Emerald
Editor in chief: Laura Cadiz
Sports Editor: Tim Pyle
Best Bet
MLB Postseason
N.Y. Yankees vs. Boston
5 p.m., Fox
Just how high can hoops programs fly?
■ The defending Pac-10 champion
women begin the season with a
Nov. 7 exhibition game
By Mirjam Swanson
Oregon Daily Emerald
Last season was all about accom
plishment.
So much so that by March 14, when
the members of the
Oregon women’s bas
ketball team walked
away from their loss to
Iowa State in the sec
ond round of the
NCAA Tournament,
they did so with a
whole laundry list of
achievements and accolades.
They were co-Pacific-10 Conference
champs. They’d made an unprecedent
ed sixth-straight tournament appear
ance. Their 25 victories equaled the
Oregon record. Their 15 wins in Pac-10
play set a new school record. Freshman
point guard Shaquala Williams was
named honorable mention All-Ameri
can. And so on...
This season, 10 players return from
last season’s 25-6 team. And with five
roster additions, Oregon is primed to
continue its ascent into the upper eche
lon of women’s collegiate basketball.
“We have a lot of confidence this
year,” said guard/forward Nicole
Strange, the team’s only senior. “We
should be able to take it to the next level,
‘cause now that we won, we know
we’re good.”
The Ducks will need to be good in or
der to advance to the round of 16 —
something Oregon hasn’t yet accom
plished.
Sharing the Pac-10 title with UCLA
was fabulous, the Ducks concur, but
they have grander goals for March 2000.
“Obviously, every year you want to
try and win a conference champi
Turn to Women, Page 12
:;/
Jeffrey Stockton Emerald
Senior Alex Scales dazzles the McArthur Court crowd with a dunk during Saturday night's public practice.
■ Coming off an unlikely run to the
NIT semifinals, Oregon will accept
nothing less than an NCAA
Tournament berth
By Tim Pyle
Oregon Daily Emerald
Expectations are high for the 1999
2000 edition of Oregon men’s basketball.
Most preseason forecasts have the
Ducks finishing fourth in the Pacific-10
Conference and earning
their first NCAA Tour
nament bid since 1995.
Ernie Kent did noth
ing to quell such hopes
during the program’s
annual media day at
McArthur Court on
Friday.
If anything, the third-year head
coach only heightened them.
“When I look at this year’s basketball
team on paper, it’s certainly the most
talented team that I’ve had an opportu
nity to coach as a head coach,” Kent
said. “I don’t think you will see any
team in this conference that has an
overabundance of talent that’s greater
than what we have.”
That talent is led by a trio of senior
starters in point guard Darius Wright
and forwards Alex Scales and A.D.
Smith. Scales and Smith were first and
second, respectively, on the team in
scoring last season, and Wright aver
aged almost five'assists per game in ac
cumulating the sixth-highest single-sea
son total in Oregon history with 150.
With Terik Brown and Mike Carson
graduated, the other two starting spots
will feature new faces. Kent was reluc
tant to divulge who he has in mind to
start at shooting guard and center Fri
day, saying any such designations on his
part would be purely speculatory.
But sophomore Freddie Jones and ju
nior David Jackson figure to receive the
Turn to Men, Page 13
Ducks still sliding, swept twice
Oregon suffers
its worst loss of
the season
Saturday night at
McArthur Court,
scoring a
combined total of
six points
By Scott Pesznecker
Oregon Daily Emerald
Somebody overbooked McArthur Court
on Saturday night.
Throughout the Oregon volleyball team’s
match against Southern California, basketball
fans made their way into McArthur to prepare
for Oregon’s not-so-midnight madness.
The basketball exhibition event hap
pened after the volleyball game, but the
madness arrived early, beginning at the
start of the volleyball match’s third game.
In front of 1,867 people — the Ducks’
largest crowd this season — Oregon (6-12
overall, 0-9 Pacific-10 Conference) was shut
down in three games, losing to the Trojans
(11-4,6-2) by scores of 15-3,15-3 and 15-0.
The loss was the Ducks’ 12th consecu
tive, capping a weekend that also included
a three-game sweep by No. 6 UCLA (17-1,9
0) on Friday night.
Oregon committed just three errors in its
game 3 loss to the Trojans, and both squads
had 27 kill attempts. However, while Ore
gon completed only 10 of those attacks,
USC hit 20 of 27 for a phenomenal .704 at
tack percentage in game 3.
“There were some times when we had
some spark, and we showed some spunk,”
Oregon head coach Cathy Nelson said. “But
we’re not taking advantage of point-scoring
opportunities right now, and obviously
that’s why we got stuck at zero. We just did
. n’.ttqke advantage of the times that we did
have to score a point. “
The Trojans utilized a balanced scoring
attack throughout the match, led by An
toinette Polk’s 12 kills in 24 attempts. Jen
nifer Pahl and Kashi Cormier each con
tributed 11 kills.
USC also had 34 defensive digs and 51
assists, while the Ducks had 19 and 29.
“We were trying to get an equal set distrib
ution,” USC head coach Jer
I ritt Elliot said. “Our focus
was to trying to get into a re
ally consistent offensive
II scheme for ourselves. We
passed extremely well. By
balancing our attack, we
were able to spread the ball a little bit more
and get some gaps for our attackers. ”
Defensive specialist Carli Halligan led
the Ducks with seven kills. Halligan, who
does not usually hit, had to fill the role of
injured Heather Gilmore, who collided
with setter Julie Gerlach Friday night while
diving for a ball.
Halligan also led the Ducks with six de
fensive digs. Gerlach and Amy Banducci
each contributed four digs.
The Ducks, who have yet to win a Pacif
ic-10 Conference match, were swept 15-5,
15-4 and 15-4 Friday night by the Bruins.
Kristee Porter led UCLA’s offense with
18 kills and was fed mostly by teammate
Turn to Volleyball, Page 16
Jeff Stockton Emerald
Oregon’s Laura Norton hangs at the net during Saturday night’s loss to USC.