Thursday
Best Bet
NCAA Men’s Basketball: Stanford at Oregon
7:30 p.m., Fox Sports Net
SPORTS EDITOR: JEFF SMITH Smittside@aol.com
Bellotti pleased with his recruiting class
Oregon fills its
holes with a
defensive
dominated
2001 recruiting
group
Blip11'1 mm
By Jeff Smith
Oregon Daily Emerald
The recruiting process can be
long, tedious and nerve-wracking,
to say the least.
There’s the constant phone
calls, plane trips and ever so im
portant waiting games that col
lege football coaches must endure
before landing prized recruits.
That’s not even to mention the
numerous Web sites dedicated
solely to the fates of innocent
teenagers.
So it was understandable to
hear Oregon head coach Mike Bel
lotti say that he felt a “tremendous
sense of relief” in an
nouncing the signing of 23
football players Wednes
day, the first day that high
school and junior college
recruits could sign letters
of intent to colleges.
“I am as pleased as I have been
with a recruiting class in terms of
our needs,” Bellotti said at a press
conference at the Casanova Cen
ter. “I really feel that our class will
stand up with any in the Pac-10.
These young men wanted to be
here.”
pdhki Of the 23 players
signed, 12 are defensive
players, five play offense
iLBr and five have the ability to
play on both sides of the
ball. There is also one
punter in Jose Arroyo, who trans
ferred from Pasadena City College.
This 2001 class, which includes
five junior college players, was
i
ranked 30th in the nation by the
Rivals.com football recruiting
rankings.
“It is one that has a great em
phasis on defense,” Bellotti said.
“I really feel like we targeted the
defensive line and did a great job
of finding men in that area that
can come in and help us immedi
ately and in the years to come.”
The main catch on defense was
junior college transfer Junior
Siavii, who attended Butte College
Turn to Football, page 10A
BELLOTTI
Laura Smit Emerald
Oregon senior forward Angelina Wolvert battles for a rebound in Oregon’s 72-54 victory over Stanford at
McArthur Court. Wolvert scored nine points and grabbed three boards against the Cardinal Jan. 13.
Women aim for first road
win at Stanford since ‘87
In a must-win
game,
Oregon’s
confidence
runs high
despite losing
four of five
By Adam Jude
Oregon Daily Emerald
It’s a 14-year streak that is at
the forefront of the rivalry be
tween long-time powerhouse
Stanford and the recent success
story of the Oregon women’s bas
ketball team.
In their last two seasons as Pa
cific-10 Conference champions,
the Ducks have not won at
Maples Pavilion. Head coach
Jody Runge, who has an impres
sive 95-41 career conference
record, is a mere 2-12 against
Stanford and has never beaten
Cardinal coach Tara VanDerveer
on her home court. In fact, the
Ducks have only mustered one
victory at Maples in the history
of Pac-10 women’s hoops — and
that was in the inaugural year of
the league, 1987.' , ,
Now is the time the Ducks (12
7 overall, 5-4 Pac-10) — losers of
four of their last five — say they
must win at dreaded Maples
Pavilion tonight to have a shot at
a Stanford-like three-peat.
And they’re confident that it
will happen.
“What’s important this year is
that we know that we’re a better
team [than Stanford],” junior
guard Jamie Craighead said. “It’s
intimidating to play at Maples —
it’s really loud, the court is differ
ent. But I think we know we can
go down there and beat them.”
“I feel pretty optimistic,” sen
ior forward Angelina Wolvert
said. “This year has been a lot of
firsts for us; we’d never lost to
WSU, never lost to ASU. Maybe
this will be the first year that we
• • «Turn to Women’s, page 9A . . . .
Adam Amato Emerald
Oregon senior Bryan Bracey told head coach Ernie Kent that he didn’t want to end his career without beat
ing Stanford. The Ducks have already lost to the Cardinal earlier this season, so there’s one more chance.
UO eager to make up for
its loss with strong week
■The Oregon men host No.
2 Stanford and California in
crucial home games to start
the second half of
conference play
By Peter Hockaday
Oregon Daily Emerald
Is it possible to lose by 27
points to one of the worst teams
in the Pacific-10 Conference, and
then turn around and beat the
No. 2 team in the nation?
The Oregon men’s basketball
team will find out at 7:30 p.m.
tonight when it faces second
ranked Stanford at McArthur
Court.
The Ducks will try to erase the
memory of a 99-72 defeat to Ari
zona State last Sunday, and per
haps regain some of the magic
they showed against then-No. 7
Arizona in a 12 point Oregon
win last Thursday.
“If we can duplicate our effort
against Arizona, I think we can
play with any team in the coun
try,” Oregon head coach Ernie
Kent said. “We can’t worry about
the Arizona State loss, because
we’ve got a tough, tough basket
ball team coming in here.”“We
can’t sit and pout about that loss
for days,” junior center Chris
Christoffersen. “We lost the
game, there’s nothing we can do
about it now except play with
more energy.”
Stanford may be on the prowl
after a disappointing loss to
UCLA last Saturday. The 79-73
setback was the Cardinal’s first
loss this season.
Kent said the Ducks will try to
Turn to Men’s, page 12A
On Tap
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SOURCE: OUS1999
budget