Thursday
Best Bet
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SPORTS EDITOR: JEFF SMITH Smittside@aol.com
Ducks look to bounce back against Huskies
□EOB
uregon
returns home
from its two
road losses
to face its
Northwest foe
By Jett Smith
Oregon Daily Emerald
Oregon freshman point guard
Luke Ridnour has a dirty little se
cret.
He used to be a fan of the Wash
ington Huskies while being raised
in the small town of Blaine, Wash.
“Growing up I was,” said Rid
nour, who was courted by the Seat
tie school. “It s just another game
though. It is. I mean I still like
them, always have.”
Ridnour won’t find too many
teammates on his same page when
the Ducks (10-3 overall, 1-2 Pacif
ic-10 Conference) host the Huskies
(7-9, 1-3) tonight at 7 p.m. at
McArthur Court.
Oregon is coming off of two
tough road losses to California and
Stanford, and knows that it can’t
afford to fall to its Northwest rival.
The Ducks also remember their
sluggish 67-58 defeat to the
Huskies last season at The Pit.
“Well the main thing is they beat
us here last year,” Oregon head
coach Ernie Kent said. “We were a
really good ballclub last year and
let that game get away from us here
at our place. So, that’s a concern.”
Washington head coach Bob
Bender’s team has lost five of its
last six games, but did beat Ari
zona State, 70-68, in overtime on
Jan. 11. In the Huskies’ three Pac
10 defeats, however, they’ve lost
by an average of 24 points.
Turn to Basketball, page 6A
Azle Malinao-Alvarez Emerald
Senior Chael Sonnen rules the mat this season at 197 pounds after taking a year away from Oregon to train for the 2000 Olympics.
Just win, baby
■ A year of training with the
U.S. Olympicteam has given
Oregon wrestler Chael Sonnen
a step up on his competition
By Robbie McCallum
Oregon Daily Emerald
The world becomes small for Ore
gon wrestler Chael Sonnen when he
steps onto the wrestling mat. All he
sees is his opponent in front of him
and the crowd around him.
“I wrestle for two reasons: One, to
excite the crowd, and two, to win,”
Sonnen said. “I don’t come in with
any other game plan—just to win.”
Sonnen has been “just winning” for
more than 15 years at the amateur,
high school, junior national, college,
national and international levels. Last
year, Sonnen, then a junior All-Amer
ican, left the Oregon wrestling team to
train with the U.S. Olympic team.
“There really was no weighing the
decision, it was time to go,” Sonnen
said. “The whole point of doing an
amateur sport is to make the Olympic
team and to win a gold medal. ”
Sonnen used up a redshirt season in
order to fulfill his dream of reaching the
2000 Olympic games in Sydney.
“It’s something I’ve always wanted
to do,” Sonnen said. “I want to make
my mark on the sport, be an
Olympian, represent my country,
bring honor to my family and pass the
torch to younger generations. ”
When he left Oregon for the
Olympic trials, he also left behind the
freestyle technique used in college for
the Greco-Roman style of wrestling.
“I consider myself a two-sport ath
lete,” he said. “Freestyle and Greco
Roman are completely different. [Gre
co-Roman] goes at a much faster
pace.-”
Sonnen spent 18 months with the
team, honing his skills with the na
tion’s best wrestlers.
Tu rn to Sonnen, page 6A
Women face UW
in Dawgs’ house
■ Beatingthe Washington schools would keep
Oregon undefeated in the Pac-10
By Scott Pesznecker
Oregon Daily Emerald
Never before has a current Oregon player lost to another
Northwest school, and the Ducks would like to keep it that
_____ way through the weekend.
The °reg°n women’s basketball team
(10-3 overall, 3-0 Pacific-10 Conference)
I faces Washington (10-4, 3-1) tonight at 7
p.m., followed by Washington State (7-7,
2-2) at 6 p.m. Saturday.
The No. 18 Ducks ride a six-game win
ning streak into Seattle, while the Huskies’
three-game win streak was snapped by No.
19 Arizona last weekend.
Oregon head coach Jody Runge expects “a very intense
challenge” from Washington, which the Ducks came from be
hind to beat last February.
“When you beat a team that many times and there are sen
iors on that team who have never beat Oregon, they have lots
of desire to beat us,” Runge said.
The Huskies are led by senior guard Megan Franza, who is
scoring 13.4 points per game. Franza finished second in scor
ing in the Pac-10 last season with 17.2 points each outing.
Ducks shooting guard Jamie Craighead has had a hot hand
lately, draining 10 of 13 shots in her team’s first conference
homestand against California and Stanford last weekend. For
ward Angelina Wolvert leads Oregon in scoring with 13.5
points per game.
In the last meeting between the Northwest rivals, the Ducks
trailed by eight with three minutes remaining. However,
Craighead broke Franza’s nose with her elbow while swinging
the ball above her head, sending Washington’s bloodied star
to the locker room. Oregon proceeded to go on a 9-0 run to
win the game, capped by Wolvert’s low-post shot with 11 sec
onds to go.
The Ducks are braced for another hard-fought battle this
time around.
“I hope I don’t get an elbow or anything,” Craighead said,
jokingly. “The Washington schools for me, it’s a lot of fun be
cause I get to go home and I wanted to go there. I wanted to go
there, but I ended up coming here, but I respect them as a pro
gram.
“To go up there and beat them is a good feeling. It’s fun, be
cause it’s good competition. It’s not dirty competition.”