Matt Hankim'T.memld
Senior guard Natasha O'Brien keeps a close eye on Idaho's Jennae Krell in the Ducks' 76
58 victory earlier this season at McArthur Court.
Ducks look for split in desert
To remain contenders
for the Pac-10 title,
Oregon needs a victory
over Arizona State
By Allison Ross
Oregon Daily Emerald
Hopefully the Oregon
women’s basketball team en
joyed its stay in the Associated
Press Top 25 Poll, because it
probably won’t last long after a
78-74 loss to Arizona on Thurs
day.
Now the Ducks must rebound,
not only to avoid a sweep, but to
avoid falling out of contention
for the Pacific-10 Conference
championship.
Oregon (14-4 overall, 5-2 Pac
10) finishes its road trip in the
desert when it travels to Tempe
tomorrow to face the Arizona
State Sun Devils (8-7, 2-2).
Oregon won nine of its last 10
contests before falling to the
Wildcats, while the Sun Devils,
burdened with injuries since
conference play began, have won
just two conference games, in
cluding a 57-53 win over Oregon
State on Thursday.
Arizona State’s biggest setback
came when
freshman for
ward Leah
Combs fell on
Dec. 30 with
stress fractures
in both legs.
Combs was al
most averaging a
double double, scoring 10 points
and grabbing nine rebounds per
game.
On a more positive note, fresh
man Theresa Jantzen is healthy
and is making an impact for the
Sun Devils. The 6-foot-3 forward
came off the bench to record her
first double-double in Arizona
State’s loss to Arizona on Jan. 16.
The Sun Devils also tied a
school record against the Wild
cats by hitting nine three-point
ers in 22 attempts.
"This is probably the best
perimeter shooting we’ve had
in my tenure,” Arizona State
head coach Charli Turner
Thorne said. “It really is kind of
fun to have better shooting, but
honestly it’s not something we
go out and try to do. If it’s there,
we take it.”
Oregon struggled from the arc
on Thursday, making just one
three-pointer in seven attempts.
If Arizona State pressures Ore
gon the way Arizona did and can
continue to hit its three pointers,
this crucial game for Oregon
could prove to be more difficult
than expected.
“Arizona State is tough, and
they’ve improved a lot the last
couple years,” Oregon senior
Sonja Curtis said. "We need to
take care of business, and we
can’t play like we did [against
Arizonal the rest of the sea
son.”
Defending House, Lazor is paramount for a Duck victory
Oregon needs to contain the Pac-lO’s
highest-scoring tandem to earn its
first Pac-10 home win
By Tim Pyle
Oregon Daily Emerald
If any team knows how to defend the confer
ence’s most prolific scoring tandem, it should be
Oregon.
Ducks men’s basketball assistant coach Don
Newman directed Arizona State as interim head
coach last season, calling plays for guard Eddie
House and forward Bobby Lazor, who rank second
and third in the Pacific-10 Conference in scoring,
respectively, and combine for nearly 39 points per
game.
Head coach Ernie Kent will assuredly call on
Newman’s expertise Saturday when Arizona State
(10-8, 2-4) visits McArthur Court to battle Oregon
(10-6, 2-5) at 3:05 p.m. The game will be televised
on Fox Sports Net.
The Sun Devils have suffered multiple nar
row defeats in league play, similar to the Ducks.
On its Pac-10 opening road swing through
Southern California, Arizona State lost to the
Irojans and UCLA by a com
bined five points, with the loss
to the Bruins going to overtime.
After handily beating both
Washington schools at home to
even their Pac-10 record, the Sun
Devils were unable to conquer the
close-game hump against archri
val Arizona on Jan. 14, losing 74-73 at home.
Arizona State’s visit to the Northwest began on a
sour note Thursday night, as Oregon State tram
pled the Sun Devils 81-51 in Corvallis. Before that
blowout loss, Arizona State had been averaging al
most 77 points per game, which was good for third
in the conference.
The Sun Devils’ biggest team strengths have
been free-throw shooting and assists. They ranked
first in the conference from the foul line at more
than 73 percent and second in the Pac-10 in assists
at nearly 18 per game heading into this week’s
games.
Lazor leads the team in rebounding and field
goal percentage and ranks second in free-throw
percentage in addition to his scoring. His 8.5 re
bounds per game also place him fourth in the
Pac-10, and his better than 50 percent field-goal
shooting and .780 conversion rate from the line
rank eighth and 10th in the conference, respec
tively.
House’s penchant for theft leaves him third in
the Pac-10 at 2.24 steals per game, and he ranks
eighth in the league in free-throw percentage,
making more than 79 percent of his freebies.
On Tap
WHO: Arizona
State (10-8,2-4)
at Oregon (10-6,
2-5)
WHEN: Saturday,
3:05 p.m.
WHERE:
McArthur Court
Rodman wants to play this season
Former Chicago Bulls
star Dennis Rodman
won’t decide where to
play until next week
By Greg Beacham
The Associated Press
SALT LAKE CITY — Dennis
Rodman’s agent said today that the
flamboyant seven-time rebounding
champion won’t be making his
next move until next week.
Rodman announced Wednes
day on his Web site that he had
changed his mind and decided not
to retire. His agent, Dwight Manley,
confirmed that Rodman wants to
play in the NBA this season.
During a press conference today
for Karl Malone, another of Man
ley’s clients, the agent’s cellular
phone rang repeatedly. Manley
said the calls were from teams in
terested in Rodman, although he
refused to name them.
