When the Pac-12 media members cast their votes before the college hoops season got underway, they picked the Washington Huskies to place fifth and the Oregon Ducks seventh. Well, things never really shake out like they are supposed to, and the Ducks are the three-seed and earned a bye for the first round of the conference tournament while Washington was forced to escape the cross-state rival Cougars to get out of round one.

At the end of January, Oregon looked to not only be the conference’s premier team but a threat on the national scale. Dominic Artis’ injury derailed that trajectory and Oregon stumbled into the Pac-12 tourney as an unknown. Artis has struggled in his return for the last three games, and Ducks fans are waiting for things to click and for the team to bring back the Ducks of January.

Oregon fared just fine against the Huskies without Artis, beating UW by five in the teams’ first tilt and then by 13 on the second go-around.

There is a chance that Artis will return to the starting lineup tonight against Washington, which would be the first time that has happened since Jan. 23. Oregon is a perfect 6-0 with him in the starting five. Whether or not Artis can return to form this evening, the Ducks will need great backcourt play from freshman Damyean Dotson as well as Johnathan Loyd. Carlos Emory, primarily a forward, will likely play a lot on the perimeter tonight as Washington’s top three scoring threats are all guards.

C.J. Wilcox, Scott Suggs and Abdul Gaddy average a respective 16.6, 12.2 and 10.9 points per game, which means the tempo on the floor for this game will likely be one of speed.

Oregon’s E.J. Singler, fresh off being named to the all-conference team, leads the Ducks with 11.5 points per game, while Emory chips in 11 and Dotson, 10.5.

Another interesting matchup to watch will be down low as UW’s Aziz N’Diaye stands 7-feet tall and will body around with the Ducks’ 6-foot-11 Tony Woods.

Both Oregon and Washington lost by a combined three points in the quarterfinals in last year’s Pac-12 Tournament. A loss for UO would spell a drop-off in seeding for March Madness or potentially no bid at all. Washington had a ho-hum regular season and would need to win this tournament to receive a bid to the NCAA Tournament. The winner of this game will face the victor of Cal and Utah.

Tipoff is set for 8:30 p.m. tonight. The game is televised on ESPNU.