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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (March 30, 1998)
BEST BETS NCAA Basketball Kentucky vs. Utah CBS (8) 6p.m. Sports Emerald Utes, Wildcats sauare off in chamnionshin name Tonight’s matchup between Utah and Kentucky marks the third season the two teams have faced each other in the NCAAs By Jim O’Connell The Associated Press SAN ANTONIO — For Utah, payback time has arrived against Kentucky in the na tional championship game. The Wildcats’ plan: ending the Utes’ season with a loss for the third straight year. Utah and Kentucky have played each oth er in the NCAA Tournament the last two seasons, with the Wildcats winning both times. The stakes have grown each year and on tonight they will be as big as they get in college basketball. The championship pits a Utah team that pulled off two of the tournament's biggest upsets against a Kentucky team that used two thrilling comebacks to advance to the title game for the third straight year, this time under new head coach Tubby Smith. Two years ago, Ken tucky crushed Utah 101-70 in the second round on the MAJERUS way to its sixth national championship. Last sea son, the Wildcats beat the Utes 72-59 in the regional semifinal and went on to lose in the title game to Arizona. "The main thing I remember about those two games is that we lost. That’s about all you need to know,” Utah senior center Michael Doleac said of the recent postsea son history with Kentucky. "Sophomore year it was more like we were just watching Kentucky play instead of being in the game. ... Last year it was a lot different. We could play with those guys and we did play with them until they had that spurt at the end when we fouled.” Utah’s 65-59 upset of top-ranked North Carolina on Saturday may have been an even bigger surprise than its 25-point laugh er over No. 1 seed Arizona in the West Re gional final a week before. But the common thread was excellent defense; the Utes lead the nation in field-goal percentage allowed Turn to NCAA, Page 20 w On tap ■WHO: Utah vs. Kentucky ■WHAT: NCAA men’s bas ketball champi onship game ■WHERE: San Antonio, Texas ■WHEN: Tonight 7 p.m. Ensrud ends career 3rd atNCAAs The senior brought home all American honors for the second straight season to end his Oregon career By Joel Hood Sports Reporter It was a fitting finale to the Ducks’ season. Six Oregon wrestlers made the trip to Cleveland, Ohio, last week for the NCAA Championships. Only two brought home all American honors, but each realized his goal of making it to the NCAAs. And five of them will look for noth ing short of a return trip next season. As he has been virtually me enure season, jeremy £,nsrua was tne Ducks’ highest finisher and most dominat ing performer. The 134-pound senior capped off his storied Oregon career with a 3-2 decision over Clarion’s Mark Angle and a third-place overall finish at the NCAAs — besting last year’s finish by one spot. Ensrud’s only NCAA loss came on the tournament’s second night when he was beaten by Ohio’s Shawn Enright 8-6 in over time. A crushing defeat, Ensrud later said, because his season-long goal was to reach the 134-pound finals. The following morning, Ensrud defeated Angle to win the consolation bracket. “I was really glad to see Jeremy come back strong and finish third,” head coach Ron Finley said. “Being able to come back the way he did is a real credit to him as a wrestler and as a person. He had a brilliant year for us and a great career. ” Later in the morning session, Chael Son nen became Oregon’s second all-American honoree with an eighth-place finish in the Turn to WRESTLING, Page 17 NICK MEDLEY/Emerald Oregon’s Katie Mackey attempts to throw out Arizona State ’s Devyn Braga during the Duck’s 5-3 loss to the No. 7 Sun Devils on Sunday. After hot first game, Ducks’ bats go flat Oregon upset No. 7 Arizona State in the first game of a doubleheader before being shut down in the second game By Joel Hood Sports Reporter If there was any doubt going into this weekend that the Pacific-10 Conference is top-to-bottom the country’s most talented and competitive conference, there isn’t any longer. A day after the Oregon softball team was swept by No. 1 Arizona, the Ducks (28-13 overall, 1-3 in the Pac-10) pound ed out 18 hits and 16 runs in a spirited, four hour doubleheader with No. 7 Arizona State at Howe Field on Sunday. SOFTBALL The problem: nearly all of those runs came in the Ducks’ 13-2 game-one victory. There was a smile on the face of short stop Jill Robinson as she stood at first base in the bottom of the second inning follow ing a one-out single to left that scored two Duck runs. There was a smile on the face of pitcher Jennie Cook as she mowed down nine of the next 12 Sun Devil batters after Oregon’s five-run inning that broke open a one-run ball game. There was another after Cook forced out fielder Devyn Braga to chop a pitch back to the pitcher’s circle to end an Arizona State rally in the top of the fifth and record her team-high 15th victory this season. But for all of the smiles and all of the high fives during the Ducks’ game-one route, the rest of the day belonged to the Turn to SOFTBALL, Page 16 NICK MEDLEY/Emerald Oregon head coach Jack Griffin consoles a frustrated Alina Wygonowska during the Ducks 6-0 loss to Washington State. Loss to Cougars drops women to 3-12 The Ducks dropped their match with Washington State 6-0 after falling to both Arizona and Arizona State 5-0 last week By Rob Moseley Sports Reporter In a match that resembled a meeting of the United Na tions as much as one between two Pacific-10 Confer ence tennis squads, the Oregon women were swept by Washington State 6-0 in Eugene on Sunday. After a grueling three-set victory by the Cougars' No. 2 player, Hungarian native Tunde Nagy, that gave Wash ington State wins in all six singles matches, the three doubles events were canceled. The defeat drops Oregon’s record to 3-12 overall, in cluding losses to both No. 19 Arizona and No. 6 Arizona State last week in the desert. The loss on Sunday was the first match in three TENNIS weens m wmcn me uucks naa enough healthy players to fill the lineup card. Oregon finished just four matches against both the Wildcats and Sun Devils, as Shanelle Kaneshiro retired during the No. 3 match on Wednesday before defaulting on Thursday. The uucks lost d-u both days. “We are going through a lot of adversity because the injuries,” said-Oregon head coach Jack Griffin. “ the same time, we’re playing some of the best teams in Turn to TENNIS, Page 15 > O
