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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 7, 2000)
Soft-spoken senior forward Alex Scales let’s his often-spectacular play do the talking — and it’s plenty loud enough By Tim Pyle Oregon Daily Emerald Reserved is an understate ment when describing Alex Scales and his understating de meanor. Scales, a senior forward on the Oregon men’s basketball team, speaks in a soft, low tone that leaves listeners leaning for ward to hear. Although he has undeniably opened up com pared to the beginning of last season, his first as a Duck after transferring from San Jacinto Community College in Texas, Scales’ casual nature still does not incline him to use words lib erally. But put the 6-foot-4, 185 pound native of Racine, Wis., on the basketball court and something happens. Scales becomes, as head coach Ernie Kent describes him, Oregon’s “energy guy.” “When he has his energy high, this team moves at a total ly different level,” Kent said. More often than not, that en ergy manifests itself in the form of a spectacular play by Scales that gets his courtmates pumped, the Duck bench on their feet and, when playing at home, the McArthur Court crowd deafening. Although Scales’ dunks come in a variety of flavors, he does use one form more often than others. Leaking out after an opponent shoots a jump shot, Scales glides down either sideline to Oregon’s offensive end. As the Ducks rebound and find senior point guard Darius Wright, sophomore guard Freddie Jones or another ballhandler, Scales bides his time in the corner. In a flash, Scales makes quick eye contact with his ballhan dling teammate, streaks down the baseline and elevates. And, oh, how he elevates. % With the lob pass still rising above him, Scales extends and slams home an emphatic basket for Oregon. Junior guard David Jackson, sidelined lately with a knee in jury, described Scales’ other worldly leaps best after a game early in the season. During the Ducks’ exhibition win over the California All Stars, Jackson, moonlighting as the Oregon ballhandler in the aforementioned Scales scenario, tossed a particularly high pass toward the basket. Unfazed, Scales skied and completed the alley-oop. “No pass is bad with Alex,” an awestruck Jackson said after ward. “The guy can jump out of the building.” Such a play may ultimately be worth just two points, but it al ways means much more to the Ducks in terms that can’t be sta tistically calculated, like emo tion. And usually, such an acro batic alley-oop finish by Scales leads directly to an Oregon run, something that does make a sig nificant impact on the scoreboard. “He brings to our program what I’d say the other premier programs have in the country,” Kent said, “and that’s that one guy that has the explosiveness to get out in the open court and get some things done. Turn to Scales, page 8B Jeffrey Stockton Emerald Alex Scales, the Ducks leading scorer last season and second-leading scorer so far this season, is at his best in the open court, where he can use his athleticism on plays such as the above. Scales, however, is also deadly in the half-court, where he strokes jumpers and breaks down opposing defenses. Pac-10 strong, but No, 1 Stanford favorite to be strongest Emerald Mark “Mad Dog” Madsen has returned from a hamstring strain and joins his No. 1 Stanford Cardinal in pursuit of Pac-10 and NCAA championships. ■ Arizona, Oregon and UCLA should also be NCAA Tournament qualifiers By Jeff Smith Oregon Daily Emerald From being commonly referred to as the “Pathetic-10 Confer ence” in football, the men’s bas ketball teams in the league are making a strong case to now be known as the “Powerful-10 Con ference.” Or at the very least, the “Power ful-3.” 1. Stanford Cardi nal (11-0) Head Coach: Mike Montgomery Player to Watch: Mark Madsen, F Outlook: High rankings early on in the season are nothing new to Stanford. A year ago, they entered the season at No. 1 in the Sports Illustrated poll and find themselves in the exact same spot today in both the Associated Press and USA To da^/ESPN polls. And deservedlv so. The Cardinal has marched through the nonconference slate in amazing fashion, especially when you consider that all five of its starters who have played thus far are first-year starters. The lone returning starter is, of course Mark Madsen, who has been sidelined much of the year with a hamstring strain and has yet to start a game. In Madsen’s place, 6-11 fresh man Curtis Borchardt has opened the eyes of many with his total of 30 blocks in 11 games. Borchardt has helped anchor a defense that has held opponents to just 55.3 points per game and only 31 per cent shooting from the field. In order to fulfill its lofty post season goals, point guard Michael McDonald must improve upon his 3.5 assists per game average. If he doesn’t, it’ll be the lowest av erage for a Stanford starting point guard since 1983-84. 2. Arizona Wildcats (11-2 overall) Head Coach: Lute Olsen Player to Watch: Michael Wright, F Outlook: A year ago, the Wild cats finished second in the Pacif ic-10 Conference and rolled into the NCAA Tournament with high expectations. But the 22-6 season record was quickly forgotten as Oklahoma upset them in the first round of the tournament. Now, however, a youthful Wildcat starting five — which consists of a freshman backcourt, two sophomore forwards and a transfer center — should have enough speed and aggressiveness to take them much deeper in March. Michael Wright — last season’s Pac-10 freshman of the year — is taking on more of a leadership role and is already on pace for an equally, if not more, impressive campaign as a sophomore. The only downside is that Ari zona is still in the fragile process of establishing its bench. Justin Wessel has been productive as a back-up center and forward, and Luke Walton and Rick Anderson have provided occasional offen sive sparks but lack the foot speed necessary to run with the Pac-10. 3. Oregon Ducks (9-2) Head Coach: Ernie Kent Player to watch: Alex Scales, F Outlook: The talk started way before the ball was ever tipped up this past fall. It deteriorated a bit when Oregon stumbled in a 79-77 home loss to Cal-State Northridge. But after im pressive wins over Wake Forest Turn to Men’s Pac-10, page4B
