And now, Oregon’s real tests begin
By STEVE GEIGER
Of the Emerald
Whether the Oregon basketball victory over
a talented and tall Athletes in Action team at
McArthur Court last Friday was a fluke or not
may be seen this week as the Ducks travel
south to battle sixth-ranked Nevada-Las
Vegas tonight and three other teams in the Sun
Devil Classic Friday and Saturday in Tempe.
Arizona.
Nevada-Las Vegas, which led the nation in
scoring a year ago, won its opening game this
season over Nevada-Reno 102-87 Oregon's
defense proved it's to be reckoned with, how
ever, as it gave up just 51 points to AIA, includ
ing just 19 second-half points
No one can stop them from scoring,"
Oregon head Coach Dick Harter said We'd
like to hold them to a low score, of course
Wed certainly like to hold them down from
their 100-plus average of last season.
"It’s too bad the game isn't here We could
get this place (Mac Court) filled up, and get the
basketball fans hot
After the Nevada-Las Vegas contest, the
Ducks will be at Arizona State for the Sun Devil
Classic Joining Oregon will be Witchita State,
Arizona State and San Diego State, which lost
a close decision to UCLA in its opener
Harter picks Arizona State as the Classic
tavorite, with Witchita State second and
Oregon and San Diego State below them
After seeing the Ducks in action against AIA,
Harter feels this team needs improvement in
everything' to win this season
"Particularly rebounding, I would think," he
said. "We played a good game, but one game
isn't conclusive. It’s a lot tougher to play on the
road than at home
"It'll be a good trip, though, because it’s only
three games and we're only gone for five days.
We won t get away from our conditioning like
last year when we went to Hawaii After that
trip, it took us a month to recover our condition
ing.
- 'N
emerald
sports i
"If we play like that all season," Harter said
of the AIA game, we ll win some games "
With five home games in a row awaiting the
Ducks on their return to Eugene, Harter feels
"a couple of wins this week would be very good
for us."
The coach singles out Grag Ballard, the
Ducks 1975-76 All-Pacific-8 forward and scor
ing champ, as the key player to the team's
success this season
"We have to have Greg Ballard play well to
win against good teams, he said. "It’s essen
tial that he play well in all areas — rebounding,
passing, defense, scoring.
"He has the capability to be the best player
in the Pacific-8 this year, I believe "
The Ducks return to Eugene for the five
game home stand beginning with San Fran
cisco State next Wednesday night
Photo by Mite Marrvo
This kind of defense by Mike Drummond is what Oregon Coach Dick Harter wants
tonight when the Ducks face sixth ranked Nevada-Las Vegas in Las Vegas. The
Runnin’ Rebels averaged over 100 points a game last year, and don’t plan on
slowing down this season
Young gymnasts open Friday
By MIKE MARINO
Of the Emerald
Rich in talent but low in experi
ence, Oregon s young gymnastics
team will get a chance to see how
it stands against top competition
as premier Northwest gymnasts
travel to McArthur Court this
weekend for the Oregon Open
Championship
Swimmers to face
Beavers, Willamette
By CHRIS NORMAN
Of the Emerald
Oregon s men and women s swimming and diving teams, led by
juniors Michelle Menkens and Steve Hamilton, make their debut in
Leighton Pool this week
The women challenge Oregon State tonight at 7 p.m., and a coed
meet is scheduled against Willamette Friday at 7 p.m
Both Don and Virginia Van Rossen. the husband and wife coaching
team, are juggling the swimmers around from event to event, using this
week as a period to identify their respective line-ups.
“If we can win these two meets. Virginia said, "I can t see why we
couldn't go through the season with one loss — to UW (University of
Washington).''
She said the Beavers have a new coach this year, so she "really
has no idea how tough they'll be Last year, OSU finished fourth at the
NCWSA Regionals, while Oregon placed third. As for Willamette, she
said she couldn t predict their strength
Menkens highlights the women s team after winning the AIAW
50-yard freestyle national title in 1975. She was also named Oregon s
Outstanding Female Athlete of 1975-76
Menkens joins sophomores Robin Wheeler, the Northwest s de
fending 50-yard butterfly champion; Tacky Rathis, a freestyle sprinter
from the University of Alabama; and freshman Megan Riddle, an
Oregon high school finalist in the 200-yard individual medley, as
Oregon's top strokers.
