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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 28, 1996)
Eifierald WEDNESDAY F#t*uary 28. 1996 Ducks riding tide of fans’ expectations Before the Oregon men * basketball teem began tts mm •cm. many people had very low expectations for the Ducks Oregon was coming off a trip to th* NCAA Tournament, but had lost all of its starter* except Kenya Wilkins and had only five returning players The new team now included Wilkin*, two Iran* fern from Santa Barbara, one player coming off a redshirt veer, another who played leas than half the season last veer because of a foot injury, and four fresh-faced fresh man straight out of high school Head coach Jerry Green — one of the few returnee* _ — wa* I_ going 10 have a very trying year. Even in the media guide sent to the prea*. Green LJ admitted his team wain t as good as the team he had coached last year "This year will lie exactly the opposite of what we hail last year — lots of new faces who will be expected to contribute immediately, last veer, we were very, very deep and this year we ll need to depend on some newcomers and have them be inqimtci players for us to be as competitive as I d like us to be " Not many people thought the Ducks would be going to a post season tournament, and there was no pressure on the team to do so But then they began to win. By the time they started the Pacific JO Conference season, they had a winning record Although most tans probably couldn't have named more than five play «rs on the team, people were beginning to believe the Ducks had a chance The crowd at Mac Court quickly learned the names and faces of the new Oregon squad Everybody knew Wilkins because he has been such an instrumental player for the previous two years, but this season he was being asked to lead an unfamiliar team Kyle Milling quickly twcame a crowd favorite os he showed that he wasn't afraid to play a physical game on die inside Milling * Santa Barbara ■ counter-pari Rob Kamaket also began to hear the cheers from Oregon farts as he gratified rebounds, dunked off alley-oops and even hit three-point shots lama! Lawrence played Turn to DE YOUNG Page 12 I Ducks gear up for Pac-IOChamoionshiDS ■ WRESTLING: Oregon looks to pave its way to National Championships Ay Chela Han—n Tha Oregon wrestlers will look to this weekend's Pacific 10 Conference Championship* to spring board them into a post tton to compata in tha NCAA Championship meat on March 21-23 in Minneapolis. Minn The Ducks ended their dual meet season 7-5-1 overall (2-4-1 in the Par to) and at winners of flva of their last seven meat*, losing only to Par. to rivals Art *ona Stata and Oregon State The Par:-10 tournament will feature three top 20 loams Host Cal Stale Bakersfield ia ranked 13th in tha nation, last year's Pac 10 champion Arizona Slate is 14th and Oregon Stale is 20th Oregon is currently ranked 28th The Ducks will head to Bak ersfield with three nationally ranked wrestlers, five wrestlers ranker! In the lop five of the Pac to individual standings and one defending Pac 10 champion Scott Norton, ranked third nationally at 130 pound* and first in the Pet; 10. won the ftrst title of hi* career last year when he beat Stanford's Tod Surmon 24). Surmon got hi* revenge three weeks ago when he upset Nor ton at McArthur Court, giving Norton only hi* *«-» ond los* of t|u> year Surmon will now wres tie at the 142-pound weight class in the tournament, ending any possibilities of another Nor ton-Surmon showdown U««king to settle the debate of who is the best t ]8 pounder in the Par ■ 10 Will fee Oregon senior Kevin Robert* The two-time All American, ranked third in the CN MMH 1 h*i^rr \i T aft I Santo# Kavtn Robafta m looking to boat rival Danny Fatt* o« A/Uona State to# tha Pae-10 11mpound im* th*» waakaftd at tha contoranca champtonahtpa Tha Oucks andad mat# dual maat aaaaon T-S-t ovaran country, will face defending champion Danny Fell* of Ari zona Stale Roberts (25 1] has finished set ond to Fell* for the Par 10 title the last two years in a row Fell* also dashed Roberts" hopes of an undefeated season when he beat him for his only toss of the year