Oregon State vs UO mbx

Oregon State's Devon Collier and Angus Brandt celebrate after Collier draws an 'and one' in the second half during Sunday's win over Oregon.

(Jesse Skoubo/The Associated Press)

EUGENE -- By some numbers and ratings, Oregon men's basketball still passes muster as a possible NCAA Tournament team.

The Ducks (13-4, 1-4 Pac-12)

a key component considered by the tournament selection committee, ahead of ranked or near-ranked teams such as Saint Louis, Michigan, Connecticut and Iowa. Ken Pomeroy's rankings have Oregon closer to the

, but still, that's higher than teams considered in much better shape such as Toledo and Colorado. After three losses and his last update on Jan. 16, ESPN's Joe Lunardi pegged UO as a sixth seed in the NCAA tourney.

But by the unofficial and unquantifiable eye test, the Ducks don't appear to be close to pulling together a run in the final 13 regular-season games that would gain an at-large spot in the NCAA Tournament. The latest blow to UO's chances was its fourth-straight loss came Sunday in Corvallis, a place head coach Dana Altman had never lost as UO coach in four seasons.

"Everybody's down," Altman said, describing the mood of the locker room after Sunday's defeat.

Oregon did not play 6-foot-11 post Waverly Austin, its tallest player, against OSU's tall and talented trio of Angus Brandt, Eric Moreland and Devon Collier because Austin missed a couple practices this week with an illness, Altman said.

Even if he'd played it wouldn't have helped the shooting of Joseph Young, Damyean Dotson and Mike Moser, however, and though defense was once again UO's downfall Sunday, the 37 percent shooting as a team -- a season low -- was a new and troubling wrinkle. Those three combined to shoot 7-of-34 from the field.

"I think a little of that is pressure, trying to get it going," Altman said.

If UO wants to make a return trip to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2009, it must fight through building pressure with each loss. Thursday in Seattle against Washington (3-3 Pac-12) will serve as another chance for UO to show whether it's good enough to fight through that pressure, as tournament teams do, or not.

My question to readers is, where do the Ducks go from here? What is your best-case scenario for this team -- and what do you think the reality will be?

OK, to the links:

My story on what went wrong with Oregon.

the film of the loss.

Oregon State pulled off the win after

Contributions by Ben Carter and Richard Amardi were nice,

their groove again.

Oregon

in the loss.

The Beavers' secret is

Sunday.

A nice

is here.

for this week's AP top 25 poll.

isn't happy about this latest loss.

--