BRIDGEPORT, Conn. -- When Oregon and Connecticut square off in the Bridgeport Regional final on Monday (ESPN/WatchESPN, 7:06 p.m. ET), the tale of the tape will tell a story of two polar opposite programs who happen to be riding the same upward trajectory.
First, there's No.1 overall seed UConn, the team everyone already expects to be in the Elite Eight because the Huskies have made it this far 12 years in a row and have won four consecutive NCAA titles. UConn advanced to the regional final after defeating UCLA 86-71 on Saturday for its 110th straight win. The victory also moved Geno Auriemma into a tie with legendary Tennessee coach Pat Summitt for most all-time Division I NCAA tournament wins at 112.
And then there's No. 10 seed Oregon, a program appearing in its first Elite Eight. Led by three freshmen, the Ducks beat Temple by one point before knocking off two of the biggest programs in the country: No. 2 seed Duke and No. 3 seed Maryland, the latter of which Oregon downed 77-63 on Saturday. In his third season at Oregon, Kelly Graves will coach the Ducks -- whose last appearance in the NCAA tournament was in 2005 -- as they attempt to hand UConn its first loss since November 2014.
Terrapins coach Brenda Frese had a message for anybody doubting the Ducks.
"Oregon is for real," said Frese, who described the Ducks as a fearless, aggressive and confident group. "I thought they were sensational tonight."
The Ducks disrupted the Terrapins' high-scoring offense all game. From the opening tip, the Terps' guards struggled to convert anything from the floor. At halftime, Kaila Charles, Destiny Slocum and Shatori Walker-Kimbrough had combined to shoot just 2-for-14 from the field, and both of those field goals were layups.
"They were just playing a good game on both ends of the floor," said Slocum, who finished with a season-low nine points. "They were just the overall better team tonight."
For the game, Oregon forced 21 Maryland turnovers. The Ducks shot 45.9 percent and put five players in double figures, led by espnW freshman of the year Sabrina Ionescu's 21 points.
"I think we're just excited about everything," Ionescu said. "No one's been here. None of our kids have ever experienced anything like that. So I think we're just excited to play another day and see where that takes us."
"You're not supposed to just walk into the NCAA tournament and start beating teams with three freshmen in the starting lineup. I'm not even the least bit surprised at what they're doing." UConn coach Geno Auriemma on Elite Eight opponent Oregon
For as unfamiliar as the Ducks are with these late stages of the NCAA tournament, Graves has been here before.
As Gonzaga's coach from 2000 to 2014, Graves led the Bulldogs to their first tournament appearance and NCAA victory. With an improbable squad, much like the makeup of his current Oregon team, he guided Gonzaga to a Sweet 16 appearance and a win -- a 76-69 victory over Louisville in the 2011 NCAA tournament. The Bulldogs lost to Stanford in the Elite Eight that year.
Oregon went 8-10 in the Pac-12, but then upset Washington in the Pac-12 quarterfinals. It has won five of its past six games.
"We've played against a lot of really good teams," Graves said. "We've played them tough. We've won a few. I think our kids -- the more you win these close games and these big games, they start to believe. Like they said, they really don't have a lot to lose."
Auriemma, who is in his 32nd year with the Huskies, is not surprised in the least by Graves' transformation of yet another program. In fact, Auriemma predicted it.
"Remember when Kelly got the job? I told everybody in the coaching profession, I said, 'They are going to be in the Final Four sooner than anybody thinks.' As I said earlier today, it better not be this soon," Auriemma said. "But they're going to be there because he is a hell of a coach, and you can recruit pretty good players to the University of Oregon, and he's done that. They are a really good team."
As the Huskies turn the corner for Monday's matchup, Auriemma echoed Frese's thoughts on the surging Ducks.
"They're too young to know any better," said Auriemma, whose Huskies shot 55.6 percent from the field but turned over the ball 21 times on Saturday. "They don't even realize that they are supposed to be nervous. They don't realize that this is supposed to be really hard.
"You're not supposed to just walk into the NCAA tournament and start beating teams with three freshmen in the starting lineup. I'm not even the least bit surprised at what they're doing, not even a little bit."
How does Auriemma think UConn will match up defensively against Oregon? Auriemma said he wasn't immediately sure and added that this is the hardest time in the NCAA tournament to be a good defensive team -- because every team left in the field has a proven offense. He expects offensive efficiency to be the key for the Huskies on Monday.
"You go long stretches without scoring at this time in the year, you are going to lose or you're going to put yourself in position to lose," Auriemma said. "Sometimes the pressure teams put on you by scoring -- and I think that's what [Oregon] did to Maryland today.
"This time of year, I want to try and get to 90 and take my chances. I don't want to try and win a game 65-60."
For Graves, preparation for the Huskies will focus on ball control (17 Oregon turnovers against Maryland) and increased ball movement -- or as his personnel so often labels it, "side-top-side."
But there's no need for a pep talk.
"I know that we're not going to go down easy," Ionescu said. "We're going to play our hardest, and if that means we upset the No. 1 team in the country, then that's what's going to happen."