Wednesday
Best Bet
NBA: Sacramento at Minnesota
5 p.m., TNT
SPORTS EDITOR: JEFF SMITH Smittside@aol.com
Loud ’n ’ proud
Pit Crew gives
Mac Court edge
PETER HOCKADAY
TWO MINUTES FOR
CROSSCHECKING
Imagine playing basketball inside a jet engine.
Daydream, for a moment, that you were out on
the blacktop shooting some hoops while a con
struction worker used a jackhammer three feet
away. Think about playing basketball in the front row
at a concert, right in front of the 50-foot speakers.
Now stop dreaming. That’s what it’s like to play bas
ketball at Oregon’s McArthur Court.
“It’s a great crowd at Mac Court,” freshman forward
Luke Jackson said. “It gives us an extra boost.”
Since Ernie Kent took over as the Oregon men’s bas
ketball coach in 1997, he has tried to resurrect one of
the great traditions since his days as a Duck player in
the ’70s: a loud, boisterous crowd that gives Oregon an
automatic advantage over any opponent.
Oregon has done that and is 40-15 at home over the
past four seasons since Kent’s return. That streak has
included many memorable games, most recently a 79
67 victory over then-No. 7 Arizona last Thursday.
“This crowd was great,” Arizona coach Lute Olson
said after that game. “It’s always great.”
As a result of wins like last Thursday’s, The Pit has
built a reputation as a fortress of basketball. In a pre
season poll in Sports Illustrated, Mac Court was rated
the toughest place to play in the conference and the
12th-toughest home floor in the country.
What makes The Pit so formidable? For one, it has a
capacity of 9,087, and all those supporters are close to
the court as a result. Second, the building is more than
70 years old, and the floors and walls are primarily
wood, making the acoustics as good as a symphony
hall.
Third, and most important, is the presence of the
students on the floor, the loud and proud Pit Crew.
Anna Weinman, a student and coordinator of the Pit
Crew, leads a handful of dedicated fans in organizing
the insanity.
“We want the Pit Crew to be synonymous with Ore
gon basketball,” Weinman said.
The Pit Crew emulates great student groups such as
Duke’s “Cameron Crazies” and Stanford’s “6th Man
Club.”
Weinman said the Oregon faithfuls need to get away
from their reputation as nasty, mean fans.
“We’re trying to keep it positive,” Weinman said.
Positive, such as when the fans chanted “Dad was
better” at Arizona’s Luke Walton last Thursday, refer
ring to his hall-of-fame father, Bill? Or positive, such
as when they chanted that swear word that means
“hogwash” after a bad call Sunday against Arizona
State?
Weinman just rolls her eyes at those sort of things.
“The Pit Crew is excited and enthusiastic, not bash
ing,” she said.
Weinman and her cohorts are trying to expand the
Pit Crew’s reach. In the near future, Pit Crew members
could get early entrance or priority seating at Mac
Court. For now, they hold barbecues and raffles at
games, along with handing out T-shirts.
Kent has touted the Pit Crew as an integral part of
his team since he’s been at Oregon. Now, he says, his
Tu rn to Column, page 8
Women looking for answers
Chrystal McConnell Emerald
Oregon forward Lindsey Dion still receives daily treatment for her sprained left
ankle.
■The Pac-10 season has been a long, uphill road
for the Ducks—and it’s not over
By Scott Pesznecker
Oregon Daily Emerald
Something’s bothering the Oregon women’s basketball
team.
Midway through the Pacific-10 Conference season, the
Ducks are smack-dab in the middle of
the conference—and they’re not thrilled
about it. Not one bit.
“We’re a good basketball team, we’re
just caught in this weird stage and this
weird feeling that none of us have felt be
fore,” forward Lindsey Dion said. “We
don’t lose here at the University of Ore
gon. We’ve always found a way to make
it work, no matter what it was. We com
mitted to each other that that’s not what we do here.
“We did not come here to lose—we always find a wav to
win.”
Oregon has lost three of its last four games, plummeting to
fifth place in the Pac-10 after sitting pretty in first place just
three weeks ago.
The catalyst of the Ducks ’ struggles was their game against
Washington in Seattle on Jan. 18. Oregon fought off the bruis
ing Huskies for the 67-53 victory, but not before losing for
wards Angelina Wolvert and Dion to injuries.
The Ducks lost the following night to Washington State,
but the team did not appear rattled by the loss.
But less than a week later, Oregon lost a heartbreaker at
McArthur Court to Southern California, 55-53. The Ducks
beat UCLA in scrappy fashion two days later, then were
swept by the Arizona schools last weekend in two dismal
performances.
Dion said the team still feels the sting from the loss to the
TYojans.
“I think we’ve seen moments of that game lingering within
each of us individually at different times,” she said. “As a
whole, I think we’re getting past it and putting it behind us. ”
Now, for Oregon to keep its Pac-10 title hopes alive, the
women must do something they haven’t done since 1987 —
beat Stanford at Maples Pavilion.
Turn to Women, page 9
UO points no fingers, looks ahead
■The Ducks have no answers for their
weekend blunder, but try to stay positive
toward the remainder of the season
By Jeff Smith
Oregon Daily Emerald
There were no excuses being made Tuesday after
noon as the Oregon men’s basketball team attempted to
move on from its debacle against Arizona State.
The Ducks had Monday off, but returned to
McArthur Court Tuesday for practice, and faced the in
evitable questions about their
shocking 99-72 loss to the Sun
Devils.
“It was an embarrassment,”
freshman point guard Luke Rid
nour said. “It shouldn’t have hap
pened, especially at home. It was
unbelievable for us to play so well
against Arizona and then come
out and play so terrible against
Arizona State. We got out-played in every aspect of the
game.
“Now, we just have to try to forget about it. ”
The game film of Sunday’s ASU loss might as well be
thrown out, as it contained the type of footage that no
Oregon player should have to live through again.
But the tape of last Thursday’s 79-67 victory against
then-No. 7 Arizona should be kept and preserved. In
that game, the Ducks played about as well as they could
have and won it with heads-up defense and together
ness.
“It was the extremes of basketball,” said junior center
Chris Christoffersen, who is expected to return to full
time duty this week after missing most of Sunday’s
game with a jammed right thumb. “Going from beating
the number seven team in the country to losing to one
of the worst teams in the Pac-10 by 30. It was crazy. ”
Senior center Flo Hartenstein added, “It’s frustrating
Turn to Men, page 9
Laura Smit Emerald
Oregon senior center Flo Hartenstein was one of the many frustrated Ducks in their
loss to Arizona State Sunday. Hartenstein is optimistic that his team can rebound and
finish the season strongly.