By David Thompson
If on Dec.1 you asked any college basketball analyst who the best Division I basketball team in the state of Oregon was, there is no virtually doubt that they would say the Portland Pilots.
But since that time, inconsistent play from the Pilots (12-7), as well as the University of Oregon Ducks (10-9), the Oregon State Beavers (8-11) and the Portland State Vikings (8-12) has prevented any team from cementing their place atop the state.
Although the Pilots still have the best overall record, their loss to the Vikings early in Dec. 1 at the Chiles Center raised questions about who the best team in the state actually was.
Jim Beseda, an Oregonian reporter who covers the University of Portland's and Portland State's men's basketball teams commented "after the Pilots came back from Anaheim and lost at home to Portland State, it took some of the steam out of the argument that UP owns the state."
In fact, out of all common opponents, Portland State and the University of Portland have the same record. The Pilots, however, have a few "good wins" against previously ranked 16 Minnesota Gophers and a resurgent UCLA team that is only one game back in the Pac-10, a conference that sees the Ducks and Beavers fighting for last place.
Oregon State is also undefeated against Oregon schools this year, beating the Ducks in their one match-up thus far.
But the victory for the Beavers came after a 51-point loss at home to a Seattle University team that Portland beat by 17. The Beavers' best wins are against Arizona and Colorado, both of which share a 10-9 record.
Oregon has the worst in-state record at 0-2 and has not done anything outside of the state to solidify its place as Oregon's best.
The Ducks' most impressive win came at Washington, a team that has beat all three of the other Oregon schools.
But the Ducks failed to capitalize on the momentum, losing five straight thereafter, including a loss to Oregon State.
"The Ducks looked awfully formidable after going to Washington and beating both the Cougars and Huskies, but now folks in Eugene are starting to wonder when their team is going to win another game," Beseda added.
So the question still remains, if all four teams were to play right now, who would walk out champions? The truth is any one of the four teams could take home the title of Oregon's best.
"That's the beauty of college basketball; on any given night, anything is possible.
All it takes is for somebody to get hot from three-point range or somebody to go down with an injury or any number of other things to influence the outcome," Beseda said.
But if I were a betting man, I would have to say the Pilots. Over the past few weeks, the Pilots have been playing extremely well going 4-2 since the turn of the New Year.
The two losses came at the hands of eighth-ranked Gonzaga and at Saint Mary's, both teams that many believe will receive at-large bids for the NCAA tournament in March.
They have stayed close and had chances to win at the end of both games and have completely outplayed Pepperdine, San Diego and Loyola Marymount, outscoring the three 222-157.
That's winning by an average of more than 20 points per game. Two of those games they played without leading scorer, senior Nik Ravio.
So, what does being the best in Oregon even mean? It means a lot, in terms of name recognition for recruiting.
Currently there is not one player on the team from Oregon.
If the Pilots can remain constantly at the top of the state, that may change in the near future.
