Charles Fischer

Truly, the old B1G members have no idea what they are in for. The truth is--West Coast teams will take a disproportionate number of B1G titles, and have done so right from the beginning. In Baseball, no other B1G team was even in the last rankings...other than Oregon and UCLA. In Softball, it is better with Ohio State at No. 22, and Nebraska at No. 19, but the real representation nationally for the conference was from UCLA at No. 9, and of course....Our Beloved Ducks at No. 6 in the most recent poll. This last weekend saw Oregon softball win their Regional, Duck Baseball win as co-champions....with fellow West Coast member UCLA, Mens Track take the B1G title, and Womens Track come from one injured runner away from winning it away from another West Coast team in USC. Heck, even Washington won the Rowing B1G Championship this last weekend! Last summer--I was reading what the B1G pundits were writing about Oregon and the West Coast teams joining the conference and I was ASTOUNDED at how little they knew about us. They went with stereotypes, and erroneous assumptions--I was shocked at the massive lack of knowledge. It was at that moment I knew that the time-zone thing was REAL. People outside the west did not know us, did not watch us, and did not care until now. Only now are they beginning to realize that the old Pac-12 was not what was portrayed in the media, or certainly was not weak as they thought. Not only was it truly the "Conference of Champions," the receipts are beginning to pile up in the Indianapolis B1G offices already. Many will categorize it as the "West Coast Teams are helping the B1G, and being a part of this conference is helping those teams as well." And that is true, but what is also true is how West Coast teams are going to be taking over many sports beyond what they already dominate. Our recruiting window, exposure and funding has been expanded, and now everyone is going to see what will happen when those elements are helping these great, if underappreciated athletic programs in the west. You can make a very strong case that Oregon has the best overall athletic program in the B1G, and some would say it is not even close.

