Elite Eight Recruiting Flashback: Oregon vs. Oklahoma

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The West Region has played to seed and No. 2 Oklahoma will meet No. 1 Oregon at 6:09 p.m. ET Saturday at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif. A win would send the Ducks to their first Final Four in 77 years while the Sooners are looking to reach their first Final Four since 2002.

Both the Ducks and the Sooners are built to run and this one should be an up and down affair. During the Sweet 16 round, Texas A&M tried to take away Oklahoma's star shooting guard, Buddy Hield, and while they held him relatively in check (17 points, 10 rebounds), junior guard Jordan Woodard went off for 22 points and made five-of-six three-pointers. While Woodard and the Sooners third guard, Isaiah Cousins, can both go off, the Ducks will likely try to force anybody other than Hield to beat them as well. If the Sooners want to advance, another outing with double-digit scoring efforts from big men Ryan Spangler and Khadeem Lattin is a must.

Oregon has the perimeter athletes and toughness to deal with the Oklahoma guards and make them works. Expect Elgin Cook to try and get physical with Hield and he'll get plenty of help. An underrated piece in the Ducks' attack has been point guard Casey Benson, who has only turned the ball over four times in the last eight games while dishing out 24 assists. He's not a huge basket creator, but he takes care of the ball and gets teammates where they need to be. Star sophomore wing Dillon Brooks continues to look like a future NBA player and could be a huge mismatch with his inside/out game.

Eric Bossi on Oregon: Back in the day, Dana Altman made his reputation as a junior college coach and sometimes it almost seems as if he’s built Oregon as he would a four-year junior college with unlimited resources. The Ducks always seem to have scholarships for transfers, they pull guys out of the junior college ranks such as Elgin Cook, wing Dwayne Benjamin and shot-blocking machine Chris Boucher. At the same time they have proven they can land top-flight high schoolers such as five-star freshman combo guard Tyler Dorsey. Altman has always targeted a nice mixture versatile athletes and skill guys, as a result he’s built a team capable of playing multiple styles. Another boost for the Ducks has been their staffs recruiting ties to Canada, which has allowed them to land Boucher and star Dillon Brooks.

Bossi on Oklahoma: Save for senior guard Isaiah Cousins who hails from New York, the majority of Oklahoma’s big contributors played their high school ball in Big 12 territory. When the Sooners landed Hield, who is from the Bahamas but played his high school ball just outside of Wichita, Kan., I felt they had stolen one away from their Big 12 rival Kansas, which was recruiting but not prioritizing him. Still, I could have never imagined he would develop into maybe the best player in the country. Cousins was an impressive find as a non-ranked three-star and landing a local tough guy in the frontcourt like Ryan Spangler on the bounceback from Gonzaga was huge. Freshman Christian James is a guy that looked like he could be groomed for the future but he's been growing up fast in the tournament. They have plugged holes with junior college players where needed and done an excellent job focusing on building from between Kansas City and Houston.