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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
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