Pac-12 Tournament 2012: Oregon Must Get Big Performance from Devoe Joseph

With their bid into the Big Dance hanging on the line, the Oregon Ducks are going to need a huge performance from transfer-star Devoe Joseph in this year's Pac-12 tournament.

The Ducks right now are heading into this tourney as the third overall seed, but it will take a few wins, and perhaps as much as an automatic bid for the team to actually lock up a spot in this year's tournament.

With the regular season all wrapped up, the Ducks stand at 22-8 going into this tournament, and they have relied heavily on the play of Joseph.

He is averaging 16.8 points per game this season, but is coming off of some extremely good results in his few games against Pac-12 opponents.

The two opponents that the Ducks could get in their first game our either the Colorado Buffaloes or Utah Utes, two teams that he went off on for 24 and 21 points respectively.

He shot for a combined 62.5 percent in those games, and things look promising for him going into this tournament with one of those two teams being his potential matchup to get his Pac-12 tournament underway.

The next round could be promising as well, but even more so if the team gets the Cal Golden Bears. 

In one of the final games of the season, Joseph went off for 33 points against the Golden Bears, but the team failed to capture an important road win as they fell 86-83.

While this game will once again be in California, this potential match up gives Joseph a shot at redemption.

If the team can come up with wins in these first two rounds, they will have a real shot at getting a bid into the Big Dance.

It isn't out of the picture either that they couldn't take the whole thing, given that other Pac-12 teams such as the Washington Huskies and Arizona Wildcats are not unbeatable, especially if the team can come away with a victory over Cal in the semifinals.

No matter who they are taking on, the most important thing is that Joseph continues to play at a high level.

If he drops off at all during this tournament, the whole team can find themselves in trouble.

Jeff Chase is a Featured Columnist for the Chicago Cubs and Arizona State football.
Follow @Real_Jeff_Chase