The National Acrobatics and Tumbling Association released its initial set of Championship Rankings, which will determine the eight teams selected for the 2025 National Championships, on March 26. 

No. 2 Oregon (5-1) rose from fourth in preseason polling to second overall. Here’s a look into the biggest winners and losers from the initial set of rankings, plus a look at those on the bubble. Rankings are accurate as of April 2, 2025.

Biggest winners: No. 2 Oregon, No. 4 Augustana University, No. 5 Fairmont State University

Oregon has won all but one meet so far this season — a loss at home to Baylor University — and will feel secure in the No. 2 spot ahead of a rematch with the Bears on April 5. Plus, with that seed, the Ducks wouldn’t meet the Bears in the postseason until the final round.

Augustana, meanwhile, rose from No. 11 overall in the preseason coaches’ poll to No. 4 in the initial championship poll. The Vikings (5-0) have strong wins over three preseason-ranked teams: No. 3 Gannon University, No. 7 Azusa Pacific University and No. 12 Hawaii Pacific University. Those three now sit No. 11, No. 9 and unranked, respectively, in the poll. Augustana is undefeated before its regular season finale against Missouri State University and should secure a postseason spot.

Fairmont State (7-1) has just two ranked victories — and none in the top 10 — but still sits at No. 5 in the rankings. The Fighting Falcons beat No. 11 Gannon and No. 13 Glenville State University, but suffered a loss to No. 9 Azusa Pacific on March 19 and have no ranked matchups remaining on their schedule. They’re a winner because they’re in a postseason slot — for now.

Biggest losers: No. 11 Gannon, No. 7 University of Mary Hardin-Baylor

No. 11 Gannon (3-4) is undoubtedly the program that suffered the most between the preseason poll and midseason rankings. The Knights were picked third in preseason after a run to the 2024 NCATA Championship final, but they lost key contributors in the offseason and dropped meets to No. 2, No. 4, No. 5 and No. 12. They’ll likely finish ranked, but are a world away from a championship berth.

Mary Hardin-Baylor (3-3) currently has its hands on a postseason spot, but dropped two spots from No. 5 to No. 7 in the first poll. The Cru have had their chances, but didn’t look competitive in 19.175 and 20.905-point losses to Oregon and Baylor, respectively. They had a shot at No. 6 Iona University, too, but dropped a heartbreaker to the Gaels by just 0.130 points on March 19. They now face a first-round matchup with the No. 2 seed instead of the No. 4 seed.

On the bubble:

Mary Hardin-Baylor and No. 8 Limestone University (10-1) currently sit as the final two teams in for the NCATA Championships. The Saints have no wins ranked higher than over No. 13, and have a loss to No. 3 Quinnipiac University. 

The Cru tally one regular-season meet left, but it’s against DIII Texas Lutheran University. Limestone will compete in the Conference Carolinas Championship, but have no regular-season meets left.

On the outside looking in are No. 9 Azusa Pacific (3-3) and No. 10 Saint Leo University (4-2). Azusa Pacific has just one ranked win and no regular-season meets remaining, so the Cougars are likely out. Saint Leo faces only unranked duo University of Montevallo and Talladega College before the season ends, and is also unlikely to jump into the top eight without help elsewhere.

The NCATA will release two further sets of rankings, on April 2 and April 9, before the final field is revealed on April 14. The 2025 NCATA Championships are scheduled for April 24-27 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

The post NCATA Championship Rankings: Biggest winners, losers, on the bubble appeared first on Daily Emerald.

For Oregon acrobatics and tumbling, the season isn’t quite over yet. The Ducks, though, have five wins under their belts and are essentially postseason locks. It’s time to hand out some awards — to the best-performing athletes this season (so far). The Daily Emerald took a look at an outstanding freshman class, comeback stars and our athlete of the year.

Freshman of the Year: Angelica Martin (base)

The Ducks have a ton of talented freshmen to whom this award could’ve gone. Three freshmen (Morgan Willingham, Carly Garcia and Briya Alvarado) have been nailed-on starters in tumbling. Top Cassidy Cu has been part of one of Oregon’s most reliably high-scoring events (five-element acro).

But this award goes to base Angelica Martin. The Delaware native has shone across multiple events this season: she competes with Cu in five-element, is a part of both the compulsory and synchronized pyramid heats, the toss event and the team event. She’s earned four well-deserved national recognitions from the NCATA, including three Freshman of the Week honorable mentions and the overall award following Oregon’s win over then-No. 3 Gannon University on March 23. Five-element is averaging a 9.733 score this season, the best of Oregon’s acro heats.

Martin will be in competition for the season-end national award, and while Baylor University redshirt-freshman base Leavy McDonald will pose stiff competition, Martin will absolutely be in contention. The last Oregon freshman to win the award was base Blessyn McMorris in 2022.

Comeback Athlete(s) of the Year: Haley Ellis (top/tumbler) and Blessyn McMorris (base)

This award is split between two athletes who have bounced back from season-ending injuries in 2024 to have strong years in 2025.

McMorris was named Athlete of the Week after Oregon’s first meet, a win over Morgan State University where she recorded three 9.85 or higher scores in the pyramid heat. She was also a part of Oregon’s perfect-10 pyramid against Baylor.

