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