Ducks’ trip to the cellar no fault of Green’s
When Don Monson was fired as men's
basketball coach bv the University of
Oregon last year, he sued the Univer
sity and new coach |errv Green to get his job
back. If Green knew then what he knows
now. he probably would have either plead
ed guilty and given Monson the job back, or
countersued on grounds of mental cruelty
With the Ducks 0-t> in the Pacific-10 Con
ference and coming off of two blowouts at
Steve Mims
me nnnas
of Wash
i n g t o n
a n if
Washing
ton State,
two teams
expected
to finish
near t h e
nuuum ot iiuj in mr
unanimous choice for worst team in the
conference. If the bottom 10 were still a oc
ular feature in newspapers today. Oregon
would probably be included.
Oregon has been outscored by an average
of 13 points per game in Pm.-10 contests this
year and has not even faced the first- and
second-place teams in the conference.
The Ducks are shooting 44.0 percent from
the field this year, including 41 percent in
Pac-10 games, with only forward Damon
Runyon making more than one-half of his
shots. The Ducks have no players averaging
more than five rebounds per game. Hut the
ugliest statistic for the Ducks is they have
more turnovers (308) than assists (305).
That last statistic speaks volumes about
one of the Ducks’ biggest missing ingredi
ents, lack of leadership at point guard.
When looking at most competitive college
teams, many of them have a steady player at
point guard who has the ability to handle
the ball, make the important pass to a team
mate and score when needed.
Andre Collier has played most of the time
at point guard for Oregon this year, and al
though he has shown flashes of brilliance.
(13 assists against UCLA) he has been in
consistent. Green, and Cxillier himself, ad
mit he has had a hard time adjusting to the
new system, hut that is no excuse for his as
sists/tumover ratio of less than two to one
Oregon's other point guard. Johnnie
Reece, c ame out of Colorado with enough
press dippings to make some Duc k fans lor
get the recently departed Terrell Brandon,
but he has vet to show much of that poten
tial Reece showed the ability to hit the
jump shot last year, but is shooting only 33
perc ent from the field tins year Reece still
lias not proven he has the quic kness to lead
the fast break or guard Pac-10 point guards
Oregon's lac k of muse to in the front c ourt
is the main reason for their loss shooting
percentage and lac k of rebound* Only |elt
Potter and Aaron Johnson have shown an
affinity for hanging the boards arid not bock
mg down from opponents, and others up
front tend to settle for the short jump shot
rather than challenge the defender svith a
dunk.
Oregon's'only consistent threat to score
the last one -and-a ball sears has been An
toine Stoudamire, but he has been in a
slump lately Stoudamire s offense has fall
un off since last year when he was the No 1
option on almost every one of Oregon's
plays, and he is suffering from opponents
putting their defensive* stopper on him Be
cause no other Due ks have stepped up on
the offensive end. defenses have hounded
Stoudamire.
After a recent Oregon basket twill game a
local TV reporter looked down the Oregon
roster and said. "Where did Monsun find
these guvs?" It is questionable as to how
many Oregon players are of Pac-10 caliber,
but it is sale to say that not all are
Even Green appears to have questions
about Monson's recruiting ability. During
his post-game interview a few weeks ago. he
said. "If people wanted a team to be great
this year, they should have hired me three
years ago "
Oregon's soft presenson schedule was
supposed to get the team off to a quit k start
and boost confidence, but instead, it only
created false confidence. The l)ut ks treat up
on Division II teams regularly and looketl
good in stretches, but the only Division I
teams they bent were Idaho from the (tig
Sky Conference, Hartford from the North
Atiantii Conference and Brigham Young in
an upset
t he Ducks (ompilod a winning ret ord
during the preseason and won seven games
more than last year's team won all season
— but they will t«e hard-pressed to better
last year's i-lfi con forum e record
Making things even more difficult lor
Croon is the fait that his former team. Kan
sas. is now No I in the country, while Ore
gun will probably win as many confereme
games as Kansas will lose
One of the biggest obstacles in Cmen's
way is tus team's youth, an ingredient that
is usually favorable for a poor team that is
looking to improve in the future In Ore
gun's ease. Creen did not re< ruil these play
ers hut has said he will keep them around,
allowing himself less si holarships to give
players he recruits
Given time. Green should transform Ore
gun into a competitive I’m -10 team, and he
cannot l>e judged too severely on his team's
performance this year because it really is
not his team However, he better make sure
his first few recruiting classes are good
ones, In-cause if the Dm ks continue to slrug
gie like this for a few years, he could find
himself the scapegoat
Steve Mi/ns is a sports reporter for the
Emerald.
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