Ellis also returned to the starting lineup with aplomb. The top/tumbler is featured in Oregon’s standout tumbling event, where she participates regularly in both the quad (avg. 8.925 points when Ellis starts this season) and six-element passes (9.738).

Athlete of the Year: Bella Swarthout (base)

Swarthout gets this award in just her second year with the Ducks, but it’s more than warranted. She’s all over the starting roster for Oregon: the base competes in three of four compulsory heats, seven-element acro, all three pyramid heats, the open toss and the team event. 

She excels in all of them. Oregon earned its first 10.0 of the season in the open pyramid against Baylor on Feb. 22 with Swarthout starting at mid-base. Last year, she stepped in as the bottom base due to the injury to regular starter McMorris. This year, the two are in the heat together.

Her versatility is what seals this award. Oregon struggled against Gannon with its seven-element acro skill (which did not yet include Swarthout) and scored just 8.45 of a possible 10.0 points. The following week, Swarthout and top Bethany Glick debuted a new-this-season, slide-to-split skill that would go on to score 9.85 in back-to-back meets against University of Mary Hardin-Baylor and Quinnipiac University. The two also integrated the skill into Oregon’s team event, which has had a regular start value advantage against nearly every team the Ducks have faced. 

Every Oregon win has Swarthout’s fingerprints all over it. She earned the honorable mention for the NCATA Athlete of the Week category following Oregon’s win over UMHB, where six of her eight total heats that week earned a 9.50 or higher score. Any milestone Oregon achieves will likely run through the sophomore, and that’s more than enough to give her this award.

The post Murray: Oregon acrobatics and tumbling: midseason awards appeared first on Daily Emerald.

No. 2 Oregon (5-1) took the win in its second meet of its East Coast road trip 270.630-257.370 over No. 6 Iona University (3-3). The Ducks had early success after struggling five days ago against No. 3 Quinnipiac University and parlayed that into a dominant victory over a program that currently holds a postseason spot.

One week after dropping both the compulsory and acro events in their win over Quinnipiac, the Ducks won both events. 

Oregon pushed through a compulsory event that featured no season-high nor season-low scores and posted a 37.500 total — enough for a 0.350 initial advantage over Iona, which didn’t score higher than 9.55 in the event.

The focus for the Gaels would have to be on execution. Both their five (9.9) and six-element (9.2) acro heats had lower start values than the Ducks’ (both 10.0s) — a built-in advantage for Oregon.

Iona, though, couldn’t capitalize. The Gaels scored significantly lower in five-element (9.00 where Oregon scored 9.65), six-element acro (8.35/9.10) and fell further behind after the event finished. Oregon’s event didn’t see any season-high scores, but was more than enough to push past the nation’s sixth-ranked program and into a 2.5-point advantage.

The opportunity was there for the home team, but the pyramid event from the Gaels scored just 27.850. Oregon could only manage 28.750 points behind no scores higher than 9.80. The mountain to climb for Iona was still significant: 3.4 points at the half.

Out of the break, the Ducks grew their lead with a win in toss — the only event they won against Quinnipiac five days ago. Despite a season-low 9.15 score in the synchronized toss heat, Oregon won the event, 28.100-27.750.

Tumbling, normally one of Oregon’s strongest events, was a surprise miss last Sunday when the Ducks lost the event. Without regular starter Haley Ellis in the lineup, Oregon suffered a fall in the team event against the Bobcats and had to pull out a performance in team to secure the win.

There would be no such issues against the Gaels. Oregon rolled through its tumbling event, scoring 55.750 — 0.100 points more than the 55.650 they posted last week. With the new starters still in place, Oregon fortified a 6.250-point advantage ahead of the team event.

There, the Ducks slammed the door shut on the Gaels. A six-point advantage plus the start value difference (5.78 more for Oregon) was already likely insurmountable. The Ducks didn’t blink in a routine that saw no notable falls or missed skills and scored 92.18, while Iona made no huge mistakes, but didn’t do enough to overcome that deficit and only scored 85.17.

The meet marked the end of Iona’s regular season and the Gaels will now play the waiting game with a spot in the NCATA Championships on the line. Oregon, meanwhile, heads home after an undefeated road trip and sets its eyes on a season-ending rematch with No. 1 Baylor in Waco, TX on April 5.

The post No. 2 Oregon acrobatics and tumbling earns emphatic 270.630-257.370 win over No. 6 Iona appeared first on Daily Emerald.

No. 2 Oregon acrobatics and tumbling (4-1) is in the midst of its first double-meet week of the season. The Ducks grabbed their highest-ranked win of the season on March 23 over then-No. 2 (now No. 3) Quinnipiac University, and stay on the road to face the No. 6 Iona Gaels on March 28.

The Gaels (3-2) have only lost to Quinnipiac and No. 1 Baylor this season, and have tallied wins over Long Island University, No. 12 Duquesne University and No. 7 University of Mary Hardin-Baylor.

Here’s what to know before the Ducks and Gaels face off on Friday:

High-powered meet

Both programs would make the NCATA Championships if the season ended today. This is a matchup between two strong teams that can mostly match each other’s start values. 

It’s also nothing new; both have already faced Baylor and Quinnipiac this season (the top two schools in the preseason coaches’ poll) and have multiple ranked wins. They shouldn’t be rattled and this stage won’t be a surprise.

