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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 14, 1982)
emerald sports No more ‘riding the pine’ Paul Bain is off the bench and into the starting lineup. By Terry Rhoades am»Bwnu Paul Bain admits he can’t jump out of the gym, run the 100 in 10-flat, or swat his opponent's shots away like flies So Oregon's 6-4 starting guard must make do with what weapons he has. and his best one, claims Bain, is his mental concentration It is. he says, the name of his game “It has to be," says Bain, who's averaging eight points a game this season and starting to blossom as a junior in Oregon's program after two up-and-down seasons "I'm not blessed with the best of natural talent, so I have to work a little harder I've got to concentrate and bear down on the court, play intelligent, and remember what my task is " So far this season he's been successful at doing just that, says Duck coach Jim Haney "Paul is steadily improving and in particular had a very good Far West Classic This is the first year he's really been given a lot of re sponsiblity and I think he's responding well.” Bain gives the credit of his individual progress this season to an improvement in maintaining his concentration on the court In past seasons Bain says he was trying to con centrate, but often found his attention span slip at practices and even during games "At times I would just float through a practice, singing Tom Petty to myself,” says Bain. "It was a matter of saying I'm here on the court and I'm going to give it 100 per cent while I'm on it.” Bain defends his firm belief in mental concentration and the role it can play on the court He points to UCLA, who might have the best individual talent around the nation, as an example "They have the greatest talent," Paul Bain, namaa concentration at the key to hit game. “I'm not blotted with the boat ot natural talent," ho taya, “to I have to work a little harder. I've got to concentrate and bear down on the court, play Intelligent, and remember what my teak It." explains Bain, "but they went to Washington, and had some problems concentrating, and ended up losing both games (to WSU and UW)" This year started no differently for the blond-haired Bain than his two previous sea sons in a Duck uniform When the first game was started, he was again on the bench, this time behind starter Gary Gatewood, the sharp shooting 6-3 so phomore But three games into the season Gatewood was struggling, and Haney called upon Bain to start against a good Rhode Island team “I was pretty keyed up, and it was at home," says Bain, his eyes flashing with the excitement he felt that night, "ft's what I came here for Not to sit on the bench or be the seventh or eighth player, but to start ” And the kid from Mercer Island, Wash responded with 10 points (5 of 7 from the field), and two assists in 24 minutes of play as the Ducks came back to win a thriller, 95-94 Not bad for a player who was a non scholarship walk-on when he joined the Oregon program three years ago, got dis missed halfway into his freshman season for breaking a team rule, and then battled his way back onto the team Three games later, at the Ducks' opener in the Far West Classic against Wisconsin, Bain was again Oregon's mainstay Using his sharp and accurate jump shot to score 16 points on eight of ten attempts and his still improving passing skills to hand out three assists Bain did the job few thought he could during his 34 minutes of play. “I just got a feeling,” says Bain, meaning that his concentration was keyed-in during this best game of his college career But if Bain basically'' thinks his physical abifties are something short of talented, then what is he doing in the Pacific 10 Conference, where any player on a given night can burn the nets down, or play defense like a demon? “I can do certain things,” says Bain, mat ter of factly "My job as the two-guard is to be a scoring threat, to stabilize the flow of the game, to play intelligent and make wise decisions — like not throwing the ball on a pass at Blair s (Rasmussen) feet, but into his hands " One thing Bain admittedly needs to im prove on is his defense Last week the Ducks as a team gave up 91 and 97 points to California and Stanford, respectively, losing both games and dropping to 2-2 (7-6 overall) in the Pac-10 race "It comes back to concentration,” says Bain "My individual problem on D' is sticking my nose in there When the other teams center comes down the lane, I've got to be ready to Paul Bain, Oragon’a off-quart, la apandlng la a a tima on tha banch thaaa daya tor tha Ducka. Tha 6-4 junior aatd ha almost tmnafarrad baton tha aaaaon, but, "dacidad to atay and prova to mysatt that I could dolt," htsaya. move in front and take the chirge. I know it's gonna hurt, but I’ve got to be eady and willing to take it " With Bain, possibly the Ducks' most im proved player, playing bigger ind bigger parts in the Ducks' roller coaster se®on, it's scary to think that he almost wasn't going to be a part of the Ducks this season His first two seasons hadn't included