Manley said there will be no
deal for Rodman’s services before
next week. After flying to Toronto
today, Manley plans to return to
Los Angeles on Friday and speak
to Rodman after his appearance on
the "Tonight Show.”
“I’ve been reviewing my op
tions,” Rodman wrote in his Web
site message, “and those options
still include playing in the NBA
this season with a contender.
Chicago, New York and L. A. are all
cities I’d like to play in. Playing
overseas could be pretty cool, too.”
Rodman announced Tuesday
he would sit out a year as rumors
spread that he was about to be
traded to the New York Knicks.
“OK, so here’s the deal,” Rod
man’s Web site message began. “I’ve
had some long discussions with the
people I love, the ones whose opin
ions matter most to me, and I’ve de
cided not to retire after all.
“1 know yesterday 1 said I was
history, and with the NBA lockout
and everything going on, I really
thought I should stop playing.”
Aftergoing on about his supposed
options in Chicago, New York and
Los Angeles, Rodman wrote:
“There’s one tiling I have always
told my fans I would do in my last
game that I still haven’t done. I’m
sure you know what it is, but I still
have to come back for at least one
more game so that I can get buck
naked on the court,” Rodman wrote.
If the Bulls plan to resuscitate a
sign-and-trade deal for Rodman,
they’ll have to do so by 2 p.m. EST
today, when teams can start mak
ing deals. Chicago is expected to
renounce its rights to Michael Jor
dan and execute sign-and-trade
deals for Scottie Pippen (to Hous
ton), Luc Longley (to Phoenix) and
Steve Kerr (to San Antonio).
Sports Brief
Track and field meets
in Reno and Eugene
The indoor track and field season
kicks off for the Oregon men’s and
women’s teams this weekend as both
squads send a select group of athletes
to compete at the Silver State Invita
tional Saturday in Reno, Nev.
Those who do not make the trip to
Reno will have the option to compete
on Sunday at the Eugene Indoor at
the Lane County Fairgrounds.
The Oregon men will send a
group of 15 to Reno, comprising
mainly middle distance runners
and jumpers. The 800 features Pa
cific-10 Conference scorers and
seniors Greg James and Richard
Girvan, along with newcomer
Ross Krempley.
Steve Fein, who transferred to
Oregon from Wisconsin in Septem
ber, will join juniors Todd Humcke
and Laird Prosser in Reno as some
of the mile’s fastest entries.
In the jumps, previous Pac-10
champions Kyley Johnson and Pi
otr Buciarski begin their seasons
in the high jump and pole vault.
Howard Moore could be one of the
top entrants in the 400-meter dash
after garnering an outdoor-season
best of46.83 seconds last spring.
The Oregon women will have
the chance to see their newest pair
of recruits in action as freshmen
Endla Abrante and Alexis Yeater
will open their careers at the invita
tional. The Ducks will also show
some youth in the pole vault,
where freshman Nikki Reed, for
mer Oregon state champion, will
join forces with sophomores Kari
na Elstrom and Holly Speight.
The Eugene Indoor will be the
only indoor meet of the season to be
held in Eugene. Martin Smith, in his
first year as men’s head coach,
wants to place more emphasis on
the indoor circuit this season.
Two pivotal matches
await UO in Portland
By Scott Pesznecker
Oregon Daily Emerald
Before the competition gets
any easier for the Oregon
wrestling team, it will get
much more difficult.
The Ducks, who are on a
three-game losing streak and
hold a 3-3 dual meet record,
travel to Portland today to com
pete in the 16th Annual
Wrestling Classic. Oregon faces
No. 10 Nebraska at 6:30 p.m.,
then Portland State at 8:15 p.m.
WRESTLING
Unfortu
nately for
Oregon, the
Huskers will
be hungry for
a win after
losing meets
to No. 3 Iowa and No. 6 Okla
homa. And to complicate things
for the Ducks, Nebraska’s weak
est point is at 133 pounds—the
weight class in which Oregon
has no choice but to forfeit.
‘They’re a very solid team
from top to bottom,” Oregon
head coach Chuck Kearney said.
“Ironically, they are probably
most suspect at 133, and we don’t
have a 133-pounder, but there
will be a lot of great matchups. ”
Two ofthose great matchups
will take place in the upper
weights.
Oregon’s Doug Lee, ranked
No. 17 at 184 pounds, will go
against No. 7 Brad Vering. In the
past, the two wrestlers have
split 1-1 against each other, in
cluding a victory by Lee at the
NCAA Tournament last March.
At the 197-pound weight
class, No. 9 Chael Sonnen will
wrestle No. 15 Scott Munson.
According to Kearney, Mun
son is much like the Beavers’
Shane Zajac, whom Sonnen
beat last Saturday in Corvallis.
Sonnen believes he can
wrestle well against Munson.
“It’s no big deal,” Sonnen
said. “If it was the No. 1 guy or
the No. 20 guy, any of them can
beat me, and I can beat any of
them, so I really don’t care.”
While sizing themselves up
against Nebraska, the Ducks
must remember that they have a
second opponent for the evening.
The Vikings are a new team to
Division 1-A wrestling, and Kear
ney said the team’s youth could
be their most dangerous threat.
“It’s a dual that we have to
get up and wrestle to,” he said.
“There’s nothing scarier in the
world than a freshman or
sophomore who has nothing to
lose and everything to gain. ”
The Ducks have been incon
sistent this season, winning their
first three dual meets before los
ing the next three. Sonnen said
the reason for the turbulence was
simply a matter of “bad timing.”
Hopefully the team will
bounce back, because the V ikings
could be the easiest opponent re
maining on Oregon’s schedule.