What a win offers both teams is security: the Ducks finish the season with a tough matchup against Baylor, while the Gaels don’t have another meet after Friday. A third ranked win for either could secure their slot in the Championships with opportunities few and far between.

Freshman recognition

Oregon and Iona combined to sweep the NCATA’s weekly awards for freshman following last week’s meets: Gaels back-base/tumbler Emerson Johnson shone across meets against Baylor and Mary Hardin-Baylor, where she competed in 20 total heats and shone in pyramid while Ducks base Angelica Martin earned her fourth national recognition of the season following a standout performance against Quinnipiac.

The Ducks, in particular, rely on freshmen in key spots. Two of their three solo passes have been held by first-year athletes this year, and Martin and freshman top Cassidy Cu debuted a new five-element skill earlier this season that has been one of Oregon’s most consistent heats.

On Friday, keep an eye out for Johnson, Martin and their first-year teammates. They’ll be in positions to decide this meet.

Event to watch

In top-eight matchups like these, it’s all-too-often down to the team event. If it doesn’t come down to the last event of the day, it’ll be a surprise; if it does, execution will be key. Oregon’s team event (as of last week) held a 5.61-point advantage in start value, but it’s small enough that any falls or missed skills will still matter.

Around the NCATA

The NCATA released its first set of Championship Rankings on March 26, which shook up the postseason field and provided an idea of what programs still have to do to qualify before the Championships start in April. All rankings and records are accurate as of March 27.

No. 1 Baylor (7-0) beat No. 6 Iona in Waco, TX, where sophomore top Payton Washington won Athlete of the Week and redshirt-freshman base Leavy McDonald won Freshman of the Week.

No. 3 Quinnipiac (5-1) lost to No. 2 Oregon at home in the Bobcats’ first loss of the season. Quinnipiac senior base Hallie Fowler was named Athlete of the Week honorable mention.

No. 4 Augustana University (4-0) was on bye following its most recent win over Hawaii Pacific University on March 13. The Vikings have two more meets, but no ranked contests left.

No. 5 Fairmont State University (6-1) lost to Azusa Pacific University on March 19. Like the Vikings, the Falcons have two meets (none ranked) remaining in their regular season.

No. 7 Mary Hardin-Baylor (3-3) lost to Iona at home on March 19. The Cru, who have no currently-ranked wins (Hawaii Pacific and Azusa Pacific were Nos. 7 and 12, respectively, in the preseason poll), face just one more school: DIII Texas Lutheran University on April 4.

No. 8 Limestone University (8-1) benefited well from the rankings release; earlier wins over then-unranked Glenville State (now No. 13) and Coker University (No. 14) are now even better on their record. The Saints have only lost to Quinnipiac this season, and will also likely compete in the Conference Carolinas tournament in early April.

The post What to know: No. 2 Oregon acrobatics and tumbling at No. 6 Iona University appeared first on Daily Emerald.

SEATTLE — The comeback boys were behind with just enough time left to call it possible. It’s where Oregon had been all year long. For 34 games, they’d made it work. For 34 games, it felt like a dream where the last shot always fell.

This time, finally, they couldn’t pay it off.

Maybe it was lost at the free throw line, where they shot 12-22 on the night after taking just two first-half trips. Maybe it was the failure when they finally had to miss from the stripe, did, and couldn’t snag the rebound. Maybe it was a season of returns from impossible deficits finally catching up. Whatever it was, it ran out at last.

Fourth-seeded Arizona (24-12, 14-6 Big 12) pushed past fifth-seeded Oregon (25-10, 12-8 Big Ten) 87-83 in an old-school Pac-12 battle that came down to the wire. The very best showed: Arizona star Caleb Love scored 29, including the final free throws that sealed the coffin shut. Oregon sophomore guard Jackson Shelstad had 25. TJ Bamba and Nate Bittle had 17 and 16 points, respectively.

It just wasn’t enough. 

“I did enjoy this group,” Oregon head coach Dana Altman said. “We did some good things, we had some downs, but we had a lot more ups than we did downs and this one’s going to hurt for a long time.”

“That last one, it always hurts,” he said.

Two hours earlier, it couldn’t have started better for Oregon.

You would’ve been forgiven for thinking it was still Friday night against Liberty when Brandon Angel and Shelstad hit two 3-point shots before the first media timeout. You really would’ve been okay believing it after Bittle dropped in a triple from deep and Kwame Evans Jr. followed it up with a tough and-1 layup. Up 15 points after five minutes, Oregon was cruising.

It took Altman calling a timeout and chewing out his five on the floor after Love snagged his own rebound and sunk a jumper to draw the Wildcats within six to bring Oregon back to Earth.

Arizona’s star, undeterred, continued to rise. Love hit his first 3-pointer from the corner out of the timeout, and the ball became kryptonite to the Ducks. A 3:38, three-turnover, scoreless Oregon run finally ended when Shelstad hit a stepback jumper, but the damage was done. Arizona was awake.

“When we got on that run in the first half, they started crashing the boards,” Bittle said. “They got a couple offensive rebounds, putbacks and…and started attacking us.  We weren’t building our wall, (and weren’t) getting back in transition defense.”

