He gets a perfect score
of 40 for a soaring 360- j
degree dunk, but Alex
Scales doesn Y advance
to the second round of j
j the annual NCAA dunk j
I contest PAGE 10
Scoreboard
Auriemma,
Catchings honored
PHILADELPHIA (AP) —
Tamika Catchings succeed
ed with her skill on the
court, Geno Auriemma
with his work on the side
line. Both have their
teams in the NCAA Final
Four and they were hon
ored Thursday as The Asso
ciated Press player and
coach of the year in
women’s basketball.
Catchings has led Ten
nessee to a 32-3 record
with her solid and often
brilliant all-around play
and kept the player of the
year award in the Lady
Vols’ court for the third
straight season.
Drexler quits
HOUSTON (AP) — Clyde
Drexler quit today as
coach of the Houston bas
ketball team only two
years after retiring from
the NBA to take over at his
alma mater.
“He’s been thinking
about it awhile,” Chet
Gladchuk, Houston’s ath
letic director, said. “It
boiled down to his posi
tion that he’s had a 20
year run in basketball as a
player and the last two
years as a coach and it’s
time he needs a break.”
Drexler said he wanted to
spend more time with his
family, in spite of his love
for basketball and his job.
Agbayani’s slam
ends long night
TOKYO (AP) — Because of
Benny Agbayani, the New
York Mets are taking back
more than kimonos,
Pokemon cards and
pearls from Japan.
Agbayani, ticketed for the
minors in 10 days lined a
pinch-hit grand slam in
the 11th inning Thursday
night, and the Mets beat
the Chicago Cubs 5-1.
Sports
Friday
March 31,2000
Volume 101, Issue 121
Emerald
UO getting thrown into fire early
Up:
Senior second baseman Andrea Gustafson is among Oregon’s leaders offensively, batting .380 with 25 RBIs. She’s also second on the team in doubles, hitting seven.
Oregon
needs its
bats to stay
hot this
weekend as
it opens Pac
10 play
against the
nation’s No.
2 and No. 5
teams
By Matt O'Neill
Oregon Daily Emerald
Oregon is being thrown right
into the fire this weekend as the
team begins Pacific-10 Confer
ence play on the road against
the No. 2 Arizona Wildcats and
No. 5 Arizona State Sun Devils.
The No. 25 Ducks open the
three-game swing against Ari
zona today and face Arizona
State both Saturday and Sun
day.
Opening the conference sea
son on the road, against two
top-five teams doesn’t seem to
concern head coach Rick
Gamez and his player very
much. With all of the confer
ence’s teams ranked in the top
25, Gamez knows the Ducks
will face tough competition
throughout the rest of the year.
“Everyone in the conference
is tough,” Gamez said. “The
biggest thing for us to play three
good games and execute from
one game to the next.”
Senior infielder/outfielder
Jill Robinson agreed. As one of
the team’s four seniors, she
knows from experience that
anything can happen in the
Pac-10.
“We’re going to the Pac-10
now and it’s one of the toughest
conferences in the United
States,” Robinson said. “We
need to just play our game,
right now we can’t be our own
worst enemies. We need to stay
together and play as a team.”
That team concept has af
forded the Ducks a record of 23
11 on the season.
Led by a group of four play
ers batting .380 or above, Ore
gon has put up gaudy numbers
in the preseason, scoring 214
runs in 34 games. However, the
team usually relies on the big
inning for most of their runs,
something that both Gamez and
Robinson would like to see
change.
Turn to Softball, page 13
ii We
need to
take ad
vantage of
every op
portunity.
Rick
Gamez
UO head
coad^^
Oregon loses two
more, roster down
to seven players
Sarah Colistro
and Amy
Juppenlatz are
forced to leave
the tennis
team, leaving
Oregon with
only six
scholarship
players
By Robbie McCallum
for the Emerald
Two of Oregon’s top players won’t finish the
1999-2000 tennis season.
Sophomore Sarah Colistro and freshman
Amy Juppenlatz left the team at the end of last
term, leaving the Ducks with only six scholar
ship players on the roster.
Colistro returned to her na
tive Chaussy, France two
weeks ago to recover from an
undisclosed medical prob
lem. She will rejoin the team
in September.
Juppenlatz will not return
“[Oregon] just wasn’t the right place for her
and it wasn’t the right situation for us either,”
Head coach Jack Griffin said. “Things just
weren’t working out.”
Colistro was the second-most experienced
player on the team, second only to senior cap
Turn to Women, page 13
Ducks take to the
outdoors, thanks
to sunny skies
■ The men’s tennis team takes
advantage of good weather for its
second outdoor match of the season
By Robbie McCallum
for the Emerald
Things are starting to look
good for the Oregon men’s
tennis team. After winning
five of their last six matches,
the Ducks return home to
sunny Oregon for their sec
ond outdoor match of the
season.
No. 67 Oregon takes on Montana today at
1:30 p.m. at the 15th avenue courts across from
the Esslinger Recreation Center. Originally the
match was scheduled to be played at the Eu
gene Swim and Tennis center, but was moved
outside due to favorable weather.
The Montana contest will be a warm-up for
Turn to Men, page 16
On Tap
What: Men’s
tennis
Who: Montana vs.
Oregon
Where: 15th Av
enue tennis courts
When: Today at
1:30 p.m.