See updates further down the thread... ----------------------------------------------------------- Ducks Advance To NCAA Match Play As No. 2 Seed CARLSBAD, Calif. – For the second year in a row and third time since 2022, Oregon has advanced through stroke play and will compete in match play at the NCAA Women’s Golf Championships. Behind a stellar 7-under 65 from Big Ten Golfer of the Year Kiara Romero, the No. 5 Ducks tied for the best score of Monday’s final round of stroke play with a 4-under 284 to earn the No. 2 seed in Tuesday’s match-play quarterfinals at Omni La Costa Resort and Spa. Oregon will face No. 7 seed Texas beginning at 7:40 a.m. PT, with the winner moving on to play either No. 3 seed Northwestern or No. 6 seed Arkansas in the semifinals later in the day. Oregon finished four rounds of stroke play at 6-under par, second only to top-ranked Stanford (-27) and eight strokes better than Northwestern for third. The Ducks will aim to reach the NCAA semifinals once again after winning their quarterfinal match against LSU a year ago at Omni La Costa. “Very thankful for the opportunity to return to match play,” head coach Derek Radley said. “Just extremely proud to finish with that second seed after stroke play in a really talented field. I saw some really great things from our team and I thought we really did a good job of sticking to our game plan." “We were able to make a run to that final four last year and we’re just really excited to be back and see what we’re able to do tomorrow.” Romero caught fire for the Ducks after shooting 2-over par through the first three rounds, making five birdies and an eagle to tie for the lowest individual round of the week. The national player of the year candidate flew 20 spots up the leaderboard to finish as the top Duck in a tie for eighth overall at 5-under par, breaking her own UO 72-hole scoring record from last year (-4). “Kiara is really special,” Radley said. “I saw that look in her eye today. Excited to get that momentum for her going into match play and be able to use that to set the tone for the rest of our lineup.” Kiara Romero How it Happened: The Ducks entered the final round of stroke play in third place and six shots back of Northwestern for second. Oregon matched the first-place Cardinal with the best round of the day at 4 under, while the Wildcats carded a 10-over 298 as UO quickly separated to secure the No. 2 seed. Romero got off to a hot start and never looked back, making par on the opening hole before carding a birdie at No. 2. A 3-wood up to the fringe on the par-5 sixth hole set up an easy up-and-down for her second birdie, and she stuck her approach shot on No. 9 before draining the birdie putt to make the turn at 3 under. Fireworks ensued from there, as the sophomore chipped in for eagle at No. 10 before her approach shot on No. 11 lipped out for a potential eagle. A tap-in birdie brought her to 6 under overall and 4 under in that three-hole stretch, and she made a lengthy birdie putt at No. 14 before finishing with four consecutive pars. It was the team-leading 16th sub-70 performance of the season for Romero, who shot par-or-better in three of four rounds of stroke play and has done so 26 times in 32 total rounds this season. She has now placed in the individual top 10 at the NCAA Championships in each of her first two collegiate seasons, after tying for sixth as a freshman last spring. Romero was joined in the top 10 by freshman Suvichaya Vinijchaitham, who tied for 10th overall at 4-under par after closing with a 1-under 71. Vinijchaitham was Oregon’s most consistent performer throughout stroke play, shooting par-or-better in all four rounds and making 14 total birdies against just 10 bogeys. Vinijchaitham was even through 15 holes before a terrific tee shot on the par-3 16th set up a birdie to get to 1 under, and she finished out with a pair of pars to officially seal Oregon’s spot in match play. Freshman Tong An got off to a quick start with two birdies in her first five holes before finishing with a 1-over 71, and sophomore Ting-Hsuan Huang rounded out the counting scores with a 3-over 75. Huang gave Oregon three players in the individual top 20, tying for 20th overall at 1 over with three rounds of par-or-better. Sophomore Karen Tsuru was back in the lineup for the Ducks, carding a 4-over 76 after sitting out Sunday’s round due. Tsuru and An have both dealt with back soreness this week, with junior Anika Varma subbing in once for each and shooting even par on both Saturday and Sunday. That depth could prove critical for the Ducks as they hope to battle through 36 holes on Tuesday and advance to the national championship match on Wednesday. “We’ve battled some adversity this week and it’s really been a team effort with all six of our players stepping up,” Radley said. “I’m really proud of the way Karen and AT have hung in there and Anika has done a tremendous job staying prepared. All three will be ready to go tomorrow and I know whoever is in there is going to give it their best shot.” Ducks on the Leaderboard: 3. #5 Oregon – 288-289-285-284 – 1,146 (-6) T8. Kiara Romero – 72-74-72-65 – 283 (-5) T10. Suvichaya Vinijchaitham – 71-72-70-71 – 284 (-4) T20. Ting-Hsuan Huang – 71-72-71-75 – 289 (+1) NA. Tong An – 74-Sub-73-73 – 210 (+4) NA. Karen Tsuru – 74-73-Sub-76 – 213 (+7) NA. Anika Varma – Sub-72-72-Sub – 144 (E) What it Means: The Ducks will need to win twice on Tuesday to advance to the NCAA national championship match for the second time in four seasons, after finishing as the runner-up to Stanford in 2022. Oregon’s trip to the semifinals last spring earned them opportunities to get valuable match-play experience in the fall, when the Ducks played in championship settings at the East Lake Cup and the Jackson T. Stephens Cup. UO has three players – Romero, Huang and Tsuru – back from that team that reached the semifinals last year. Up Next: The Ducks and Longhorns will square off beginning on hole No. 1 at 7:40 a.m. Golf Channel will have live coverage of the quarterfinals from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., with coverage of the semifinals from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. NCAA Quarterfinals - #2 Oregon vs. #7 Texas Kiara Romero (Oregon) vs. Bohyun Park (Texas) – 7:40 a.m. Tong An (Oregon) vs. Lauren Kim (Texas) – 7:50 a.m. Suvichaya Vinijchaitham (Oregon) vs. Cindy Hsu (Texas) – 8:00 a.m. Karen Tsuru (Oregon) vs. Farah O’Keefe (Texas) – 8:10 a.m. Ting-Hsuan Huang (Oregon) vs. Angela Heo (Texas) – 8:20 a.m.

