2015 NCAA Tournament Preview: No. 8 Oregon vs. No. 9 Oklahoma State

By Taylor Sturm
Ducks Hoops
Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

The No. 8 seeded Oregon Ducks were destroyed by the Arizona Wildcats in the Pac-12 Tournament final, but they will enter the 2015 NCAA Tournament confident that they can go on a deep run. Joseph Young is one of the best scorers in all of college basketball, so the Ducks are hoping that they have this season’s Shabazz Napier or Kemba Walker on their side.

The No. 9 seeded Oklahoma State Cowboys surprised many by their success in arguably the most difficult conference in college basketball, the Big 12. Oklahoma State had major wins over the Baylor Bears, Kansas Jayhawks and Texas Longhorns, and they canceled out their horrible 1-6 finish to the season.

What to Watch For

Oklahoma State has won games this season behind their defense, whereas Oregon has won games with their offense. These are two teams with opposite playing styles, which means we could either have the most exciting game of the second-round or the most boring.

Watch for whichever team sets the tempo in the first five minutes to play the game to their strengths and leave the other trying to play catchup.

Prediction

Young is going to score his points no matter what this Oklahoma State defense tries to do. The only defense this season that even seemed to stifle him was Arizona’s, but he seemed to just have off games in those two meetings. I like Oklahoma State, but the awful record that they finished the season with should have an impact on this game. I think the Cowboys burned themselves out by winning all of those huge games early on in conference play and will continue their late season slide.

Oregon 75, Oklahoma State 63

Taylor Sturm is a Featured Basketball Writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @TSturmRS, like him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.

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