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Oregon's Tyler Dorsey answers questions at media day for the Final Four 2017 is held Thursday, Mach 30, 2017 at University of Phoenix Stadium. | Photo by Sean Meagher/Staff

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- It was a January night in Seattle, before the Final Four and the NCAA Tournament, and before Tyler Dorsey became Mr. March.

The Oregon Ducks beat a lowly Washington team 83-61, with Dorsey scoring 28 points. The Ducks weren't at their best that night. But Dorsey was.

"Tyler had one of those games," Oregon coach Dana Altman said that night. "You go 8 of 12 from three and it covers up a lot of mistakes."

It was an early-season high for Dorsey, who returned to Oregon for his sophomore year after exploring his NBA options last summer. In the three games prior to Washington, Dorsey hadn't scored more than 11 points. That night in Seattle felt like a potential jumping off point for the Los Angeles native.

"It was just one of those nights where the basket just felt wide," Dorsey said. "Everything feels like it's going in."

In his next two games, Dorsey was held scoreless for the first time in his career, against Washington State, and shot 0 for 5 against Oregon State.

That was the Dorsey show that Oregon fans had come to expect. One game he'd strike like lightning. The next, he left fans waiting for thunder.

"Tyler is the type of player that likes to pick and choose his spots," said Oregon assistant coach Tony Stubblefield, who recruited Dorsey.

Three months after his Seattle high and the Civil War low, Dorsey is the talk of the NCAA Tournament, scoring 20 or more points in seven consecutive games, with the capper his 27 points on 9-of-13 shooting to light up Kansas and secure UO's first Final Four berth since 1939. Even after key forward Chris Boucher went down with a season-ending knee injury in the Pac-12 tournament; after Dillon Brooks struggled through a couple of streaky games; and after the Ducks were expected to be back at home in Eugene right now, Dorsey has managed to mask Oregon's deficiencies.

But why now, after a career that's been as streaky as the come?

Those close to Dorsey attribute several factors. For one, the Ducks offense as a whole found a rhythm late in the season that it lacked earlier in the year.

And two?

"He has a natural inclination and competitive fire that ignites him," said Dorsey's AAU coach, Dinos Trigonis. "The bigger the stage, the better he plays."

"He was special"

When Dorsey arrived in Eugene as a star recruit in 2015, he joined a team that had recently found success without much star power. In 2014, Altman jigsawed together a roster of junior college transfers and a trio of promising, yet unheralded freshmen in Dillon Brooks, Jordan Bell and Casey Benson. That team surprised everyone by finishing second in the Pac-12, making the NCAA Tournament and beating Oklahoma State in the opening round.

Having Joseph Young helped, but it was as rags to riches as a school with a $227 million arena can get. Those Ducks were underdogs.

Dorsey has never played that part. He's been on the national radar since middle school, receiving an offer from Arizona in eighth grade. He committed to Arizona during his junior year of high school, decomitted and then averaged 34 points, 10.4 rebound and 3.7 assists during his senior season at Maranatha High.

"He's one of the top players in the country, it's what he's supposed to do," Maranatha coach Tim Tucker told the Pasadena Star News after Dorsey scored 21 points in a playoff game. "Someday, we hope he makes money doing this stuff. Right now, he's just practicing for the big stage later on."

When Dorsey committed to Oregon and arrived prior to the 2015-16 season, many hoped he'd instantly replace the scoring Oregon lost with Young leaving for the NBA.

"He was special," said Dwayne Benjamin, who played last year with Dorsey before graduating last spring. "He was one of the highest-rated players to come in. He came in and never talked about being a five-star. He just showed us what he had and we respected him from the jump."

In the first game of his career, Dorsey scored 20 points on six shots.

"My teammates were finding me in open spots," Dorsey said that night. "Without them finding me, I couldn't get those shots off."

"Just part of growing up"

Up until Dorsey's recent run, one of the best games of his life came on Feb. 4 in Eugene against Arizona. Playing against the school he had once planned to attend, Dorsey scored 23 points as the Ducks dismantled the No. 5 Wildcats 85-58.

It was a complete game from Dorsey, who was 6 of 6 from long range while handing out four assists and three rebounds. He reached 20 points for the first time since the Washington game a month earlier.

Questions in the postgame news conference revolved around Dorsey.

What had gotten into him?

"Tyler is the X-factor on our team," Brooks said that day. "When he gets it going, we're blowing out teams by 20."

Before that game, Dorsey had shot below 40 percent in 12 of Oregon's 24 games. He looked out of sorts in a guard-heavy lineup that featured a freshman in Payton Pritchard and a sixth-year guard in Dylan Ennis, who had missed a year with a foot injury.

Those two took their time this season to find a rhythm as Oregon's offense flowed through Brooks, who would go on to win the Pac-12 player of the year award. When the Ducks were clicking, they would run plays that began around the perimeter, trying to set up Brooks up with an open lane to the basket. Often, Dorsey was left in the corner, waiting for someone to find him for an open shot.

The Ducks weren't always great at doing that, Altman has said.

At the same time, Dorsey wasn't always the best at asserting himself.

"I thought this year would be his monster year," Trigonis said. "When he gets comfortable with something, he really turns it on. He needed to take responsibility for how inconsistent he was this year. What he's doing now doesn't surprise me. What surprises me is the level of consistency he's had."

With Dorsey, the talent has always been there. That's why when he was younger he would play against older kids at least one grade ahead.

Earlier in his career, Dorsey may have been upset if the ball wasn't finding him. But over the course of the last month, coaches have attributed the change in Dorsey's game to his ability to seek out the action himself. Dorsey's become more active on the defensive side of the floor -- especially on the glass. He's averaging 4.5 rebounds per game this tournament after grabbing less than three a game during the regular season.

"When he's playing as a player, not just a scorer, I think that's when he really comes alive," Altman said.

What Benjamin sees, all the way from his new home in Australia, is a player whose age and maturity on the court has finally caught up to his talent level.

"That's just part of growing up," Benjamin said. "He's more comfortable with the offense and knowing where his shot is coming from. He's Tyler Dorsey. That's what he can do. He's grown as a player and now that he's done it, it's in his head. He can go out every game and be that guy."

A day before Dorsey scored 20 points and hit the game-winner to send the Ducks to their expected doom in the Elite Eight, Dorsey sat at his locker in Kansas City with his head down. For the prior 28 minutes, recorders were in his face.

What's happened to you? What's changed? Is this the new Tyler Dorsey?

Dorsey's never been one for interviews. Ennis is the team's best quote. Brooks is the go-to guy for a headline. Dorsey is quiet, at least with the media.

He's different around people he knows. He smiles. He jokes. He's better when he's comfortable.

But in that locker room in Kansas City, Dorsey was in the middle of a media whirlwind. Mr. Inconsistent was now designated Mr. March, Oregon's savior.

How has that attention changed you, he was asked.

"I'm worried about winning this game," Dorsey said. "We lose this game, they don't talk about us no more.

"I'm living in this moment."

-- Tyson Alger

talger@oregonian.com

@tysonalger