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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 6, 1997)
ON THE TUBE Men’s College Basketball, Washington at Oregon, Fox (5), 7:35 p.m. DAILY TRIVIA Who was the first NBA player to receive one million All-Star votes? See scoreboard lor answer. Oregon football signs top junior college talent ■ RECRUITS: Oregon gets commitments from 27 players as it works to fill voids and bolster its depth By Chris Hansen Sports Reporter Tuesday was national letter-of-intent signing day for college football recruits across the country, and Oregon marked the day by receiving written com mitments from 27 high school and junior college players. Declaring this class to be one with great poten tial, Oregon head coach Mike Bellotti said that the team was able to sign more of its top recruits than ever before, fdling both immediate needs and stocking for the future. “[This class] can eventually become, or be con sidered, one of the best classes we have ever had,” Bellotti said. “But that remains to be seen. It is prob ably the most balanced class we have had in the last several years.” Oregon raided California JC schools to sign play ers at positions that were most pressing: Quarter back, offensive line, defensive line and linebacker. The marquee recruit is quarterback Akili Smith, a transfer from Grossmont College (Calif.) who threw for 3,212 yards and 32 touchdowns last sea son. The 6-foot-3, 226-pound Smith is expected to fill the starting quarterback void that was left with the loss of seniors Tony Graziani and Ryan Perry Smith. The Ducks’ second quarterback recruit is Port land’s Joey Harrington out of Central Catholic High School. Considered to be the top football prospect in Oregon, the 6-foot-4,194-pound Harrington was wooed to Oregon over Stanford. “Those two quarterbacks deserve a lot of atten tion,” Bellotti said. “Smith is the best junior college Turn to RECRUITS, Page 12 n n r r rr \r> r—r YESTERDAY'S RESULTS NBA Miami.118 Washington.104 Boston.117 Denver.106 Cleveland.84 Atlanta .81 Toronto .89 Phoenix .99 Utah .. Seattle .99 Chicago .90 .95 L.A. Lakers .106 NHL Pittsburgh .6 Montreal.3 Hartford . N.Y. Rangers . N.Y. Islanders New Jersey .. Tampa Bay.0 Dallas .4 Calgary.2 Edmonton .5 .1 Los Angeles.late .4 San Jose.game Anaheim.2 Toronto.4 Shaq to be out until at least Feb. 12 with injury INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP)—A knee injury will sideline Shaquille O'Neal of the Los Angeles Lakers until at least Feb. 12, meaning he will miss Sunday’s All-Star game. The Lakers said that O'Neal, third in scoring and fourth in rebounding in the NBA this season, sus tained a "sprained medial collateral ligament” Satur day during a game against Washington when he bumped knees with the Bullets’ Gheorge Muresan. O'Neal sat out Tuesday night’s 108-86 Los Ange les Clippers’ victory over the Lakers. Playing in 45 of the Lakers' 47 games so far, he has averaged 26.2 points and 13 rebounds per game, while the Lakers have compiled the best record in the Western Con ference at 34-13. The Lakers said O'Neal would remain in Los Ange les to receive treatment and therapy at the Kerlan Jobe Orthopaedic Clinic, and his earliest possible re turn to action would be next Wednesday at Minnesota, DAILY TRIVIA ANSWER Former LA. Laker Magic Johnson was the first NBA player to surpass the one-million vote mark. i'-sBt ' Oregon vs. Washington The heated rivalry continues MATHEW STIFFLER/Emerali Oregon’s Arianne Boyer and Washington’s Jamie Redd figure to be key players in the sec ond meeting between the two teams. Oregon won the first game 67-60 on Jan. 11. ■ PREVIEW: Oregon hopes its recent offensive success continues against the Washington schools By Mark McTyre Sports Editor Chapter Two begins. The last time Oregon and Washington met in women’s basketball competition, it was much more than just a game, as shot at tempts weren’t the only thing raining that night — at least that is what one coach would like for everyone to believe. nusKies neaa coacn June Daugherty accused Oregon fans of spitting on her from the stands during Washington’s 67-60 loss at McArthur Court on Jan. 11. “I’ve got a comment aDout coming up here and getting spit on the entire game,” Daugh erty said following the game. “It is really a lack of class by their fans and I think it is re ally gross on their part. These fans need to take a look at themselves.” The accusation brought national attention to Oregon fans and a nation’s size headache to University officials. The alleged spitting incident was investigated by officials with no evidence being found that could concur with Daugherty’s statement. Now, with the incident nearly a month removed, Oregon head coach Jody Runge doesn’t want to talk about the past. Howev er, she doesn’t want to talk about the future either. She feels that for the Ducks to suc ceed in the stretch run of the Pacific-10 Con ference schedule they must take each game separately as it happens. “Right now, we’re just trying to take one game at a time, one dribble at a time, one possession at a time,” Runge said. “We are really not trying to look at how many games it is going to take [to get us into the NCAA Turn to PREVIEW, Page 10 After a quick 10-0 start to the 1996-97 season, the Ducks have lost 6 of their first 9 conference games ■ GAME PREVIEW: Oregon will try to avenge an eariy-semm loss to Washington at Mac Court tonight/10 Photo Illustration fey MARK McTYfiE By Andrea DeYoung Assistant Sports Editor When does the road to the NCAA Tournament be gin? Is it during fall workouts? Is it during informal shootarounds during the summer? Or does it be gin the day that the previous season ends? For the Oregon men’s basketball team, the NCAA Tournament has been on the minds of coaches, players and fans since the day the Ducks were shunned by the NCAA Tournament and NIT selection committees last season. After winning six of its last nine games at the end of the season, Oregon was disappointed to not be packing for a tournament game. But the Ducks had one thing to be positive about — nobody graduated. Not only did nobody graduate, Turn to REPORT, Page 11 I Jerry Green UO men’s head coach