The Ducks sleepwalked through the next 3:12, where Arizona went on a 12-2 run and hit three straight field goals to drive into its first lead of the game. After the Wildcats missed three straight layup attempts but grabbed three boards and (eventually) two points, Altman, incensed, stalked so far onto the court he could’ve been a ball-handler.

By the end of the half, it wasn’t Friday night anymore. Shelstad had gone cold and hit just one jumper since the 12:47 mark in the period, and wouldn’t strike in the final 8:08. The free throw line was empty; Oregon took just two trips to the stripe in the first half — the Evans and-1 and a Bamba opportunity — and went 1-3. Arizona, meanwhile, shot 6-10 from the line and outrebounded the Ducks, 23-19 in the period.

Another 1:32, 6-0 run put the Ducks in a six-point hole ahead of the break. Shelstad, with the ball in his hands and five seconds on the clock, had the chance to draw Oregon closer but instead lost his handle on the drive.

“We kind of hit fool’s gold (in) that first half,” Altman said. “We hit those shots and then we just gave up easy baskets in transition and the game got too easy.”

Shelstad broke his slump two minutes into the second half, but it wasn’t the splash of ice water to the face that Oregon needed. Far from it — instead, the Wildcats surged into an 11-point lead (their largest of the game) courtesy of an 8-0 run and another Shelstad turnover.

The 1:33, 7-0 run a quarter of the way through the period could’ve brought the Ducks back to life. Instead, Love buried them with a stepback 3-pointer immediately out of the timeout.

In a year where the Ducks made their living surging late against new opponents, it was an old foe who finally stifled them.

Were the opportunities there? Certainly.

Oregon made it into the bonus with 8:40 to play, found itself within a possession with 7:38 to go, and immediately missed a layup before giving one up on the other end.

The Ducks were within two after Shelstad got his jumper to go with 4:34 left in Oregon’s season, but Love, once again, struck from deep. He flushed an emphatic dunk off the pick-and-roll 99 seconds and zero Oregon points later.

In the huddle, down two with 44.7 to play, Altman was finally calm. He doled out instructions before spending the final half-minute with his arm around Shelstad’s shoulder.

Oregon’s guard had the ball down three with 20 seconds on the clock. He spent 10 and could only lay it in to draw his team within one.

Love scored all 10 of the Wildcats’ final points from the floor. The Wildcats made seven of the eight free throws they earned within the last 21 seconds. 

Finally, down two with 1.8 to tick and a second foul shot on the way — when Shelstad had to miss — he did. Oregon couldn’t grab the board. The buzzer sounded, and they headed down the tunnel as Arizona broke into jubilation.

“Losses like this hurt a lot,” Shelstad said. “It’s going to hurt for a while. We were right there last year and this year and just a couple different plays or free throws, anything, rebounds, could have went a different way. It’s going to sting for a little bit.”

The final question for Altman, the players had left and he was alone with the microphone, was about his pitch to athletes who might eye the transfer portal on the other side of the night.

“There’s a business aspect to it, and I understand that,” he said. “But, man, if you’re not having fun playing ball, if you’re not having fun with your teammates, if you don’t enjoy the four years you get to play, I’m not sure you can put a price on that.” 

A dream run that saw the Ducks become one of the nation’s hottest teams over the final few months of their season finally came to a shuddering, sudden stop.

Goodnight.

The post Oregon men’s basketball falls 87-83 to Arizona in NCAA Tournament Round of 32 appeared first on Daily Emerald.

It wasn’t going as planned. The Ducks lost in their two strongest events — pyramid and tumbling — and had to perform when it mattered: team event. 

They did.

No. 4 Oregon acrobatics and tumbling (4-1) grabbed its highest-ranked win of the season, 272.380 – 271.165 over No. 2 Quinnipiac University (5-1) in the Ducks’ first road meet of the year. The Bobcats swept the first-half events and won four of six overall, but the Ducks grabbed victory with a strong toss event and one of their cleanest team events of the season.

Quinnipiac isn’t about flash; they don’t have the slide-to-split skills that Oregon does throughout their meet. They’re about execution, and they did it near-perfectly in the first half. 

The Ducks laid down back-to-back 9.800 scores in the compulsory pyramid and acro heats, but fell behind after the Bobcats threw a 9.950 score in compulsory toss that simply flew higher than anything Oregon showed. The Ducks trailed — just by .050 — after one event.

Oregon dropped points in the acro heat, where one of its most consistent heats (five-element acro) scored just 9.65 — a joint-low this year — and a 9.30 score in six-element acro couldn’t earn it back. The new seven-element score that Oregon head coach Taylor Susnara inserted last week against Mary Hardin-Baylor scored 9.85 for the second week in a row (a joint-season high for the Ducks).

The home team, though, wasn’t to be deterred. Quinnipiac threw two 9.900 heats in a stunning acro event, and outscored the Ducks in every heat. Their lowest score, a 9.750, was higher than all but one of the Ducks’ marks.

Oregon, trailing by 0.800, was competing from behind for one of just a few times this year. A normally impeccable pyramid event still scored 29.400, and the open pyramid that scored a 10.0 earlier this year garnered a 9.950. The continuity wasn’t there, though. 

The Ducks scored just 9.600 in the synchronized pyramid, but the Bobcats didn’t blink. The home group scored no lower than 9.850 and threw two 9.900s to sweep the first-half events and earn a one-point lead at the break. 

