Looking ahead: Oregon ready to pursue a national championship

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It’s never too early to look at what’s to come. Over the next few weeks, we will give you a peek at what is ahead for teams in the Power 5 conferences and some other teams expected to be players on the national scene. Next up: Oregon.

After Oregon defeated Duke in the Sweet 16, Mike Krzyzewski spoke with Ducks sophomore star Dillon Brooks as the two teams exchanged handshakes. The ensuing drama, which included a debate about the details of the conversation, ended with an apology from Krzyzewski.

The entire episode seemed unfair to Brooks, Dana Altman and the Oregon program. The Pac-12 champions deserved more praise for their efforts – they beat the Blue Devils by 14 points in their 11th consecutive victory – but instead the team carried the Krzyzewski-Brooks storyline and the questions attached to it into their loss to Oklahoma in the next round.

Dillon Brooks and the Ducks will return with a solid core, after a year where they made it to the Elite Eight. Harry How/Getty Images

Lost in that fiasco was the promise demonstrated by a young Oregon team that returns ample firepower to compete for the national championship in 2016-17. Oregon is real, deep, athletic, mature, balanced and confident.

The key players from a squad that thumped Utah by 31 points in the Pac-12 tournament final before defeating Holy Cross, Saint Joseph’s and Duke prior its Elite Eight loss are back.

Brooks and freshman Tyler Dorsey tested the NBA waters after the season. Both decisions …

continue reading in source espn.go.com