After a loss to UCLA which I said had squashed Oregon's NCAA Tournament hopes, an interesting tidbit emerged.
Experts in the field still had the Ducks firmly on the bubble, if not inside it.
The more I thought about it, the more it made sense. UCLA is the top team in the conference and in the Top 10 nationally. Despite a big second half deficit, the Ducks only lost by seven.
Hope endured. The rest of the schedule looked remarkably favorable. If Oregon played the way they did recently against Arizona State and USC, they were sure to win out.