Nick Medley/Emerald
Akili Smith beats a hard-charging Jeremiah Pharms in Oregon’s 27-22 victory Saturday.
Ho-Ching could start at tailback
By Rob Moseley
Oregon Daily Emerald
A week after rushing for 47
yards in his first action since in
juring his knee on Sept. 19, tail
back Herman Ho-Ching may start
on Saturday against Arizona
State.
“Herman is taking some reps
with the first team,” Oregon head
coach Mike Bellotti said. "Jerry
Brown is taking reps with the first
team and Derien Latimer is taking
some reps with the first team. I
will probably determine a starter
after tomorrow’s practice. But I
think whoever starts, others will
play also.”
Ho-Ching said Tuesday that he
is still working to get into shape in
anticipation of starting.
“I’m impressed,” Bellotti said.
He seems to be getting stronger
every day.”
While Ho-Ching may start on
Saturday, Bellotti said he will be
happy just to have tackle Marco
Aguirre in uniform.
Aguirre, a 6-foot-4, 280-pound
senior, has been sidelined since
sustaining a knee injury against
UCLA on Oct. 17. While he is un
likely to start against the Sun Dev
ils, Bellotti said his presence will
be welcomed.
"Marco returning is one thing;
him playing significant minutes is
another,” Bellotti said. “I’m not
sure we’re at that point yet. But
Marco healthy is certainly one of
our best offensive linemen, and
we just need to try to put the best
five on the field.”
Bellotti hopes to shake Sun Devil jinx
Much has been made of Oregon
being the Pacific-10 Conference’s
most successful team since 1994,
and Bellotti
said that that
: record, along
with playing
at nome, win
provide
added moti
vation for his
players this week.
The fifth-year Ducks are 23-7 at
home and a combined 29-16 since
1994.
"Based on historically as well
as this season, we believe
Autzen Stadium is a tremendous
advantage to us,” Bellotti said.
“These seniors are on their way
to possibly being the winningest
program in the Pac-10 for their
five years.”
One team Bellotti and his se
niors haven’t enjoyed that much
success against, however, is Ari
zona State. The Sun Devils were
one of two teams Bellotti had yet
to beat in his three years as head
coach coming into this season,
and the only one after the Ducks’
63-28 win over Stanford on Sept.
26.
“Obviously I would like to de
feat them to get that monkey off
my back, but I don’t think that’s
motivation for the team,” Bellotti
said. “The fact that we as a team
haven’t defeated them in three
years ought to be a great deal of
motivation.”
Harris most likely lost for the season
Linebacker John Harris, a 6
foot, 212-pound Chino, Calif., na
tive who has played on kick cov
erage this season, injured his left
knee against the Huskies on Sat
urday.
“It doesn’t look good,” Bellotti
said on Sunday. “He doesn’t have
a lot of swelling, but they do think
it is a torn anterior cruciate liga
ment, and that woidd probably re
quire reconstruction."
Bellotti said Sunday that Harris
would have an MRI performed
Wednesday, and confirmed on
Wednesday that the freshman’s
Huskies basketball has high expectations for season
By Jim Cour
The Associated Press
SEATTLE — The expectations
for the Washington Huskies are
enormous.
After reaching the Sweet Six
teen last season, coach Bob Ben
der’s team finds itself ranked
14th and given a chance to win
the Pac-10 title.
The Huskies, with a program
that was in shambles before Ben
der arrived six years ago, don’t
mind the pressure.
“We’ve got a very experienced
team and a very deep team,”
Bender said. ‘‘Potentially, we’re
better this year because of our ex
perience.”
Led by 7-footer Todd MacCul
loch, the Huskies open their sea
son against UNC Wilmington
Monday night at home. They be
gin league play Jan. 3 at Washing
ton State.
"We’ve got a lot of athletic
players who can run up and
down the floor,” said MacCul
loch, a crew-cut Canadian who
doesn’t look like much of an ath
lete but is.
“I think we have a more athlet
ic look,” MacCulloch added.
With soft hands and a deft
shooting touch, MacCulloch has
twice led the nation in shooting
percentage. Not bad for a kid
from Winnipeg who was so far
out of shape that he had trouble
getting up and down the court
when he arrived in Seattle five
years ago.
As a junior, MacCulloch aver
aged 18.6 points and 9.7 re
bounds to help Washington
make the Sweet Sixteen for the
first time since 1984.
The Huskies upset Xavier 69
68 and beat Richmond 81-66 in
the NCAA tournament before los
ing to Connecticut 75-74.
From Bender’s first season at
Washington in 1994, when the
Huskies went 5-22, the program
has progressed light years. He
tries to use it as motivation.
“You want to have a long
memory,” Bender said.
Washington has to keep its
center on the floor this season if
it’s going to be successful be
cause 7-1 Patrick Femerling
passed up his senior season to re
turn to Germany to play pro bas
ketball. Femerling wasn’t a big
scorer but he was a big body on
defense to replace MacCulloch
when he was on the bench.
So MacCulloch can't afford to
get into foul trouble this season
and he knows it. His backup is 6
10 freshman Marlon Shelton, the
son of former NBA player Lonnie
Shelton. Shelton needs a lot of
improvement.
"I think we’re going to miss Pat
a lot,” MacCulloch said. "If he
would have come back, it would
have been a lot of fun.”
Despite Femerling’s absence,
the Huskies still expect to have a
lot of fun. This is the deepest and
most talented of Bender’s six
Washington teams. In addition to
MacCulloch, the Huskies return
two other key players; 6-4 senior
guard Donald Watts and 6-5 ju
nior guard Deon Luton.
Watts, son of former NBA play
er Slick Watts, had a break
through season as a junior when
he averaged 16.9 points and im
proved his shooting percentage
from 36 percent to 48 percent.
“I’m a whole lot more comfort
able shooting the ball from the
perimeter than I was before,”
Watts said.
Luton, a former high school
center, was found by Bender in
Del City, Okla. He had a sensa
tional sophomore season, when
he averaged 15.4 points and hit a
school single-season record for 3
pointers.
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