Finally, an event win emerged for the Ducks in the toss event, where they took advantage of two 9.400-or-lower scores from the Bobcats and laid down a season-high 9.750 in their first toss heat. The deficit shrunk to under a point ahead of the tumbling event.

That’s where the Ducks did their damage. Oregon rolls out six 10.0 start values, which very few programs can match. Quinnipiac isn’t one of them.

Susnara chose to make changes to her lineup since leaving Eugene — tumbler Haley Ellis, who normally competes in both the quad and six-element passes — was on the sideline.

Instead, sophomore Logan Davis was inserted and fell on her landing. Oregon scored just 7.750 in the heat — by far a season low — and dropped the event overall.

Ellis didn’t compete in her usual six-element pass either, but senior Riley Watson stepped in and scored 9.675. The two shared a hug caught on the broadcast afterward.

Oregon threw down a team event that wasn’t perfect by any means, but avoided any falls or large deductions throughout one of its stronger meets this season. The Ducks, too, had a 2.54-point start value advantage over the Bobcats.

Quinnipiac, though, nailed its own coffin shut when sophomore tumbler Tiffanie Smith slipped on her landing during the Bobcats’ team event. Their issues weren’t prevalent, and aside from significant instability during their acro portion, their execution was solid.

The fall was just too much to overcome. Oregon scored 91.830 to Quinnipiac’s 89.740 in the event to win the meet from behind and claim its highest-ranked victory of the season by just 1.215 points. 

The Ducks stay on the road and head to No. 8 Iona for a meet on March 28. The meet is scheduled to start at 3:00 p.m. PST.

The post No. 4 Oregon acrobatics and tumbling grabs first road win 272.380 – 271.165 over No. 2 Quinnipiac University appeared first on Daily Emerald.

It’s a first trip away from home for No. 4 Oregon acrobatics and tumbling (3-1) this weekend, as the Ducks head to Connecticut to face No. 2 Quinnipiac University (5-0). The bout between two top-four teams in the preseason NCATA Coaches’ Poll could define both of their seasons. 

Oregon’s lone loss is to No. 1 Baylor and its win over No. 3 Gannon (now 2-4 on the season) likely won’t stay that high. Quinnipiac, meanwhile, has a perfect record this year, but hasn’t faced a program ranked higher than No. 8 Iona (and won’t again after Sunday, except for a season-ending meet with the Knights). 

Both teams are looking for resume-boosters that could help them claim a top seed in the NCATA Championship. Both teams have championship-caliber rosters. This is the week’s marquee matchup.

The Daily Emerald’s Owen Murray and Q30 Sports’ Meg Buckley traded questions ahead of this weekend’s matchup, focused on the teams’ strengths, their seasons so far and the history between the two programs.

Owen’s three questions for Meg:

Both of these programs made it to and then lost in last year’s NCATA Championship semifinals. How much experience has Quinnipiac brought back and why does that matter on Sunday?

Despite the Bobcats having a high number of first-years on the team, the veteran athletes have stepped up to lead by example. Graduate student MiaRose King is in her sixth year and recently led the Bobcats to scoring their first perfect-10 of the season in the seven-element acro heat during their meet against Limestone; earning her the Specialist of the Week award from NCATA. This extends to senior base Hallie Fowler, who won NCATA’s first Athlete of the Week and received an honorable mention for the same award recently. 

The experience does not stray far either as alumni Chloe White and Tiffany Zieba have now joined the staff as assistant coaches and all of this plays a role in Sunday’s meet when facing No. 4 Oregon, as this leadership can be a pillar of support for the younger girls, providing confidence to calm any nerves they may have. 

Quinnipiac is 5-0 and none of the wins have been close, but it hasn’t faced a program ranked higher than No. 8 Iona. What can you say about how good this team is, even without a top-seven win?

Taking the mat against a highly-ranked team like Oregon can fuel the spirits of the team, but Quinnipiac has always put its all into every meet, no matter the opponent. The team had to adapt to some challenges early in the season, but didn’t let that affect it. It came out with a strong home win against Morgan State, and has continued that precedent. The strongest events for the team would definitely be acro and pyramid, as both have been very strong all season, averaging a 28.88 out of 30.00 for pyramid and 28.41 out of 30.00 for acro. 

As the weeks have progressed, the Bobcats have also grown in aspects, as their team event scores have risen over 10 points from February 22 at Long Island University to March 12 at Limestone. While on paper coming out on top against highly-rated opponents looks good, and it is good no doubt, consistency is just as important. The Bobcats have shown time and time again that they have great quality of skills, and now, there’s a focus on building and rolling with that consistency as they go through their season. 

These two programs both have championship ambition, and they’re both (almost certainly) going to make it back to the postseason. What is the Bobcats’ ceiling? What’s their floor?

An easily achievable goal for Quinnipiac would be to go to Nationals, but it would be more surprising if they didn’t, considering they are ranked No. 2 and are currently rocking a 5-0 record. In order to win, however, they would have to get through No. 1 Baylor, a team that, if it won, would bank its 10th-consecutive win. A jumping-off point is how the meet between Quinnipiac and Oregon shakes out, and Quinnipiac’s final meet of the regular season against Gannon, a team that knocked the Bobcats out of the semifinals last year. Once those things happen, a clear picture will form on how far the Bobcats need to shoot in order to reach the moon. 

