SPOKANE -- Oregon hoped Monday would deliver the program's first Final Four.
Instead, it brought only finality.
Boxed out all night under the basket, Oregon was ultimately pushed out of position for its breakthrough moment by a Notre Dame team that needed just six players to produce an eighth Final Four and a commanding second half the Ducks would rather forget.
"You saw a team that was still trying to climb the mountain, trying to get to where we've never been before," said Oregon coach Kelly Graves, who has now led two programs to Elite Eight appearances in Spokane Arena in the past seven years, only to lose each time.