NCAA Tournament – Elite Eight – Sprint Center, Kansas City, MO
Tip-off: Saturday, 8:45 pm ET
Line: Kansas -6.5, Total: 158.5

No one in the country looks better than Kansas right now. Can Oregon slow them down?

Ask anyone who the favorite to win the NCAA Tournament is as the tourney enters the Elite Eight round, and most will say the Kansas Jayhawks without hesitation. That status is well-earned for Kansas, who have now won all three of their tournament games thus far by at least 20 points, with the most recent being a 98-66 destruction of a very good Purdue team (KU -5.5). Any concerns brought about by a Big 12 Tournament quarterfinal loss to TCU appear to be long gone, and the Jayhawks will play their Elite Eight opponent Oregon at Kansas City’s Sprint Center, which is a mere 45-minute drive from the school’s campus in Lawrence. All that said, they’ll face a stiff opponent in Oregon, a team that has been overlooked by prognosticators largely because they lost a key contributor in shot-blocker F Chris Boucher (11.8 PPG, 6.1 RPG, 2.5 BPG) to injury right before the tournament. But the Ducks have the experience of having reached the Elite Eight last year, and they impressed in beating arguably the nation’s hottest team in Michigan 69-68 on Thursday (ORE +1).

While Boucher led the Pac-12 in blocks this season, those proclaiming that his absence would doom the Ducks must have forgotten about F Jordan Bell (10.9 PPG, 8.5 RPG, 2.1 BPG). The 6-9 junior has been a force on both ends of the court all season, ranking first in the conference in field goal percentage (62.9%) and fourth in blocks. He was money against the Wolverines, scoring 16 points and grabbing 13 rebounds—five more than anyone else on either team. Carrying the team on offense as the team’s leading scorer in all three tournament games has been G Tyler Dorsey (14.1 PPG, 3.4 RPG), whose 5-of-7 three-point shooting propelled him to 20 points against Michigan. He had 24 against Iona and 27 against Rhode Island, and he’s a blistering 68.8% from deep in the tournament. The Ducks’ more heralded scorer, G Dillon Brooks (16.3 PPG, 3.1 RPG, 1.1 SPG) has been a little quieter, but is still averaging 16.3 PPG in the tournament, almost exactly his average for the season. The Pac-12 Player of the Year is known for big moments in March, and a late-game shot to take down Kansas would play right into the narrative he has built for himself. Guards Payton Pritchard (7.6 PPG, 3.3 RPG, 3.7 APG, 1.2 SPG) and Dylan Ennis (10.7 PPG, 4.4 RPG, 3.1 APG, 1.1 SPG) round out an incredibly talented starting lineup, and Ennis was key in pitching in 10 points, five rebounds and three assists against Michigan. G Casey Benson (5.0 PPG) played 24 minutes off the bench in the Sweet Sixteen, and forwards Kavell Bigby-Williams (3.1 PPG, 2.9 RPG) and Keith Smith (1.9 PPG) saw the court as well.

At this point, every game for Kansas G Frank Mason III (20.9 PPG, 4.2 RPG, 5.2 APG, 1.3 SPG) feels like a cementation of his inevitable coronation as National Player of the Year. He leads the Big 12 in scoring and is fourth in assists, and he is unquestionably the go-to guy for what, at the moment, appears to be the nation’s best team. He has been absolutely on fire in the tournament, scoring 22.7 PPG on 56.1% shooting and 43.8% three-point shooting; He had 26 points on 11 shots to go with seven assists against Purdue. His backcourt mate G Devonte’ Graham (13.7 PPG, 3.1 RPG, 4.2 APG, 1.6 SPG) has been just as good, as he also scored 26 against the Boilermakers and is shooting 56.3% and 59.1% from the floor and three-point range in the tournament, respectively. As if that weren’t enough, freshman guard and prospective lottery pick Josh Jackson (16.5 PPG, 7.2 RPG, 2.9 APG, 1.7 SPG, 1.1 BPG) has stepped up his game, as well. He had a game-high 23 points against Michigan State and a game-high 12 rebounds against Purdue, showing a versatility that makes this team look unstoppable. If the team has one potential weakness it’s on the interior, but Purdue’s Caleb Swanigan, perhaps the nation’s best post player, didn’t do enough damage to keep the game close at the end. And that was with F Landen Lucas (7.9 PPG, 8.4 RPG) sitting on the bench for half the game due to foul trouble. Guards Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk (9.7 PPG, 3.1 RPG) and Lagerald Vick (7.4 PPG, 3.5 RPG) combined for 22 points, and Vick’s 360 dunk seems destined for this year’s One Shining Moment reel.