Their floor would be getting knocked out early in the playoffs, something that would surprise many people, but anything can happen to anyone on any given day. If they were to reach their ceiling instead, it’d end with them taking the National Championship title home to Hamden. 

Meg’s three questions for Owen:

Over the course of the season, Oregon has yet to have an away meet this year. The team also consists of nine new athletes to replace the nine seniors they lost from the previous season. How do you think the team, especially the underclassmen, will adapt to going on the road?

Honestly, I’m not worried about the freshmen. There’s three or four (Angelica Martin, Cassidy Cu, Briya Alvarado and Morgan Willingham especially) who’ve been bigger-than-expected parts of this team’s success, and they’ve been the ones to perform under pressure. Martin and Cu’s new five-element skill has been one of Oregon’s most consistent heats. Alvarado and Willingham both have nailed down solo tumbling passes. They’re for real.

Going on the road is tough, but Oregon senior top Bethany Glick was telling me last week about how she thinks this schedule is an advantage — she said that the Ducks have been, “able to build up their confidence at home,” before they head on the road. I do believe that this team is mentally strong (that’s something they talk about a ton), and so even if they do get down, they’ve always got a shot.

The margins of victories and losses have always been close between the two teams, especially in the past five meetings, with the smallest margin being 1.165 points in 2020. What are some key things to look out for on Oregon’s side this time as each team tries to come away with the win?

The biggest thing to watch in Oregon’s meet is confidence. If it shows up in compulsories, like it did against Morgan State and last week against UMHB, watch out. If it’s not there, like against Gannon a couple of weeks ago, everything starts to get shaky. Like I said, they talk a lot about mental fortitude and being able to bounce back from bad heats and events, but their ability to set the tone early will be huge.

Outside of that, they’ve got strength in key spots — their open pyramid right before the half is one of their best heats (and the only one they’ve had a perfect-10 in in each of the last two years), and their tumbling event (six 10.0 start values, averaging 57.0125 points this season) will always keep them in meets. They can pull away in key spots.

Keep an eye on the team event, though. The Ducks had issues with falls in the first three meets before Oregon head coach Taylor Susnara made changes and “focused very hard on” the event between meets against Gannon and UMHB. Oregon rolled out a very strong team event against the Cru, and flipped that from a weakness to the strength. We’ll see if the Ducks can keep it up.

Oregon faces top-10 teams for the rest of their regular season, including No. 1 Baylor, who they have already lost to. How important is it for the Ducks to keep the momentum going and maintain high energy as they face tough opponents? How does No. 2 Quinnipiac play a role? 

Oregon’s schedule is a total gauntlet. There’s no opportunity to rest — and, for a program that wants a top seed in the NCATA Championship, no leeway to drop meets. The Ducks, though, haven’t won three consecutive meets since they opened the 2023 season with a trio of wins.

Three wins is what it’ll take to win a trophy in April, and this is almost a mini version of that. Oregon will face three championship-caliber opponents in tight windows (the Ducks will head to Iona and compete that meet less than a week after this one before a break prior to the rematch with Baylor). Quinnipiac is a huge challenge, especially in that it can match Oregon’s start values. This one will be decided on the mat, not with SVs.

The Ducks have only really faced that once this season — a championship-caliber opponent with equal start values. It was No. 1 Baylor, and they nearly matched them. It’ll happen again on Sunday, and it’ll be a great opportunity for Oregon to measure itself against a great opponent.

Oregon and Quinnipiac face off at M&T Bank Arena in Hamden, CT on Sunday. The meet is scheduled for 10 a.m.  Pacific Time.

The post What to know: Three acrobatics and tumbling questions with Q30 Sports’ Meg Buckley ahead of No. 4 Oregon vs No. 2 Quinnipiac appeared first on Daily Emerald.

SEATTLE — Dana Altman didn’t have to say anything that he’d never said before.

Oregon men’s basketball walked into the locker room at Climate Pledge Arena with a 44-20 lead (its largest in program NCAA Tournament history). Jackson Shelstad had just finished off the period with a two-for-one, five-point sequence where the guard dove on a rolling inbound, laid it in and laid down a shake-and-bake 3-pointer behind the arc to extend the Ducks’ halftime advantage to 24. The game was, for all intents and purposes, over.

“I talked about the importance of the first five minutes,” Altman said after the game. “(Of) not letting them get going and getting a bunch of easy shots. Nothing different…This was like a neutral game that we played in November.” 

Fifth-seeded Oregon (25-9, 12-8 Big Ten) rode a dominant first half to a confident 81-52 victory over 12th-seeded Liberty University (28-7, 13-5 Conference USA) in its opening matchup of the 2025 NCAA Tournament in Seattle. It dominated the scoreboard and the glass, where the Ducks snagged 43 rebounds to the Flames’ 27. Eleven Oregon players scored (nine had at least five points) in a game that was never a contest. Comprehensive is an understatement.

Just a little bit of history, though, is in order first. Shelstad, the only Oregon starter with career minutes in March, scored just seven points in his last Tournament game — a double-overtime loss to Creighton in the Round of 32 last season. He said afterward that he was thinking about that game — and that he knew that experience would be important this year.

