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Oregon Basketball
Ducks’ season gets under way
The men will travel to Utah
to face a Brigham Young team
that lost to WSU on Wednesday
By Rob Moseley
Sports Reporter
Ready or not, the men’s basketball reg
ular season starts tonight for Oregon as
the Ducks open on the road against
Brigham Young.
“You would hope the team’s ready to
play because they know now these
games are counters," head coach Ernie
MEN'S
BASKETBALL
Kent said. “You think
you’re ready, but only
time will tell.”
Although Oregon will
be facing a less-than
stellar Cougar team that
finished 1-25 last season
and lost Wednesday 78
49 to Washington State, which is pre
dicted to finish in the bottom half of the
Pacific-10 Conference, Kent is cautious
about starting the season away from the
friendly confines of McArthur Court.
“You’re going into a hostile environ
ment on the road, which should get your
attention,” Kent said. “But generally
speaking, when teams go on the road
they lock in better, the intensity comes
up and they perform at a higher level. I’m
looking to see if this team is in position
to have that type of growth within it.”
The team experienced what can only
be termed marginal growth in its two ex
hibition victories over teams from Russia
and Australia.
The Ducks beat Russia’s Central Army
Sport Club 89-54 on Nov. 8. Then they
defeated the Outback All-Stars 85-76
four nights later in a game that featured
sloppy play on both sides, as evidenced
by a combined 48 fouls and 45 turnovers
between the two teams.
Senior forward Henry Madden shot a
combined 17 for 24 in the two contests
(70.8 percent), on his way to averaging
20.5 points in 22 minutes per game.
Sophomore A.D. Smith, who redshirt
ed last season, led the team with 20 re
bounds in the two games, while sopho
more Yasir Rosemond, a junior college
transfer, dished out five assists in each
contest.
Turn to MEN, Page 13A
CHAO PATTESON/Emerald
Senior Mike Carson and the rest of the Oregon men’s basketball team begin the reg
ular season Friday night against Brigham Young in Provo, Utah.
Six-Joot-Jwe
center Jenny
Moive needs to
make her
presence felt
against the
undersized
Vandals.
CHAD PATTESON/Emerald
Women kick off
season in Idaho
Tonight’s contest with Idaho is the
first of nine nonconference games for
the Ducks, six of which will he played
on the road
By Alex Pond
Sports Reporter
It’s time for the games to begin.
The Oregon women’s basketball team has high
expectations for the 1997-08 season, including
goals of an undefeated nonconference season, a Pa
cific-10 Conference championship and playing
host to the first two rounds of the NCAA Tourna
ment.
The journey toward these goals begins tonight,
when the Ducks take on Idaho in Moscow, Idaho,
at 8 p.m.
“We’re very excited,” point guard Natalie Hugh
es said. “We’re sick of seeing green and white jer
seys in practice the past few weeks. We want to
play someone and see how we’re doing and where
we’re at.”
Turn to WOMEN, Page 13A
Oregon closes
out season
with WSU, UW
Following their first Poe-10 win
of the season, the Ducks go on
the road to face the No. 12
Cougars and No. 16 Huskies
By Rob Moseley
Sports Reporter
This weekend marks the turning point
from fall to winter for Oregon sports, as the
men’s and women’s basketball teams begin
their regular seasons, while the football and
volleyball teams finish theirs.
The volleyball team winds up what, so
far, has been a 0-19 season
overall and 1-15 in the Pa
cific-10 Conference. The
lone victory came on Sat
urday as the Ducks defeat
ed Arizona State in a
thrilling five-game match.
"We feel good about the
VOLLEYBALL
win, but tin; last tiling I want to have hap
pen is for us to be satisfied,” head coach
Cathy Nelson said. “We have two opportu
nities this weekend to get more wins. It’s not
going to be an easy task, but it's an opportu
nity.”
The Ducks open their final weekend of
play at No. 12 Washington State, a team
they haven’t faced since the second match
of the Pac-10 season on Sept. 20, when the
Cougars took a four-game win.
“That’s one thing I don’t like about this
Pac-10 schedule,” Nelson said. "The teams
you see first are the teams you see last.”
Washington State is 22-6 overall and 10-6
in the Pac-10 but has lost two of its last three
Turn to DUCKS, Page 12A
Wrestlers eye
No. 6 Arizona
at tournament
The Southern Oregon Open will
give the No. 22 Ducks a chance
to improve their Pac-10 and
national rankings
By Joel Hood
Sports Reporter
The stakes will be raised for the Oregon
wrestling team this weekend as it continues
its march toward the Pacific-10 Conference
crown.
The Ducks will resume action Saturday in
Ashland against several
Pac-10 teams in an uncon
ventional format at the
Southern Oregon Open, a
tournament that highlights
the individual as much as
the team.
WRESTLING
At stake lor the No. 22 Ducks is a chance
to crack the nation's top 20 and get a leg up
in the Pac-10 race — enough to keep the
wrestlers’ minds on the competition at
hand, head coach Ron Finley said.
“This gives us a great chance to look at
our guys in an individual format,” Finley
said. "We'd like to see as many of our guys
as we can wrestling in their respective
championship matches.”
Oregon appears the favorite in several
weight classes, including 134 and lf>8
pounds, but look for No. 18 Oregon State to
challenge in nearly every event, 142-pound
sophomore Dusty Morgan said.
“I think a lot of matches with Oregon
State will be real close," Morgan said. “But
we have really improved our conditioning
Turn to UO, Page12A