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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 10, 1999)
Hoops Continued from Page 5 mer courses. “That was a real positive for them to make that commitment,” Kent said. “All of them stayed and some of the new guys even came in on their own and spent a few days here. “That will be the single most driving factor this year — our in ternal leadership.” Internal leadership may be more important than ever as the upcoming season’s conference matchups will be anything but predictable. Many of the Pac-lO’s powerhouses lost key players, in cluding UCLA with Baron Davis going pro and Arizona with A.J. Bramlett and Pac-10 player of the year Jason Terry graduating. Washington also lost key players in Todd MacCulloch and Donald Watts, while California lost much of its starting personnel and Stan ford lost four starters. “It has brought the top half of the conference downward, and I think the middle of the confer ence has really come up,” Kent said. “So I think it will create a logjam of teams that all have the opportunity to make a run at the ^ It will be the first Oregon team in a long time that will go into the year feeling it matches up with anybody on the schedule. M Ernie Kent UO head coach Pac-10 championship.” Oregon returns three starters in A.D. Smith, Alex Scales and Dar ius Wright, plus sixth-man Fred erick Jones. Smith, a 6-foot-8 senior for ward, led Oregon in rebounding (7.9) while being the Ducks’ sec ond-leading scorer (13.0) and sec ond in steals (28) last season. Scales, a 6-4 senior guard, was Oregon’s leading scorer (14.3) and second in rebounding (5.9). “Alex Scales is going to have a big year, I’ll tell you that right now,” Kent said. “A.D. Smith is going to have a big year. I think Darius Wright is going to have a 001727 “34 years of Quality Service” Mercedes • BMW • Volkswagen • Audi German Auto Service 342-2912 • 2025 Franklin Blvd. Eugene, Oregon, 97402 mm *lowM *Low Calories 'Brown Rice Available Off All Dishes Over $4.25* 1219 Alder St %e4taccuivit Korean & Japanese.Cuisine ora FREE DRINK with coupon •excluding special menu. Expires August 16, 1999. 0035421 Students, we ship your stuff home! Take advantage of our Student Discounts Furniture, computers, stereos, TV’s Insured, custom packing • Boxes for sale UPS, Ocean Freight, Motor Freight big year too because he’s been working so hard. And even Fred die Jones has an opportunity to come of age this season.” As for newcomers, Oregon picked up three from the junior college ranks in sophomore guard Anthony Norwood out of Collin County Community College in Texas, junior forward Bryan Bracey out of Malcolm X College in Chicago, and junior center Julius Hicks from West Valley Ju nior College in California. “Julius is definitely a guy that we’re expecting big things out of,” Kent said. “One thing we felt we lacked last year was a consistent low-post-scoring big man. Julius comes in the door at 6-9, 240 [pounds], shooting 73 percent from the field.” Also of note is junior David Jackson, a 6-3 guard who spent an NCAA-mandatory season on the bench last season because he transferred from Utah after help ing the Utes advance to the finals of the 1998 NCAA Tournament. Now with a year in Kent’s system, he could be the go-to guy Oregon has been lacking. “David Jackson is going to be a phenomenal player; people are re ally going to be impressed with him,” Kent said. The Ducks have to cope with the losses of Terik Brown and Mike Carson, who both graduat ed. But those losses don’t worry Kent too much. As he enters his third season at the helm of the program, he said it’s all just part of the building process. Emerald Often spectacular last season, sophomore Freddie Jones looks to continue improving. “Heading into our third year we have bridged the talent gap in the conference,” he said. “We have bridged the experience gap in the conference too. The next thing is to bridge the continuity gap in the con ference. For us, it will be the first Oregon team in a very long time that will go into the year feeling it match es up with anybody on the schedule. “And that is a good position to be in.” Pitchers suspended for roles in brawl OAKLAND, Calif. — Seattle Mariners pitcher Frankie Ro driguez was suspended for seven games and New York Yankees pitcher Jason Grimsley for three on Monday for their roles in a brawl. Rodriguez was penalized for throwing at and hitting Chuck Knoblauch with a pitch in the ninth inning of New York’s 11-8 win Friday night at Seattle, for using obscene language and for fighting. Grimsley was suspended for allegedly throwing at and then hitting Edgar Martinez on con secutive pitches the previous in ning after Alex Rodriguez had homered. After hitting Knoblauch, Frankie Rodriguez was taken out of the game. He then started yelling at the Yankees in their dugout. The benches and bullpens emptied with some of the Yankees intent to get Ro driguez, and the pitcher knocked down Joe Girardi with two punches. Rodriguez, Girardi and Yan kees coach Don Zimmer also were ejected following the fight. Yankees manager Joe Torre was ejected an inning earlier for argu ing a call. Grimsley said Monday night that he had no intention of hit ting Martinez. “All these guys know me and they’ve seen me give up home runs before, and they know I don’t try to hit anyone. The pitches just got away from me,” he said. “If I’m going to hit some body, I’m not going to throw it 87 mph. I’m going to grab a four seamer and throw it 95 mph and hit him.” Grimsley’s suspension was due to start Tuesday, and Ro driguez’s following the five game suspension of Mariners pitcher Jose Paniagua, who on Monday dropped the appeal of his penalty. Paniagua was sus pended following a July 11 fight against the Los Angeles Dodgers. It was not immediately known if Rodriguez and Grimsley will appeal. If they do, the suspen sions can’t begin until after a (< If I’m going to hit somebody, I’m not going to throw it 87 mph. I’m going to grab a four seamer and throw it 95 mph and hit him. >> Jason Grimsley Yankees pitcher hearing before AL president Gene Budig. “I don’t know exactly what I’m going to do as far as appealing. It depends on if I’m needed or not,” Grimsley said. Torre said before Monday’s game at Oakland that he had not yet decided whether to encour age Grimsley to appeal. He also said the three-game suspension seemed fair. “In relation to what Rodriguez got, I think it was fair,” Torre said. Rodriguez and Grimsley also were fined. — The Associated Press Emeralds Continued from Page 5 We’re just going out there every night trying to compete.” Offensively, the Ems were con necting in the first half of the game. Shortstop Tony Gsell led the charge in the top of the fifth with a single to center field as the Ems combined for five hits in the inning but just one run. “We’re usually on defense a lot lately, and it takes a lot out of our hitting,” Gsell said. “But we can’t be making excuses right now, we’ve just got to play ball. We’re on a bad skid right now.” A lack of depth in the bullpen has been a problem in recent games for the Ems, as the Rock ies’ lineup devoured everything Eugene’s relief pitchers could muster. “Some of our other pitching wasn’t there tonight,” Zoccolillo said. “They kept piling up the runs, and eventually it got too late.” But Sheaffer doesn’t attribute the current losing streak solely to the lack of a deep bullpen. He be lieves that his pitchers have the potential to do much better and are just in a slump. He doesn’t label the streak a product of an unproductive of fense either. More than any thing, Sheaffer said the team’s morale is the largest obstacle to overcome. “Winning is contagious, and so is losing,” Sheaffer said. “We don’t want losing to be a habit. It just takes you one good win to get you back on a streak, and that’s what we’ll try to do when we play tomorrow. “We got beat in three or four aspects of the game tonight,* but it’s just one game. The good thing about baseball is that we can come back tomorrow, and try to do it again.”
