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QuickTake:
Kelly Graves hopes the Ducks can channel the state’s support as they begin March Madness in Austin, Texas.
Kelly Graves knows there might be a few extra eyeballs on Oregon in the coming weeks.
It hasn’t exactly been a memorable year for college basketball in this state outside of Graves’ Ducks, who earned the No. 8 seed in the Fort Worth 3 Regional of the women’s NCAA Basketball Tournament and will open play Friday in Austin against No. 9-seed Virginia Tech.
“It never gets old hearing your name,” Graves told reporters Sunday. “I talked to the team about, you know, don’t take it for granted because you never know. The cool thing is I think we’re the only team in the state, men or women, that’s in the NCAA Tournament. So hopefully we’ll get all the good vibes from all Oregonians, and they’ll root for this Ducks team.”
Oregon’s selection marked the second straight year Graves has led the Ducks into the tournament. Last year, Oregon beat Vanderbilt in the first round before falling to Duke in the Round of 32.
This season’s Ducks are 22-12 and coming off a Big Ten Tournament loss to Michigan, but Graves made it clear Sunday this group is not showing up just to make an appearance.
He doesn’t know much yet about a Virginia Tech team that went 23-9 and 12-6 in ACC play. What he does know is that he’s relieved Oregon is headed to Austin instead of farther east. The Ducks were a possibility for South Carolina or University of Connecticut-hosted sites before ultimately landing in Austin, where the region’s top-seed Texas is hosting.
“We’ve already had, I don’t know, five trips to an Eastern Time Zone this year,” Graves said, “so I wasn’t looking forward to a sixth.”
What Graves is looking forward to is seeing how Oregon’s young core handles the pressure of March. The Ducks have ridden out stretches of inconsistency this season while asking sophomores Katie Fiso and Ehis Etute to shoulder major roles. But Graves said he doesn’t view this tournament as simply a stepping stone for the future.
It’s March, where anything can happen in the present.
“I’ve played in a lot or coached in a lot of these tournaments,” he said. “It’s the matchup. It’s not the name. It’s not the seeding. It’s not any of that. … Your stars have to perform, but I’ve been in enough of these to know that it’s that x factor, you never know where you might get it from. But I like our chances.”
And with Selection Sunday done, Graves said the real work was about to begin.
“As soon as this is over I’m sure I’ll have five game films of them on my computer to take home tonight,” he said.