But even with a fine field of jxitential first-place finishers, Van
Rossen says the team's lack of depth is going to hurt A low turn-out
has forced Van Rossen to consider giving up a few points to the
opposition because the extra bodies aren t around.
The other half of the coaching duo, Don Van Rossen, said the
Willamette men could be beaten, but he didn t want his team to be
overconfident.
"I don't antiopate them to be a team we can't overcome without any
difficulty,’’ he said, however, "we have been upset by teams we should
hav© beaten"
The men's "big gun" is Hamilton He holds both the 100 and
200-yard backstroke records at Oregon, and is the third fastest indi
vidual medley swimmer Van Rossen has ever had.
"I never expected him to be good, he said. He s the most im
proved swimmer I've ever coached. His breakthroughs have been
phenomenal **
Hamilton will team up with junior Ron Wigham (butterfly), and
senior Paul Buvick (freestyle sprinter), for the men s propelling force.
Also on hand will be freshman John Seton from Lake Oswego High in
Portland. .
At the springboard end of the pool, Jerry DeMers, Oregon s diving
coach, cited John Lloyd, Sam Nixon and Lynne Wallack as Oregon s
pnme competitors against OSU and Willamette
Admission for both meets is free.
"One good thing is that we are
healthier than we ve been, satd
Duck Coach Bill Ballester "This
will be a good chance to see ex
actly where we re at, and how
good these new recruits we have
are.”
Washington, Washington
State. Portland State, Oregon Col
lege of Education and Brigham
Young will be sending gymnasts
to compete in the two-day event,
with the optional preliminaries to
be held Fnday at 7 p.m. Saturday
will feature the compulsories at 2
p.m., with the optional finals at
eight.
"I don't know exactly who is
coming from the other schools,
but the competition will neverthe
less give me an idea of how far
we've progressed," said Balles
ter.
Back after an injury sidelined
him, Jim Vokurka, a freshman
from Illinois, will get his first
chance to compete in more than
four weeks. But Ballester admits,
"He's not to the level he was
then.”
Injuries have more than taken
tHeir toll on Oregon gymnasts in
recent years, so when Ballester
speaks of being healthy, it's some
thing to shout about
"We were 15-1 and headed for
the national championships last
year," he recalled, “then injuries
hit us and we lost to Cal in the
Pac-8.
"With the super recruits we've
added this year, things could be
very successful depending on
how we stand injury-wise.”
Should the season continue
along the expected lines, meets
like this weekend's championship
could provide good experience for
the expected Pac-8 showdown
with California in March.
Michigan leads poll; UCLA in third
The Top Twenty teams in The
Associated Press college basket
ball poll, with first-place votes in
parentheses, this season s re
cords and total points.
1 Michigan 38 1-0 896
2. Marquette 3 0-0 772
3 UCLA
4. Indiana 2
5. Kentucky 1
6 Nev -L Vegas
7 Loutseile 2
8 Notre Dame
9 N. Carolina
10 S Francisco 1
11 Arizona
2-0 613
1-0 603
1-0 503
1-0 417
0- 0 40\
1- 0 316
1- 1 284
2- 0 279
1-0 256
12 Cmctnnali i
13 Alabama
14 Wake Forest
15. Tennessee
16 Maryland
17 S. Illinois
18 DePaul
19 Rutgers
20 NC-Chartotte
0- 0 214
1- 0 189
1-0 178
1-0 96
0- 1 74
1- 0 40
0-1 39
0- 0 34
1- 0 27
Pure 13
Two Ducks make
All-Coast squad
Oregon flanker Greg Bauer and
defensive end Mel Cook were
named to the second team All
West Coast team by The As
sociated Press.
Bauer finished second in the
Padfic 8 in receiving with 54, and
was beaten out on the first team
by receiving champion Mike
Levenseller of Washington State
and Tony Hill of Stanford.
