((I think
the team is
tournament
ready. Our
depth has
been our
greatest
strength. >>
Jody Runge
Oregon women’s
head basketball coach
Matt Hankinsftimerald
Freshman Shaquala
Williams, who was
named the Pac-10’s
freshman of the year
and a first-team all
conference member
last Friday, meets
with her fans at the
NCAA Tournament
pairings party Sun
day at McArthur
Court.
Oregon must prove itself in postseason to gain national respect
It almost seems like the NCAA is
playing a mean trick on the Oregon
women’s basketball team.
The women will play the first
round of the NCAA Tournament in
Ames, Iowa, a place they know all too
well. The Ducks played Rutgers in a
first-round matchup in Ames last season
and never made it out of Iowa after a
loss to the Scarlet Knights.
This season, after posting a 24-5 over
all record and finishing tied with UCLA
for the Pacific-10 Conference champi
onship, Oregon had its sights set on
playing the first two rounds of the tour
nament in Eugene.
But No. 12 seed Iowa State (22-7)
will be hosting the first two rounds of
the Mideast Region. Oregon, the fifth
seed in the bracket, has the third-best
overall record in their region. Only
No. 6 Connecticut (27-4) and Toledo
(25-5) have better records than Ore
gon. =====
The Ducks gath
ered at McArthur
Court on Sunday for
a pairings party and
more than 2,000
fans joined them.
The first Pac-10
team to be seeded
was UCLA, which
received a third
seed and was also
named as a host
team in the West Re
Oregon
Women’s Notes
Allison
Ross
gion for the first two rounds.
Arizona (17-10), which finished
fourth in the Pac-10, was next. The
Wildcats received a No. 6 seed in the
Midwest Region, and that’s when Ore
gon and its fans began to get their hopes
up.
“We thought since UCLA was a
third seed and Arizona was a sixth
seed we’d get the fourth,” Oregon for
ward Brianne Meharry said. “But it’s
just another chance for us to prove
ourselves.”
Which is exactly the point.
Oregon needs to prove itself in post
season play. The Ducks have made it to
the second round twice in their five ap
pearances under head coach Jody
Runge. In 1997 Oregon beat San Diego
State in the opening round, but faced
then-No. 1 Tennessee in the second
round. The Volunteers went on to win
the tournament.
Last season, despite injuries, Oregon
nearly defeated Rutgers, but, neverthe
less, the Ducks’ season ended in chilly
Ames.
So, Oregon is a fifth-seed this year,
not a bad place to be, but it definitely
didn’t get the recognition that the other
Pac-10 champion did.
Everyone knows Oregon can win at
home (9-0 conference record at Mac
Court this season), now they need to
win on the road in the postseason and
prove they are a team worthy of national
recognition.
This is Oregon’s best shot as it heads
into the tournament healthy and experi
enced.
“I think the team is tournament
ready,” Runge said. “Our depth has
been our greatest strength."
Shaq and Runge recognized for stellar season
Oregon wasn’t completely void of re
spect this season.
Runge was named Pac-10 Coach of
Turn to WOMEN, Page 12
UO’s Rosemond anticipates facing familiar foes on Wednesday
Oregon
Men’s Notes
Rob
Moseley
On Wednesday night, Oregon ju
nior guard Yasir Rosemond will
get the chance to play in a game
with the team he always
dreamed of playing with when he was
younger.
Oddly enough, that will be the Ducks’
first-round National Invitation Tourna
ment opponent, Georgia Tech.
“What a blessing to be playing Georgia
Tech,” said Rosemond, a College Park, Ga.,
native. “I always wanted to go to Georgia
Tech, but they took Stephon Marbury, so
they got the better end of the deal, I guess.”
Rosemond said he’s quite familiar with a
few of the Yellow Jackets, having played in
pick-up games with many of them during
summers back in Atlanta.
“They’re a pretty good team, but we’ll
come out on top,” Rosemond said. ‘Tve
played with them whole summers. Dion
[Glover], Jason Floyd, Alvin Jones — we
played all the time at a place call Run and
Shoot."
Rosemond said the Yellow Jackets style
ot play should remind Duck fans of Ore
gon’s most recent opponent.
“They’re similar to Cal, probably not as
athletic,” Rosemond said. “Cal has the big
guys like Lampley and Elson, they’ve got
[Jason] Collier and Alvin Jones.”
Collier, a junior transfer from Indiana,
leads the team with 17.5 points per game,
while Jones grabbed nearly 10 rebounds
per game this season. Jones was also third
in the nation with 3.7 blocked shots per
game.
The Bubble Bursts
Word out of Lawrence, Kan., is that Ore
gon was one of the last four teams cut by
the NCAA Tournament selection commit
tee, despite the Ducks’ 16-11 overall
record.
“I think it says a lot about this program to
be sitting at home and looking at the NCAA
pairings this afternoon and hear them
make the comment that it took until this
morning to take Oregon off the bubble,”
Kent said on Sunday. “That tells you what
the coaches on that committee think about
this basketball team.”
Seeing Washington earn a seventh seed
fueled minor speculation that the Ducks
may have had a decent shot, but perhaps
more interesting to the Oregon team was
the case of another seventh seed.
Minnesota earned the seventh seed and a
chance to play Gonzaga in the first round
of the West Regional. The Gophers finished
17-10, a game better than Oregon.
Who knew that the Ducks’ 72-61 loss at
Minnesota on Nov. 30 would be the differ
ence between a berth in the Big Dance and
one in the NIT?
Certainly not head coach Ernie Kent, al
though Kent isn’t lamenting the position
Oregon finds itself in.
"It’s just a great reward,” Kent said. “A
great reward to this program and a great re
ward to a great college basketball town.”
Second-Half Success
Although that comment would not have
been heard from Kent before this season
Turn to MEN, Page 9
(c I always
wanted to go
to Georgia
Tech, but they
took Stephon
Marbury, so
they got the
better end of
the deal, 1
guess. >>
Yasir Rosemond
Oregon point gaurd