Will there be a Duke basketball vs. Gonzaga showdown in Phil Knight Legacy tournament?
PORTLAND, Ore. – A pair of top-10 college basketball teams – No. 6 Gonzaga and No. 8 Duke – will travel to the Phil Knight Legacy tournament beginning Thursday with two wins between them and an early season showdown this weekend.
The Blue Devils (4-1) will open the tournament with a Thanksgiving matchup against Oregon State (3-1) while the Bulldogs (3-1), fresh off a 21-point loss to Texas and a 16-point bounce-back against Kentucky, face Portland State in the first round.
Here's the path both teams must take to face off in Sunday's championship game:
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Duke will play Gonzaga if ...
The Blue Devils are 4-0 from the comfort of Cameron Indoor Stadium, but during their only road trip this season, they gave up a late lead to Kansas during a 69-64 loss in Indianapolis at the Championship Classic.
Against Oregon State in the first round Thursday (3 p.m. ESPN), Duke will face a Beavers squad coming off a miserable three-win season a year ago. OSU has already won three games this year but took a 79-66 loss to Gonzaga's first-round opponent Portland State last Saturday.
The Beavers are led on offense by freshman guard Jordan Pope (15.3 ppg) and sophomore forward Glenn Taylor Jr. (16.3) with senior 6-foot-8 forward Rodrigue Andela averaging a team-high seven rebounds a game. Duke's interior presence with 7-footers Dereck Lively II and Kyle Filipowski will be an issue for the undersized Beavers.
If Duke dispatches OSU, it will face the winner of Florida (3-1) and Xavier (3-0) on Friday, both of which, like the Blue Devils, are operating under a new head coach this season. Florida's Todd Golden is almost as young as Duke's 35-year-old Jon Scheyer and Xavier's Sean Miller is in his second stint with the Musketeers.
Florida's fifth-year senior big man Colin Castleton is in the top 30 nationwide in scoring with 25.3 points per game, adding 8.8 rebounds and 3.3 blocks after four games. The Musketeers are led by big men Jack Nunge and Zach Freemantle, who have combined to average 32.5 points, 14.1 rebounds, 6.0 assists and 3.0 blocks through the first four games.
Gonzaga will play Duke if ...
The Bulldogs went through a gauntlet last week, splitting a pair of top-10 matchups against Texas and Kentucky.
They'll open the tournament against Portland State on Thursday (9::30 p.m., ESPN) with a chance to face the winner of No. 24 Purdue or West Virginia on Friday (8:30 p.m., ESPN).
The Boilermakers (3-0) boast one of the largest frontcourts in college basketball this season including 7-4 giant Zach Edey, who is averaging 20.7 points, 13.7 rebounds and 3.3 blocks a game.
The Mountaineers (3-0) are coming off their third losing season in 15 years under coach Bob Huggins and rebuilt their lineup through the transfer portal. Erik Stevenson (South Carolina), Tre Mitchell (Texas), Joe Toussaint (Iowa) and Emmitt Matthews Jr. (Washington) all come over from other major conferences, while junior college product Mohamed Wague has provided size and scoring off the bench.
Regardless, Gonzaga will face an undefeated team in the semifinal round and some difficult competition to get to a possible showdown with Duke.
This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Duke basketball, Gonzaga could meet at the Phil Knight Legacy tourney
