The ending of the 2024 campaign was like some sort of nightmare for Oregon Women’s Basketball, but coach Kelly Graves showed the following season that he still knew exactly what he was doing.
In 2025 the Ducks finished 20-12, 10-8 in the Big Ten, and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament, narrowly missing out on the Sweet Sixteen.
It seemed like a good gig to build on, the only thing was some of their most productive players had been Seniors.
It was time to reload.
The team started the
season like a rocket blasting off, going 11-0 with the only close contest being on the road at Auburn.
They were humbled by UCLA, the eventual National Champion, but bounced right back, going 2-1 heading into conference play with 13 wins already in tow.
That’s when things got tougher.
The Ducks lost five of their next seven, although they were all close defeats and three happened against Top 15 opponents. Among that stretch, an upset of #21 USC helped bolster their resume.
A four-game winning streak, including a dub over #16 Maryland, set them up well welcoming Top 10 Ohio State to town, but the Buckeyes prevailed, and Oregon followed up by losing to the hated Huskies of Washington.
The Ducks finished 2-2 in the home stretch heading into the Big Ten Tournament, and a quick out would squelch their tourney chances.
Fortunately, Oregon surged to the third round, beating Maryland again and punching their ticket to the Big Dance for the second straight season.
A solid first round win over Virginia Tech seemed to give them a kick of momentum going against 1 Seed Texas, but they were thoroughly obliterated by the Longhorns.
Looking ahead, the Ducks certainly seem to have a solid base to build on for 2027.
Though they lose some key players to graduation/transfer, they return their two top scorers in Katie Fiso and Ehis Etute (who was also their leading rebounder).
And given the success of the last two seasons, they’re likely to attract higher-tier transfer players as well.
A 25 win (or more) season does not seem out of the realm of possibility next year.
