Oregon basketball’s rout of Iowa is latest example of Pac-12 flexing in March Madness

Oregon basketball absolutely crushed the Iowa Hawkeyes as the Pac-12 continues to dominate March Madness.

There hasn’t been a lot of respect for the Pac-12 outside of Bill Walton, who was singing the praises of the Conference of Champions entering March Madness. The Pac-12 got five teams into the tournament and has yet to lose a game, with the league’s dominance continuing this afternoon as Oregon absolutely decimated Iowa to advance to the Sweet 16 with a 95-80 win.

Dana Altman came up with a brilliant game plan for the Ducks, who let Luka Garza get his points while working hard to shut down his teammates.

Garza did ball out in his final game as a Hawkeye, recording 36 points on 14-of-20 shooting and bringing down nine rebounds, but his teammates couldn’t do enough offensively to support him, shooting just 26.1 percent for the game.

The Pac-12 remains undefeated in the NCAA Tournament while the Big Ten is 6-7

Iowa’s defense was also horrendous, allowing Oregon to shoot 55.9 percent from the floor and knock down 11 three-pointers. This game was actually tied with two minutes to go in the first half before the Ducks went on a 10-0 run to enter the break, a lead they would never relinquish.

Oregon now joins Oregon State as Pac-12 teams in the Sweet 16 after the Beavers knocked out Cade Cunningham and Oklahoma State last night. The conference still has an opportunity to add three more teams to the Sweet 16 with Colorado, UCLA and USC facing Florida State, Abilene Christian and Kansas respectively.

This game also showcased the Pac-12’s rise with the stunning fall of the Big Ten, widely regarded as America’s best conference this season. The Big Ten got nine teams into the Field of 68 and seven of them have already lost, with only Michigan and Maryland still standing.

Neither one of those teams has punched their ticket to the Sweet 16 yet so the possibility exists that the Pac-12 will have more teams still dancing next weekend than the Big Ten, a fact that will make Walton very happy.

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