Oregon hopes to keep magical season going vs. Seattle (Mar 14, 2018)
It's been quite a year for the Ducks.
After reaching last year's Elite Eight as a 10-seed, Oregon kept the magic rolling this year with its best season in program history. The Ducks won the Pac-12 regular season title and took home the Pac-12 Tournament championship for the first time.
All of those accolades have led the Ducks back to the NCAA Women's Tournament, where they will begin as the No. 2 seed (another first) in the Spokane region, and this time with legitimate national championship aspirations.
"Being the Pac-12 regular-season champ and tournament champ, honestly I think you should be placed in the West (Spokane) region," Oregon coach Kelly Graves said. "In a season of many firsts, we can add one more."
Oregon (30-4) will host Seattle University in Friday's first round.
"Coach always reminds us that we were the lower seed and we beat the higher seeds, so we're definitely staying focused and getting ready to beat whoever comes in our path," sophomore Ruthy Hebard said
Leading Oregon is Pac-12 Player of the Year and first-team All-American Sabrina Ionescu.
Just a sophomore, Ionescu is the NCAA all-time leader in triple-doubles with nine.
She leads one of five Ducks in double-figures with 19.4 points per game while also averaging 7.8 assists and 6.6 rebounds.
If Ionescu is Batman, then Hebard is Robin. Hebard, who averages 17.5 points and 8.8 rebounds per game, set an NCAA record earlier this year with 34 consecutive made baskets.
Junior point guard Maite Cazorla averages 11.1 points per game while senior Lexi Bando, who is widely considered the best 3-point shooter in the nation, averages 10.2 points on 47.3-percent shooting from beyond the arc.
And if those four players weren't formidable enough for opponents, the Ducks trot out Pac-12 Freshman of the Year Satou Sabally to round out their starting five. Sabally averages 10.9 points and standing 6 feet 4, has proven the ability to play both inside and out.
Awaiting the Ducks will be Seattle (18-14), the winners of the WAC conference tournament. This is the Redhawks' first trip to the NCAA Tournament.
"It's super exciting -- I can't really describe it with words," redshirt senior Alexis Montgomery told the Seattle Times. "We're super grateful we just have the opportunity to play more than the regular season."
Seattle enters the tournament winning 12 of its past 16 contests, including a five-game winning streak to finish the year.
Montgomery is the lone all-WAC-first teamer for Seattle, leading with 18.9 points and 10 rebounds per game. She led the Redhawks in scoring in 19 of their 32 games and has a season high of 31 points, including eight games of 25-plus points.
"My dad was hoping we would play Oregon because it's only an hour and a half drive away, so we should have lots of support and lots of good energy coming from the Northwest," said Montgomery, who is from Beaverton, Ore.
Freshman Kallin Spiller was named WAC Freshman of the year after averaging 10.2 points and 7.7 rebounds in conference play. Sophomore Kamira Sanders was recently named the WAC Tournament MVP after averaging 18.7 points and 5.3 rebounds in the three games.
"I hope Oregon fans come out from everywhere and come support this tournament," Graves said. "We want to be a showcase for the country to see, A, what great fans we have, and, B, hopefully what a great team we have."
