Oregon Hopes Momentum Continues In Their NCAA Tournament Game Against South Carolina

Photos courtesy of AP Images

By 750 THE GAME STAFF

The matchup is set. It will be Oregon vs. South Carolina from Pittsburgh. As of Monday night, Betonline.ag has South Carolina as a slight 1 1/2 point favorite over Oregon.

This has the makings of a classic 6 vs. 11 game in the NCAA Tournament.

Jordan Kaye of “The State” newspaper in South Carolina joined the Bald Faced Truth with John Canzano to discuss this intrigiuing first round matchup. Kaye says that South Carolina fans saw the opponent was Oregon and thought it will be an easy matchup for the Gamecocks.

“I don’t think many people (South Carolina fans) are super scared of Oregon. I think a lot of people are thinking the Pac-12 hasn’t been very good this year. This is a team that kind of got hot at the right time, but don’t have many quality wins.”

Kaye says that it’s impressive what Oregon did down in Las Vegas by winning the Pac-12 tournament. He is looking at the entire season of work and isn’t impressed by the Ducks.

“I look at Oregon’s resume and nothing on there tells me they can beat South Carolina. And then you look at the last week and you’re like, that’s a different team. It’s really tough to pick, but right now I’ll go with South Carolina. I think they have a bigger body of work.”

John Canzano had a different take on the game. Canzano thinks the momentum the Ducks built in Vegas will rollover to Pittsburgh, but does worry about the mental fatigue more than the physical fatigue.

“The Ducks got it done in the Pac-12 championship game. My only question is, did they expend so much energy winning the bid that they are emotionally exhausted? Traveling across the country to Pittsburgh. I’m betting not. I’m betting they know what to do with that kind of travel and the turnaround.”

In fact, Canzano is already looking forward to the second round where the winner of this game will play the winner of Creighton and Akron.

“I even think that second round is interesting for Oregon if you sort of project it out.”

The no. 6 seed South Carolina Gamecocks will take on the no. 11 seed Oregon Ducks from PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, PA. Tipoff is scheduled for 1 p.m. on Thursday.

Listen to the full interview with Jordan Kaye by clicking the podcast below. Catch the Bald Faced Truth with John Canzano weekdays 3-6 p.m. in Portland exclusively on 750 The Game.