on Feb u Roberts, who it closing in on too wins, has had a stellar career at Oregon and is hoping lo end tl with his first Pat 10 championship "Roberta ha* I ween training hard and feeling good," head « oa« h Ron Finley said "(The whole team) has been running two a day* Our practice* are getting a lot quit kef, so we will get maximum performances " Although Morton and Roberts are sure bets »■> p!a* «• high . enough to earn a trip to Min neetHilis, they will most likely ftirt lie heeding there alone John Taylor {Uh pound*) and Jeremy Knsrud (1114 (round*) also appear to have a heller-than chine* of nut only qualify i«* lot the NCAA ( hatii|>inn«hip«, lull of winning the Par: IQ title in their weight claaaaa. At 218. Taylor la ranked mm or»d in the P*« to behind C*l Slate liakar* field** ( j»by Wright Knxrud i* ranked «i*th in the nation and third in the Pe<:-10 Turn h WRt STUNG Paye 12 Oregon skier qualifies for national championships ■ CLUB SPORTS: Her performance last weekend will send Sarah Momsen home to Vermont By Ryan Frank > -v&tt iL v Sperm %fum> Oregon’s Sarah Moaum is going home Motnaan. a native ol Vermont, finished first in the giant slalom and fifth in the slalom in the Western Regional Collegiate Ski Championships to win the women's division at Mount Brundage in McCall, Idaho Momsen's showing in the Regional Championships qualified her for the United State* Collegiate Skiing Cham pionships in Vermont from March 6 8 *1 am really estltod." Momaen *aid. "I kind of with that the whole team could go. hut I am happy to tie going as an individ ual. I think that the team MOMSfN was unlucky with a cou ple ul injuries * Oregon'* Allium Bigs by and Brooke Siler were both suffering from injuriae at the regional meet The United State* Championship* wilt take plat* from March 2-10: the giant slalom will be held at Mount Snow ana the slalom at Haysta* i Mountain. Sbo in a vary itnwrth anil powerful tom." ONan‘1 Alan Silor taut She it ftnl contention fur th« national title " Oregon * entire woman'* loam qualified for th« regional tournament at Mount Hnmdage, which look plate front Fob 21-21 »he team included Mnmten, Brooke Siler, Burke. Bigtby, i fan lenten end Kelli | Miilitmeu fenten. who plated teventh. wat the only trthnr Ore fan team member lo □ place III ltie regional rnnel Alan Siler quali fieri as ihe lone representative for the men. but did not place • • • In a back and forth game. Oregon's rugby club team managed a tie with Evergreen State Col lege, 17 17 Ale* tteram, Roland Lemmens and Keith Heger scored for the Ducks Heger scored in the last seconds, but missed the extra point kick for the win We didn't have a few people at key posi Hons." Heger said, "but we were satisfied with the way we played with the personnel we had It was good to play a college side, we haven't played one since last term “ • • • Both Oregon's men's and women’* ulti mate frishee club sport teams will travel to Stanford this weekend few « tournament Tim Stanford Invitational, which will include teams from across the nation, will be the men s last collegiate tournament before it hirsts the sectional tournament on April 20 The mm ttonal lournamenl will include Ore gon Slate. Washington. Washington State. Whitman and North Mumble toisl weekend the men competed In two games against Oregon State in Corvallis The Ducks weni I I on the trip, losing ihe first and winning the second Beginning with a home lournamenl on March tit. Oregon will compute in four lour namntifs spanning four weekends. The four week lour will include three toad tournaments on March 23, it) and April ft • • • The Oregon * women's water polo club learn will Iw competing In California this weekend The Ducks will iravel to Univer *ity of California at Davis to play a minimum of four games wilh the possibility uf a fifth game Oregon will play Marin and lIC Davis on Saturday Its opponents for Sunday will nol Im determined until afier Saturday’s games "All llu» girls are real excited." head coach (mm Paulson said "But I am a little tentative It is our first game and it is in California where lha competition ts a lot tougher then any where else in the nation *
