College Basketball Power 10: Welcome To The Top 10, Cincinnati Bearcats
By Jeremy Karll
5. Oregon (21-3)
Oregon is a Final Four-caliber team when Dillion Brooks is healthy. The problem is Brooks has only been available for 20 of 24 games and banged up for some of those.
Oregon bounced back from a loss to Colorado with a close win over Arizona State and a blowout win against Arizona at home.
Brooks and Tyler Dorsey combined for 41 points on impressive 14-of-19 shooting, hitting 10-of-13 shooting from three. In fact, Dorsey made all six of his three-point attempts. It was that kind of night for Oregon.
They dominated a top-five team from the tip and now control their own destiny in the Pac-12 with the tiebreaker over Arizona and a two-game lead over the rest of the conference. Plus, they’re third in points per game and lead the conference in points allowed per game.
As easy as it is to overreact to their blowout win over Arizona, Oregon had not been playing their best basketball in the prior couple of weeks. They only beat Utah by six, lost to Colorado and barely beat Arizona State by one in the middle of the week.
If Brooks can stay healthy, the Ducks might finally get back to consistently playing like the Final Four team everyone envisioned them being before the season.
Oregon now has the longest home winning streak at 40 games. but will travel to UCLA and USC this week.