’s basketball team is making its second consecutive tournament appearance after winning this year’s West Coast Conference championship game with a one-point victory over Gonzaga earlier this month. The Oregon Ducks enter the NCAA men’s tournament as a No. 11 seed after winning their last championship game as a member of the Pac-12 conference. UO joins the Big Ten in the fall.

KOIN 6 sports anchor and reporter Brenna Greene joins us to talk about March Madness, including some games in the women’s Sweet 16 and Elite Eight rounds that will be held in Portland next weekend.

Editor’s Note: An earlier description of this segment listed the incorrect date for the OSU game with Eastern Washington University.

The following transcript was created by a computer and edited by a volunteer.

Dave Miller: This is Think Out Loud on OPB. I’m Dave Miller. March Madness has a little bit of an Oregon flavor this year with three teams in The Big Dance. On the women’s side, Oregon State and the University of Portland will each take the floor in the coming days. The Beavers are a number three seed, they’re playing at home on Friday. On the men’s side, the University of Oregon Ducks will take on South Carolina at 1pm tomorrow. What’s more, Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight games are going to be held at Portland’s Moda Center next weekend. Brenna Greene joins us to talk about all of this. She’s a sports anchor and sports reporter for KOIN 6. Welcome to the show.

Brenna Greene: Thank you so much for having me.

Miller: I want to start with the two teams that kept their seasons alive by winning their respective conference tournaments, starting with UP. What was University of Portland women’s team like in the regular season?

Greene: Really up and down. They had some really good games and then they had some games that weren’t so good. I was around the team a lot this year because I do some sideline reporting over there. I was there when they played Gonzaga at home. They kept up with them through midway through the second quarter, and then it was like “OK, yeah this team’s just much better.” And then they went up to Gonzaga, that was their last regular season game, and Gonzaga beat them by 50 at their place.

Miller: More than doubled their score, right?

Greene: Yeah, 90 to 40 was the final score.

Miller: And then they took on Gonzaga in the conference tournament finals, right? What were you expecting before that game started?

Greene: “This is going to be a bloodbath.” I said that to somebody. Gonzaga had dominated the entire WCC. I think their average margin of winning in that conference this year was 20 points, which is insane. Like that is unheard of. So they were just so much better than everybody else this year. They have a really veteran team, and UP didn’t have the same returning cast as last year. Last year, they really had a team that felt primed to potentially make a run. This team felt like, you know, if they make the NIT, that’s pretty good. And that’s what I was thinking coming into that game, “oh wow, they won the semifinal, that probably means they’re going to make the WNIT, which is great for them.”

Miller: NIT is a kind of the second place consolation tournament which the rest of the world doesn’t really care that much about, I think it’s a fair way to put it.

Greene: Yeah, that’s a good way to put it.

Miller: So you were not expecting them to do well, you were talking about bloodbath. They won.

Greene: Mhm.

Miller: But their prize for winning is that they get to go to play a four seed in Kansas State at Kansas State. What’s that game going to be like?

Greene: You never know with the NCAA tournament how things are going to shake out. For UP, none of the players are going to be like “oh, we’re just happy to be here.” Nobody’s going to say that. But I think anybody who’s a fan of that program is like “Look, whatever happens, happens. We didn’t even expect to be here this year, so this is just gravy.” I think they feel a little bit more confident going into this matchup than they did last year against Oklahoma. I know that that was just a bad matchup for them down in LA last year. So I think they feel a little bit more confident about this one. But we’ll see how the cards unfold.

Miller: So, let’s turn to the Ducks Men. They also won, I guess is it fair to say, the last ever Pac-12 conference championship?

Greene: Yes. That is 100% fair.

Miller: Which gave them a bid to be in the tournament. What are you expecting for the Ducks tomorrow?

Greene: This is a team that’s peaking at the right time. It took all the way up until March, baby, but we peaked! They were really up and down this year too. The last three seasons, that team has just been annihilated by injuries. It’s been pretty brutal to watch. They only have eight scholarship players available coming into this game, which is pretty crazy. Teams have 13 scholarships on their roster. I can think of at least three guys off the top of my head that are out, and there’s probably a fourth one in there.

It’s been a really up and down year for them. But they’re going up against a team right now that I think is pretty vulnerable in South Carolina. So the Ducks are riding this high and N’Faly Dante, their big man, literally can’t miss. He’s 43 of 49 in the last five games. So if that streak continues, South Carolina could definitely be in trouble.