any starts, only a little playing time, and a lot of slivers Bain was so discour aged that he was ready to pack it up and transfer to another school in Washington “I just wasn't into it, why prolong it," Bain remembers thinking of his past troubles But before he made his decision final, a sudden and possibly disastrous situation hit the Ducks when three players, John Cheatham, Ron Bums and Ray Whiting, were forced to sit out the 1981-82 season. Suddenly the Ducks’ roster was down to three experienced playing guards and the new recruits were not pro gressing as hoped “I decided to stay and prove to myself that I could do it That I could start for a Pac-10 team Also coach Haney had been very fair with me during my time here and I owed it to the program to stay and help meet the team's goals.” Now Bain is alive and well as a Duck, concentrating to meet his and the team’s goals, and generally making life tough for his opponents Duck matmen seek top-10 ranking By Paul Danzar Oftm EidmM When San Jose State invades McArthur Court Thursday for a 7:30 p.m wrestling showdown with the Ducks, it will be more than just an other wrestling meet — it will be a 10. At stake in this one will be a top-10 ranking Simply put, the Spartans have it and the Ducks want it. “It's going to be one helluva meet,” predicts Oregon coach Ron Finley, whose team will take an 8-0 dual meet record into the match with the na tion’s 10th-ranked squad The Ducks enter the contest ranked 11th and hope to pin the first loss of the season on the oowerful SDartans Oregon faces San Jose State tonight Last year the Ducks flattened the Sparts 33-5 to take a 10-2-1 lead in the series between the two schools But things are different this year This season San Jose State has strong Wayne Jones at 134 pounds and All-American Eddie Baza, who finished fifth in the nation last year at 142. The Ducks will counter with senior Cliff Porter at 134 and Pacific 10 Conference champion, Bill Nugent at 142 Finley expects these two mat chups to be the big ones in the meet The match will be the last home appearance for Nugent, who leaves Sunday to train with the American team which travels to Russia to com Dete later this month The key for Oregon will come in the middle weights, where Finley will be counting on senior Barry Boyles (150), sophomores Rick O'Shea or Keith Beutler (158) and freshman Charles Nutter to make hay "We'll have to come back (to win)," said Finley "I really think they will get ahead (in the early matches).” One reason Finley expects to fall behind is the absence of 118-pound Mike Erb, who will be out of action for at least three more weeks with a bad arm Another reason is the strength of San Jose State. At 118 the Sparts will send Dan Ciprian against senior Randy Ohta who is filling in for Erb. At 1 thtf» ^nartanc foofi ■ m Brad Gustufson and Finley isn’t sure who will tackle him yet Beside the middle weights, Finley said the Ducks will need wins at 190 and heavyweight to upend the Spar tans At 190, sophomore Lance Ho chanadel takes a 14-1 mark and nine pins into his match Heavyweight is not quite as certain, with big Dan Cook a question mark due to illness “We've certainly been talking a lot about it," said Finley of the big meet, but he stressed that he looks at every dual meet as preparation for tour naments. "Every dual meet the guys are supposed to do the same thing, and that's to go out and beat the guy oc KoH oc i aam ’* Aaron, Robinson latest entries to pro baseball’s Hall of Fame IU?W YORK (AP)~~ Hank Aaron, baseball's att-time home rm king. and Frank Robinson, the only person named MM Valuable Player in both major leagues, are going into the m® of Fare* together, elected by over* whelming majorities in voting an* nounced Wednesday Aaron, whose 755 home runs and 2.297 nans batted in are among hie many records, and Robinson, the game's first black manager, became the 12th and 13th players to be chos* en in their first year of eligibility Aaron missed becoming the first unanimous HaR of Fame selection by nine votes, named on 406 of the 415 ballots CM Robinson received 370 volts. Election required 312 votes, 75 percent of those cast fry 10-year members of the BaeebaB Writers As sociation of America Pitcher Juan Marietta! finished third in me baitotmg with 305 votes, seven short of the number required for elec don. Slugger Harmon Kiltobrew was fourth with 246 followed by relief pitcher Hoyt WMheim with 236 Don Drysdate (233). GH Hodges (2^).Lute Aparicio (t 74), Jim Banning (138) and Bed Schoendienst (135) completed me top 10 finishers. Aaron said that he had hoped to be . unanimous selection but under stood how difficult tt would be to accomplish that goal $2.00 Off Oregon T-Shirt Blue with 3-color design, 100% cotton Reg. $6.49 With Coupon... AQ I Ifj 13th & Kincaid Mon-Fri 8:15-5:30 Limited lo stock on hand BOOKSTORE Sat 10:00-3:00 Textbooks 686-3520 • General Books 636-3510 • Supplies 686-4331 $3.00 Off Oregon Jersey Avaiable in Green or Yellow 50% cotton, 50% polyester Reg. $9.49 With Coupon... 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