He eclipsed that seven-point mark within the first five minutes of Oregon’s game on Friday night, dropping back-to-back 3-point makes from deep that stunned the Flames.  

“When you hit your first couple shots, obviously it just gives you some confidence and my teammates did a really good job just getting me open looks as well,” Shelstad (17 points, four rebounds, three assists, 3-4 3-pointers) said.  

Liberty ranks ninth in the country in percentage of points from 3-point shots per game (41.3%, per TeamRankings), and committed to that mark early; the Flames took four shots from deep before the 16-minute mark in the first half.

They missed them all.

Oregon didn’t make the same mistake. The Ducks opened with a barrage of points, scoring 13 before the first timeout, and made three from beyond the arc. By the 15-minute mark, they’d already made as many 3-point shots (four) as they had in their Big Ten Tournament loss to Michigan State seven days ago.

On Friday, the foot stayed on the gas. Altman’s team put together a 5:33, 15-2 run that controlled the middle of the first half. It didn’t matter what part of Oregon’s rotation was on the floor; the Ducks had four bench players — Supreme Cook, Kwame Evans, Jadrian Tracey and Ra’Heim Moss — on the floor and controlled the game just as well as the starters.

It didn’t matter when the Ducks went on a 2:38 scoreless run — not this time. Bittle (14 points, 10 rebounds) came right back off the bench with back-to-back layups, and Liberty couldn’t hang. Oregon dominated the glass, and its big man finished the period just one rebound off a first-half double-double.

“It’s a physical game,” Bittle said. “Altman tells us all the time that, growing up if your mom told you (basketball) is not a physical sport, it is. So we take that into consideration and it’s just one of those games where they didn’t have anybody that was bigger than 6’8’’ (or) 6’9’’, so I knew that crashing the glass and going to the rim aggressively was what I needed to do.”  

Finally, an Oregon team that has battled and bitten back from behind all season long didn’t have to do so in a game that mattered. Altman, the experienced helmsman in his glasses, was free to rotate through his deep bench throughout the second half. In a game just about today, his mind had the luxury of turning to tomorrow.

“When we had the game in hand there, I didn’t want to play anybody for too many minutes,” he said.  “We’ve got a game on Sunday and the transition that Arizona exhibited today — we’re going to have a lot of running…We’re a little fortunate there that we didn’t have to play guys for 35 minutes.”  

The moments were there, of course. 

Faced with a Liberty group just trying to milk the final seconds of first-half clock, Shelstad grabbed the loose-ball steal and two points before sending his man stumbling just in time to see the ball hit nylon from deep.

Evans threw down the back end of an alley-oop to put the Ducks up 25 with 12:45 to play. There would be no emphatic celebration — just a simple acknowledgement of the feed and a smile from Oregon’s two best players.

Shelstad and Bittle were sitting side by side on the bench with no need to return. 

The Ducks finally had no late comeback to summon or to stifle. They were simply efficient and incisive. The Flames didn’t do themselves any favors, and Oregon’s walk-ons held the ball at the buzzer of its second-straight Round of 64 victory.

Altman had more to say afterward than he did at the half — that 14 turnovers were too much and that he saw a frustrating lack of defensive activity that was perhaps the only thing that got him off the sideline and, shouting, onto the court on Friday night.

But really, there’s only one category on the box score that matters in March. The Ducks grabbed the final score handily.

Oregon will face fourth-seeded Arizona in the Round of 32 at Climate Pledge Arena on Sunday. Tip is set for 6:40 p.m. PST.

The post Oregon rolls to emphatic 81-52 victory over Liberty in NCAA Tournament opener appeared first on Daily Emerald.

Experience and preparation was the theme when Oregon men’s basketball held its preliminary press conference ahead of its first round NCAA Tournament game on Thursday. The fifth-seeded Ducks (24-9, 12-8 Big Ten) are set to face 12th-seeded Liberty University (28-6, 13-5 Conference USA) on Friday night. 

Oregon was knocked out of the Big Ten Tournament by Michigan State in the second round after beating Indiana, but had time to return to Eugene before traveling to Seattle. The Ducks find themselves close to home, but in enemy territory; Climate Pledge Arena is just minutes from the University of Washington campus.

Oregon finds an unfamiliar opponent in Liberty, which has lost just one of its last 12 across regular and postseason games. The two programs have never met, and Liberty has almost no experience this season against teams of Oregon’s quality. They faced just one team that qualified for the NCAA Tournament (12th-seeded McNeese State, which upset fifth-seeded Purdue earlier on Thursday) and finished with just six losses across non-conference and Conference USA play.

Here’s the best of what Oregon head coach Dana Altman and athletes TJ Bamba and Brandon Angel had to say on Thursday:

Altman on the varying NCAA and postseason experience in his team:

“A lot of the guys that we brought in as transfers have not played in the Tournament. But they are very experienced and they have shown that experience throughout the year. There are no magic wands as a coach. You just hope that the experiences that we’ve had throughout the year have prepared our guys for this. We’ve played on neutral floors six or seven games. We’ve been on the road a lot. 

