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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 28, 1998)
Tennis: Format will help recruiting N Continued from Page 7 Matt Anger and former Oregon senior women’s administrator Barbara Walker were those di rectly involved with pushing for the realigned Pac-10. Their hard work has paid off — big time. “I think the key factor that fi nally got the move going the way we wanted was the [Northern] schools committing to the pro grams," Anger said. “The South ern schools before could argue that the Northern schools aren’t as strong and don’t commit to the sport. But now the programs in the north are getting stronger each year, and the universities are committed to the sport.” The change was not influenced solely by the Northern schools’ pleas. The NCAA has adopted a 64-team, basketball-style tourna ment for tennis beginning this season. The Pac-10 champion will receive an automatic bid to the tournament. "There was some influence into the decision,” said Chris Hoyles, the assistant commis sioner of championships and ad ministration for the Pac-10. “The NCAA was at that point contem plating moving toward automatic qualification for a team champi on, and we were uncertain with our previous format as to how we (i This has been great for us. Just to have these guys at home, in terms of recruiting, in terms of getting people more involved in our program, it's going to do wonders. The intensity level and excitement that are going to take place are going to be pretty ovenvhelming. ” Chris Russell UO men's tennis head coach would get a team champion.” The Southern schools may have initially opposed the unifi cation of the conference, but there seem to be no hard feelings now. In fact, the Southern pro grams appear to be embracing the change. “It wasn’t fair to the Northwest schools,” said Dick Gould, the head coach of Stanford’s No. 1 ranked men’s team. “We selfish ly did not want to give up our home-court advantage.” Even though he voted against the new format, both Gould and Stanford women’s head coach Frank Brennan said they knew the unification was inevitable. “I think it was something we had to do,” Brennan said. “The teams in the Northwest are get ting stronger, so it’s not the prob lem it used to be.” Now that the ordeal is solved and the conference is complete, the Ducks will play some of the elite teams in the country. On the men’s side, Stanford, UCLA and USC are all ranked in the top 10 in the nation. On the women’s side, the Cardinal is the defending national champion. The only difference is that the Ducks now have the opportunity to challenge the best in their own backyard. The women begin with home matches against Stanford and California this weekend, while the men start out on the road against the same two oppo nents. As all sports fans and partici pants know, home truly is sweet. “This has been great for us,” Russell said. “Just to have these guys at home, in terms of recruit ing, in terms of getting people more involved with our program, it’s going to do wonders. The in tensity level and excitement that are going to take place are going to be pretty overwhelming.” GDIs DISPLAY ADVERTISING 346-3712 CORRECTION Because of an editing error, Tuesday's story on theEd Moshofsky Sports Center should have said the $13-8 mil lion project also includes two outdoor football practice fields and a soccer field. The Emerald regrets the error. Los Angeles Lakers send 4 players to All-Star game Philadelphia was the last team to send four players to the All-Star game 15years ago The Associated Press NEW YORK — For the first time since 1983, a team will have four players in the NBA All-Star game, with Los Angeles Lakers guards Nick Van Exel and Eddie Jones chosen as re serves Tuesday, joining starters Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant. “One of my main goals this season was to play like an All Star, and maybe then get select ed to the All-Star team,” Van Exel said. Van Exel will be making the trip to the game with his close friend Jones. “If they hadn’t voted me on and not voted Nick on, I might have been disappointed,” Jones said. “It’s a relief to see him hon ored. He’s been one of the top guards in the Western Confer ence since I've been here. ” The last team to have four players in the game was Philadelphia, with Julius Erv ing, Moses Malone, Maurice Cheeks and Andrew Toney on the Eastern Conference team 15 years ago. The four Lakers will play for the Western Conference team against the East in the Feb. 8 game in Madison Square Gar den. Other reserves added to the West roster were San Antonio forward Tim Duncan, the only rookie on either squad, and his teammate, center David Robin son; forward Vin Baker of Seat tle; and guards Mitch Richmond of Sacramento and Jason Kidd of rnoenix. Selected as East re serves were guard Reg gie Miller and center Rik Smits of Indiana, center forward Jayson Williams oi Mew Jersey, forwards Glen Rice of Charlotte and Antoine Walker of Boston and guards Tim Hardaway of Miami and Steve Smith of Atlanta. The 14 reserves were added to the teams by a vote of the coach es in each conference. Van Exel clashed publicly last season with Lakers coach Del Harris, with the two arguing on the bench during a playoff game. “I would have felt badly for ei ther one who didn’t make it," Harris said of Van Exel and Jones. “The odds were only one would be chosen." Van Exel said he worked hard during the summer in an effort to change people’s perceptions ofhim. ‘Tve always wanted to play, but I’ve been put in negative sit uations and been looked at in a negative way, like pushing a ref eree and arguing with the coach,” he said. “I said to my self, this is my year. 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