Miller: Let’s turn to the Oregon State women because out of the three teams, they’re the ones by far ranked the highest and it seems like they had the best shot to, to actually make some kind of a run. What makes this team special?

Greene: I think it starts down low with Raegan Beers. She was out for a few games and I think the Beavs lost three of those four games in that span. She’s back now, wearing a mask. She has some sort of facial injury. So she has just been incredible this year. She was named an All American today, big deal for her. She is definitely the engine that powers this team.

But right behind her is Talia von Oelhoffen, who hit an incredible game winner against UCLA a few weeks ago. One of one of the best basketball games regardless of gender that’s happened this year was that UCLA game down in Corvallis. There was multiple times where both teams thought they had the game won, and she was able to pull it out at the buzzer. Those two players are definitely the two to watch. And then you have Timea Gardiner off the bench who would be starting for a whole plethora of other teams in the country. Those three players are really special.

Miller: They’re a number three seed, and they’re in this enviable position of playing at home for the first game, and the second if they win it. What do you think Gill Coliseum is going to be like on Friday?

Greene: I think this year in general for OSU fans, the spirit has just been at more of a fever pitch and higher, just because of everything that happened in August with the Pac-12. So the fact that they are able to host this in the final year in this conference, and just kind of have that celebration down there at Gill I think is gonna be huge. That place is going to be on fire. The pie in the sky situation is that they would have sent UP down there to play Oregon State, but that didn’t happen unfortunately, because then that place would have been like absolutely insane. But still, it’s going to be a really special environment, and the last time that this team is playing in the State of Oregon this year. It’s definitely going to be special for me personally to say that I was in the building for it.

Miller: How much has the massive implosion of the Pac-12 shadowed college sports for you this year?

Greene: Oh, my gosh. I was at the Pac-12 championship game, for football. That was really surreal sitting there doing live shots for KOIN, and watching the UNLV logo getting painted over the Pac-12 logo, knowing that this is the last time I’m really gonna see this logo on a football field. It’s been one of those seasons where you just kind of savor every Pac-12 moment you get because you’re never getting it back.

It’s difficult. I’m somebody that was born and raised an Oregon fan. And on the other side of my family, my mom goes back four generations at OSU. It’s something that’s been really hard to watch, but I also am really thankful that I’ve been here to be able to take it in and really just appreciate every moment.

Miller: We’ve talked about the Oregon teams that are playing in the coming days. But as I mentioned at the beginning, basketball fans can also see some action next week at the Moda Center, for Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight games. How significant is that?

Greene: Oh my gosh. I think it’s a really important moment for this city, especially in the shadow of everything that went down with the WNBA franchise that was supposed to come here and then got kind of pulled out from under our feet at the last second. So I’m really excited to see the Moda Center. I think it’s going to be a really exciting, special environment. Unfortunately we didn’t get Iowa, because they had to go win their conference tournament and get up to a number one seed, how rude. If they would have been a number two seed, I think they would have been here, which would have been really cool.

It’s a really special moment, especially for this NCAA tournament. This women’s tournament is different than any other women’s tournament we’ve ever had. There are way more big names in the women’s game right now than in the men’s game. Way more females who are college female basketball players who are known than male college basketball players.

Miller: Is there a time when you could ever have said that about these two games.

Greene: No. Last year kind of felt like the beginning of a new era. And now it really feels like we’re in this new era, especially with women’s college basketball. Caitlin Clark is kind of the tide that lifts all boats. She’s really helped lift the entire game.

Miller: The Iowa shooter who just has a kind of miraculous shot.

Greene: Yes. And it has really shown a light on, on so many different women at that level. So this is a really cool moment to say that we get to see all this high level basketball here in Portland, Oregon.

Miller: Before we say goodbye, a lot of college basketball fans have been talking, and we’re looking at things that are not about brackets and upcoming games. It’s the transfer portal and the name image and likeness deals. How much has that transformed college sports in recent years, these two together?

Greene: Oh, wow. An incredible amount. But then you see things like today where U-Dub’s athletic director Troy Dannen leaves the school after being there for five months to go to Nebraska. It’s like, OK, if he can go do that, then all is fair for the kids. These kids should be able to make money, these kids should be able to leave when they want to leave. Because if the person who’s in charge of the athletic department can do that, why can we say the players shouldn’t? It’s a really interesting time. As somebody who’s a Gonzaga alum, it’s very interesting to watch as somebody who’s in the college basketball sphere. And that’s where a lot of this is going down. It’s definitely a time of transition in college sports.

Miller: Brenna, thanks very much. Brenna Greene is a sports anchor and reporter for KOIN 6.

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