My Duck-Buddies...I was WRONG about what I wrote above concerning UCLA getting an advantage with pitching. I called and talked with the Sports Information Director for Baseball in the Athletic department, and I've talked with him often over the years, and he writes up the press releases that I insert into posts after the games. When I voiced my concerns...he told me that I was misunderstanding a couple of items, and it starts with the Pool format itself. He explained that all the conference coaches help design it, and vote on it of which Waz was a part of. The second point is pitchers being used on Tuesday and Wednesday by the Bruins will NOT be used on the weekend. Why? Because at the end of a season--they give their starting pitchers a full week to rest...not four or five days, as I thought. The third point was how everyone will not mess up their pitching for the NCAA Regionals the next week. UCLA, nor Oregon will run a starter on Sunday, and pitch him again on the following Friday or Saturday. The focus is on the Playoffs, and winning the B1G Tournament is a bonus. He said that ALL teams will be short of experienced pitchers, that we are all in the same boat. I feel a TON better now, and he emphasized that we want to win the B1G Tournament, but not at the expense of a Regional game. But we are certainly going-for-it in Omaha this week... We'll see Jason Reitz...

It's fun watching the early days of the B1G Baseball Tournament...

The New B1G...

Here only nine months, and the Ducks captured EIGHT B1G Championships? Oregon has eight championships, USC and UCLA have three each, and Washington has one, for a total of 15 championships for the four West Coast teams. The rest of the Old B1G have 18 championships among the remaining 14 teams, with Ohio State leading them with four.

So...(above) we are new, and you give us less revenue, so we will fight for more! Fourteen teams that KNEW last August that they will keep Oregon in its place...

Football, then Basketball, and now Softball?

About our opponent in the Super-Regional...

After the game...

Oregon working on a rally...

When Oregon was down 4-0....

We gotta call it for what it was...and have some fun with it...

Can anyone explain how the NCBWA rankings in the top post had the Ducks dropping seven spots?

Isn't the ranking difference from the tournament seeding projections in the first post above....fascinating? Why such a difference? A nice scene from Iowa City...

You can see how the West Coast teams dominated the B1G in all sports offered right here, as USC won Womens T&F, Oregon won Mens T&F, Washington won Rowing, and Oregon/UCLA won Baseball.

You may recall Oregon played a series with them and the Ducks won all four games, 7-0, 8-3, 20-11, and 35-1 back in early March.

I will add to these throughout the day as they become available. D1Baseball National Rankings: (You can see their top-25 right here) Oregon No. 4 Beavis No. 7 UCLA No. 13 Baseball America National Rankings: (You can see their top-25 right here) Oregon No. 6 (Concerning NCAA Seeding? "Barring an early exit in the Big Ten Tournament, Oregon feels somewhat solid as a top eight.") Beavis No. 11 UCLA No. 15 USA TODAY Coaches Poll: (You can see their top-25 right here) Oregon No. 4 Beavis No. 7 UCLA No. 13 Perfect Game National Rankings: (You can see their top-25 right here) Oregon No. 2 (Wow!) Beavis No. 8 UCLA No. 16 NCBWA National Rankings: (You can see their top-25 right here) Beavis No. 6 Oregon No. 12 ?? Ducks were No. 7 last week and we dropped? UCLA No. 15 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ D1Baseball NCAA Tournament Seeding Projections: (You can look at their bracket projection field right here) Oregon No. 8 Beavis No. 9 (The winner of the Corvallis Regional would play at PK Park for the Super-Regionals if Oregon wins their Regional) 🤮 UCLA No. 13 Also in Tournament: USC projected to play at No. 1 Seed Texas Regional as a No. 3 Regional Seed. The B1G only has three teams projected in the 64 team tournament in Oregon, UCLA and USC? Thank goodness for West Coast teams to rescue the conference! (The actual tournament seeding and pairing does not occur until Monday May 26th on ESPN...after the conference tournaments are completed.) On3 NCAA Tournament Seeding Projections: (You can look at their bracket projection field right here) Oregon No. 7 Beavis No. 9 (No Super for you!) UCLA No. 16 Also in the Tournament is USC, who is projected to be a No. 3 Regional Seed in Oxford Mississippi, who is the national No. 15 Seed.

A wonderful game summary below... SIDEARM Integrations GODUCKS.COM Oregon's back was against the wall Sunday, but the Ducks beat Stanford twice to win regionals and earn the right to host another round.

When the finals become reported...it will become apparent that the West Coast Teams have taken over the old Big-10!