Thursday
Best Bet
NCAA Basketball: North Carolina at Duke
6 p.m., ESPN2
SPORTS EDITOR: JEFF SMITH Smittside@aol.com
Luke Jackson, hailed as “one of the team’s smartest players,” has certainly made a positive impression on his teammates,
Coach Kent and fans in his first year with Oregon.
Homegrown
attitude
«
■ Freshman Luke Jackson has made an immediate
impact, mostly because of his confidence and
no-holds-barred mentality
By Peter Hockaday
Oregon Daily Emerald
Luke Jackson plays like a freshman.
But the Creswell native embodies only the good qualities
that word entails, without the sloppy play and bad attitude
that many college players his age display.
After all, Jackson exudes a confidence not warped by
years of basketball frustration and he plays with a reckless
abandon akin to Bugs Bunny in “Space Jam.” That’s exactly
why head coach Ernie Kent has started Jackson twice in the
last three games.
“My hope for the rest of the season is to win out the rest
of our games,” Jackson said. “I think we can do that.”
Sure, Luke. Don’t worry about Pacific-10 Conference
games against No. 7 Arizona tonight and top-ranked Stan
ford next Thursday.
“I want to win a Pac-10 Championship [while at Oregon],”
he said. “I want to win a national championship.”
Uh-huh.
Despite the long-shot statements, don’t underestimate the
power of Luke. The two-time Oregon 3 A high school player
of the year is “one of the team’s smartest players,” according
to big man Chris Christoffersen, and has “a high basketball
Turn to Jackson, page 10A
On Tap
Who: Oregon
men vs. No. 7
Arizona
When: 7:30
tonight
Where:
McArthur Court
Broadcast: Fox
Sports Net, 7:30
p.m.
/ want
to win
a national
champi
onship.
Luke
Jackson
freshamn
forward
UO basketball faces tough tasks against Arizona
■The women’s team heads to the
desert with its sights set on sole
possession of first place
By Adam Jude
Oregon Daily Emerald
It’s a weekend of major implications for
every Pacific-10 Conference women’s bas
ketball team. But for Oregon in particular, it’s
almost a do-or-die men
tality in terms of staying
within reach of a third
straight Pac-10 crown.
A couple of wins this
weekend would propel
the No. 22 Ducks (12-5
overall, 5-2 Pac-10) into
sole possession of first
place at the mid-point of
the season. Even one loss, though, would
likely drop the Ducks down in the middle of
the pack, where the race has never been
more competitive (just two games separates
the top seven teams).
Oh, by the way, the Ducks will have to do
it in the desert, where both Arizona (14-5,4
3) and Arizona State (13-6, 5-2) have sur
prised many teams this season.
“We really need these two wins,” senior
forward Lindsey Dion said. “It’s a difficult
situation, but I think we can make it hap
pen.”
“This is a very important road trip for us,”
sophomore point guard Kourtney Shreve
said. “We need a couple wins... and we can’t
take anyone lightly.”
Returning to McKale Center for tonight’s 6
p.m. matchup brings to mind the Ducks’ his
torical come-from-behind victory last season
on national television. After trailing by 22
points with less than 17 minutes to play, the
Ducks conquered the deficit for the biggest
comeback win in school history. Shaquala
Williams, out for the season with a torn ante
rior cruciate ligament, led the Ducks on that
March 4 game with 24 points.
“Our confidence is really good going
down there, knowing we had that huge
comeback last year,” said head coach Jody
Runge, who is 9-7 against Arizona in her
eight-year career.
Turn to Women's, page 12A
■ No. 7 Arizona is not overlooking
the Oregon men, who upset them at
home last season
By Jeff Smith
Oregon Daily Emerald
Arizona head coach Lute Olson remem
bers all too well what happened to his Wild
cats the last time they visited Oregon.
Arizona entered the
state on the first week
end of March last spa
son in a heated battle
with Stanford for the
top spot in the Pacific
10 Conference. The
then-No. 3 Wildcats
knew they couldn’t af
ford to slip in either of
the two road games.
They did.
Oregon State upset Arizona 70-69 on a
last-second three-pointer in overtime from
Beavers guard Deaundra Tanner and then
blew a 17-point lead in a road loss in Eugene
two days later.
“We stubbed our toes on the Oregon road
trip last year,” Olson said.
The Wildcats held a seemingly com
manding 17-point lead against the Ducks
with only 12 minutes remaining. But with
the help of an ear-splitting McArthur Court
crowd, Oregon stormed back and outscored
Arizona 35-12 to close the game for an
amazing 86-81 victory that propelled the
Ducks into the NCAA Tournament.
With that game still fresh in his mind, Ol
son is preparing his seventh-ranked Wild
cats (14-5 overall, 6-1 Pac-10) for an intense
battle with the Ducks (11-6, 2-5) at 7:30
tonight at Mac Court.
“It is a very difficult place to play,” said
Olson, who returned to the sidelines after a
five-game absence following the death of his
wife, Bobbi. “They have a great crowd, and
they really get into it. At home, they are very
much a momentum type team.”
The Ducks also are a team that has won
seven of their eight home games this year,
but five of those wins came against weaker
non-conference foes. Oregon has yet to get
Turn to Men’s, page 12A