“So I think our guys are prepared and it’s a little bit of a different feeling just because of the media and all the build-up that the media gives these games before the games. I think our guys are ready for it, the experience that we do have playing in the Tournament. We had three starters back, Bam [Jadrian Tracey], K.J. [Evans] and Jackson [Shelstad] all played quite a bit last year in the Tournament, so we do have some experience coming back.”

Altman on the importance of playing clean against lower seeds:

“I think that’s important in any game, getting off to a good start. Playing from behind, we’ve done that quite a bit this year, which puts a lot of stress on your team. But, no, when we turn the ball over, and we have turned it over here more recently than I would like, trying to do too much and trying to score maybe too quickly at times. 

“But it’s important for us to move the ball offensively, for us to get the looks we want to get. We’re going to have to shoot the ball a little bit. It shows the difference, I think, against Indiana we went 9 for 20 from three and the next night we go 4 for 19 against Michigan State. We had some really good looks, and we just didn’t hit ’em.”

Angel on playing close to home in Seattle — but also in Washington Husky territory:

“Having a home crowd makes a big difference. We appreciate our fans, both home and on the road. So having the Duck fans on the road will always be great and whatever opposing crowd we have, then bring it on and that’s just more energy in the arena and more stuff for us to build off of and fuel on.”

Bamba on Oregon’s preparation since exiting the Big Ten Tournament:

“I feel like yesterday we had one of the best practices that we had all year. I feel like everybody knows what’s at stake here. We just all come into practice focusing up, trying to have energy, really talking. It’s March, it’s the little things at this point. Every team that you’re going to play is good and is here for a reason. 

“Some of my teammates, they’ve been saying that teams who have the most energy in March are the ones who are the most successful. So we just all been listening to each other trying to talk and do the little things that’s going to help us win.”

Oregon’s game against Liberty is scheduled to tip on Friday night at 7:10 p.m. at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle. The winner will play the winner of Arizona and Akron on Sunday.

The post What they’re saying: Oregon men’s basketball prepares to face Liberty in NCAA Tournament First Round matchup appeared first on Daily Emerald.

There’s been an invasion of youth onto the diamonds in Eugene.

Both Oregon’s softball and baseball teams have benefited early in their seasons from powerful freshmen — on the mound and also on the basepaths. Both have high expectations, but the rookies involved aren’t holding them back. They’re leading the charge.

At Jane Sanders Stadium, it’s freshmen who are powering the top of head coach Melyssa Lombardi’s lineup. 

Rylee McCoy led all Ducks with a .489 batting average entering the month of March and a team-high nine home runs in her first season with the team. A California native, McCoy went 3-4 against San Diego State University on Feb. 21 in her best outing of the season.

Stefini Ma’ake smashed eight home runs in her first 52 at-bats in 2025, accumulating a .355 batting average. A high-school home run derby winner, Ma’ake has continued that trend at Oregon. Batting cleanup behind Kai Luschar, Dezianna Patmon and McCoy, she registered a hit in 15 of her first 20 games.

Catcher Emma Cox only adds to Oregon’s mountain of young talent. She comes from the same club team as current teammates Paige Sinicki and Ma’ake. Before suffering an injury against Portland State that ruled her out for the Oregon Classic, Cox was the first Duck to earn a weekly honor from the Big Ten, when she was named Freshman of the Week after a starring role during Oregon’s 5-0 run at the UNLV Desert Classic. 

Behind the plate, she has been secure — just two errors through 16 games before her injury have amply bridged the gap after the Ducks lost veteran 2024 catcher Emma Kauf to graduation.

“I think what’s great about (the freshmen) is that they can be coached in a lot of different ways,” Oregon softball associate head coach Sam Marder said. “They’re energetic, they can be coached hard, they’re incredibly accountable. They’re going to make a lasting impact on this program.”

Across the Willamette River, Oregon baseball is going player-for-player with Lombardi’s group. Head coach Mark Wasikowski has stocked his bullpen with new arms and loaded the diamond with talent to back them up.

Pitchers Will Sanford and Kellan Knox both made their first appearances during the Ducks’ season-opening series against the University of Toledo. The two appeared in the fourth matchup of the weekend, where Sanford started in a 6-1 win. 

Wasikowski called Sanford’s performance, “Just okay,” after the win — but admitted that that was only because he’s seen better from the rookie in practice. 

Sanford, meanwhile, praised Knox, who he called, “A dog,” and said, “He’s always working for us. He has the mentality where he’s just going to attack you. He doesn’t care who’s in the box…I feel confident with this whole staff.”

Opposite the arms, it’s been all about catchers Burke-Lee Mabeus and Coen Niclai. Mabeus was named Big Ten Co-Freshman of the Week after Oregon’s series win over Rhode Island University, where he boosted the Ducks to victory with a grand slam in a 15-2 win and registered eight RBIs over the weekend.

Niclai, meanwhile, joined the Ducks despite being drafted by the Miami Marlins in the 15th round last year. He started for Oregon in games against Rhode Island and Toledo, before smacking his first-career homer against Columbia. He’ll likely have to split time with Mabeus — and returner Chase Meggers — behind the dish, but it’s not a worry for their coach.

“They’re just both really good,” Wasikowski said of Mabeus and Niclai. “We’re lucky to have them both and they’ve caught extremely well…they don’t feel like freshmen back there.”

That might be the highest praise of all.

The post Freshman watch appeared first on Daily Emerald.