FIRST TEAM OFFENSE
Quarterback — Jell Dankworth. UCLA. 6-0 209,
senior. Reno. Nev
Running backs — Ricky Bod Southern Califor
nia. 6-2. 220. senior Los Angeles Theots &own,
UCLA. 6-3. 215. sophomore. Oakland
Wide recewers — Tony HA. Stanford, 6-2. 180.
senior. Long Beach M*e Tevenseler Washington
State. 6-1. 181. junior. Tacoma
"ight end — Rick Walker UCLA. 6-4, 220
server. Santa Ana Cart
Offensive linemen — Marvin Rowed. Southern
CaWorrva. 6-5. 265. senior. Fayetteville, N C.; Ted
Albrecht. California. 6-4. 260. senior. Valleio.
CaW Don Hickman. Southern California, 6-3,
255. s error Flagstaff. Am Alex Karakoroft. Stan
ford. 6-3. 250. setsor. San Francaco: Center —
Mitch Kahn, UCLA. 6-3. 222. senior, La Palma.
Cat!
FIRST TEAM DEFENSE
Down knemen — VWson Faumuma. San Jose
State. 6-5. 242. senior. San Francisco Duncan
McColl, Stanford. 6-4, 245. senior. Corns. CaW
Charles Jackson. Washington. 6-2. 227. senior.
Berkeley. CaW Gary Jeter. Southern CaWomia.
6-4VS, 256. senior. Cleveland Kisb Fiatoa. Long
Bearh State. 6-1. 240. server Carson. CaW
Lnebacker — Dave Lewis Southern California.
6-4. 230. senior San Diego Rod Martn. Southern
CaWorrva, 6-2. 195. sen or Los Angeles Travis
H«. San Diego Stale. 5-11V», 22C. senior, San
Diego. Jerry Robinson, UCLA, 6-3, 20B. sopho
more. Santa Rosa. Cakf.
Defensive backs — Dennis Thurman. Southern
California. 5-11. 17a junior, Santa Monica: Oscar .
Edwards. UCLA. 6-0, 181. senior, Corvallis. Ore
Gerald Small. San Jose State. 6-0. 180, Junior. Los
Angeles
SECONO TEAM OFFENSE
Quarterback — Jack Thompson, Washington
State. 6-3. 213. junior. Seattle
Rurmng backs — Wendell Tyler UCLA, 5-10.
188 senior. Los Angeles David Turner. San Diego
State. 6-0, 210. junior. ButtonwiHcr* Cakf
Wide receivers — Randy Sirmnn, Southern
Cakfomia. 6-2. 16S. junior. Burbank. Calif Greg
Bauer. Oregon 5-9. senior Hillsboro Ore
Tight end — Bil Gay. Souffiem California. 6-6.
225, jursor. San Diego
Offensive knemen — Keith Eck, UCLA 6-4, 230
senior. Newport Beach Calif : Chuck Shearn
Fresno State. 6-2Vr. 198. junior, Fresno. Calif
Greg Taylor. UCLA. 6-3. 228 senior Whither. Rob
Kezerran. UCLA. 6-4. 240. senior. Fresno. Cakf
Center — Duane Wilkams, Cakfomia. 6-1. 245,
senior, Tulare. Cakf
SECONO TEAM DEFENSE
Down knemen — Manu Tuiasosopo. UCLA 6-3
238. sophomore. Long beach Cakf Mel Cook,
Oregon, 6-4.21 a junior Aloha Ore Dennis Boyd
Oregon State. 6-6, 245. senior. Winston. Ore
Harold Steele. Southern California. 6-1. 24a
servo. San Diego
Linebackers — Clay Matthews, Southern
Cakfomia. 6-2. 232. |ur»or. Kermifworth. II. Ene
Wiliams. Soudtem Cakfomia, 6-2. 215. senior
Kansas City, Gordon Ceresrno. 6-2, 22a sopho
more. Canoga Park, Cakf Dean Pedigo, Washing
ton Stale, 6-1. 213, jumor, Everett Wash Frank
Stephens. 6-2, 188. junior. San Diego
Defensive backs — Rich Waters. Stanford. 6-2.
19a senior. Hayward. Cakf : CkntSbozier South
ern Cakfomia. 63Vj, 190. sen or Oxnard. Cakf
Ricky Odom, Southern Cakfomia. 6-1. 183. junior.
Los Angeles
Health lecture today at noon
“The desirability of steroids, blood doping, electro-muscle
development and muscle insertion operations in Olympic
sport" will be the title of a lecture-discussion given today at
noon by New Zealand native Ray Tricker in the EMU Forum
Room. Admission is free, and lunch may be brought.