default-cbs-image

Download the CBS Sports App today and get instant tournament news and alerts, plus get the latest picks and upsets from SportsLine!

The best shot of the tournament that wasn’t.

Michigan’s best player, Derrick Walton Jr., took a 3 as the clock was expiring during the Wolverines’ delightful Sweet 16 game vs. Oregon. Walton’s hit a dozen-plus huge shots for Michigan in the past two weeks. Been a top-five player in college basketball this postseason. Had Walton’s shot turned into Walton’s winner for the Wolverines, it would’ve given the tournament another all-time epic moment. 

Instead, off the iron, and so Oregon wins with an exhale, 69-68. The Ducks have made the Elite Eight in consecutive seasons for the first time in program history. Oregon hasn’t made a Final Four since 1939, when it won the national title in the very first NCAA Tournament.

Three Things to Know

1. Oregon got lucky 

First off, the fact that this Michigan team didn’t win again is a bit surprising. Walton, in the final game of his college career, had 20 points and was looking Kemba Walker-like again. Not only that, but Oregon had fouls to give on the game’s final possession, couldn’t foul Walton in time, and it would’ve been agonizing for Oregon fans had the game ended on a buzzer-beater on a blown opportunity. In fact, Oregon coach Dana Altman was yelling for his team to foul, according to reporters on the scene, but the Ducks didn’t do as instructed. 

No foul, no harm. Barely.

Get this: Michigan made 25 shots on 58 attempts. Oregon made 26 shots on 58 attempts. In the most tangible of ways, the game really did come down to, and was decided on, one shot.  

2.  Jordan Bell, you the real MVP

It’s quite simple: Jordan Bell is the biggest reason why Oregon is in the Elite Eight. Tyler Dorsey’s averaging 23 points per game in the postseason, and Dillon Brooks is the Pac-12 Player of the Year, but Bell has been downright necessary to getting Oregon wins over Rhode Island and Michigan. For the second straight game he came up with pivotal rebounds on the offense end down the stretch. That, paired with his incredible defense (Walton missed a running layup while being defended by Bell) allowed Oregon to overcome a 68-65 deficit with a minute and a half to go, and win the game 69-68.

Bell’s play, in light of Chris Boucher’s season-ending injury, has been all the more impressive. Michigan fans, and people who’ve followed this tournament, might be wondering why Michigan’s Moritz Wagner wasn’t on the floor in the final minutes. The answer: Bell. He rendered Wagner, who’d been great in the first two tourney games, ineffective. 

John Beilein had to try to go smaller to get more offense. It was interesting to see but probably a mandatory move. Wagner finished with seven points on 10 shots in 24 minutes. 

3. Michigan’s story won’t soon be forgotten 

The Wolverines provided us with an amazing run. The team won the Big Ten tournament after a plane scare, then pushed through to the Sweet 16, every game riveting and decided by an average of two points. Walton’s career ends on a high note, even in a loss. Who knows what the rest of this tournament will bring, but I think it’s safe to say that Michigan’s run over the past two weeks will go down as a top-three story/memory of March this year. A shame to see it end, but fun that we even got to watch it play out in the first place.