Monday
Best Bet
NCAA Wrestling: Pac-10 Championship finals
6:30 p.m., FoxSports Net
SPORTS EDITOR; JEFF SMITH Smittside@aol.com
Ducks survive adversity, third after day one
■ The Oregon wrestling team
finds itself in third place despite
several injuries and a key upset
By Robbie McCallum
Oregon Daily Emerald
Oregon head coach Chuck Kearney
knew that his team would have to be at
the top of its game if it
wanted to win the Pa
cific-10 Conference
wrestling title at
McArthur Court.
But despite having
three wrestlers in the
finals and five others
in position to qualify for the NCAA
tournament, the Ducks were effectively
eliminated from the team chase even
before the match started.
Sophomore Eric Webb, ranked No. 5
in the nation and the second seed at the
heavyweight position, was forced to
withdraw from the tournament due to a
severe concussion sustained in warm
ups. Webb was warming up with team
mate Doug Lee prior to the match when
the two struck heads and Webb fell un
conscious for approximately 20 sec
onds. The concussion is Webb’s third
this season.The blow to the head was
rated a grade-three concussion, an in
jury which requires a two-week break
from practice and competition. The
concussion is Webb’s third this season,
which eliminates him from the Pac-10
Tournament and rest of the season.
“When you’ve got a tight race of
three to four teams, you can’t have a
projected finalist out,” Kearney said.
“We were fourth without him and
we’d be first or close to first with him.
“It’s devastating,” Kearney added.
“The guys are used to watching him
wrestle and feed off his energy. Our big
concern right now is getting kids to the
NCAA’s.”
Despite the setback, Oregon finished
the day third in the team standings af
ter Oregon wrestlers went 16-7 in the
first three rounds. Favorite Arizona
State leads the competition with 92
points, six ahead of Oregon State, who
faltered in the semifinals. Defending
Pac-10 champion Boise State trails
Oregon by only half a point with 81.
The remaining six schools are more
than 20 points behind the leaders, well
Turn to Wrestling, page 7
■---—-1
Laura Smit Emerald
Senior Chael Sonnen (top) easily qualified for the NCAA Tournament.
Ducks play ‘typical’ game, fall in OT to Southern Cal
Laura Smit Emerald
Senior Bryan Bracey ((left) scored a team-high 22 points eight rebounds in his final game at McArthur Court.
■ On senior night, inexperienced Ducks can't hold on to 12-point second
half lead and lose their final Pac-10 home game of the year
By Adam Jude
Oregon Daily Emerald
Bryan Bracey strolled into the base
ment media room after Saturday’s game
at McArthur Court, slouched in a chair in
front of cameras, microphones and curi
ous on-lookers, and tried to explain it all.
But nothing really came out. His mouth
failed to tell the story that his big brown
eyes clearly revealed.
Disbelief.
In their last Pacific-10 Conference
game in white Oregon uniforms, Bracey
and the rest of the Duck
seniors could not hang
on to a 12-point lead late
in the second half, and
fell in overtime, 87-80,
to Southern California.
“I don’t know if it’s
the toughest, but this is
a tough loss,” said
Bracey, who paced the Ducks with 22
points and eight rebounds. “I was pretty
confident that we were going to pull it off.
As a team, I guess we thought we already
had the game won and we just stopped
blocking out and stopped doing the
things that got us our lead.”
After a Bracey three-pointer with 5:22 to
play put the Ducks (13-12 overall, 4-11 Pac
10) up 72-60, a sudden chill drifted through
The Pit. For the next.three minutes and 50
seconds, Oregon couldn’t hit the broad side
of a barn, sparking a 13-0 Trojan run.
“This was a basketball game that we had
control of and should have won,” head
coach Ernie Kent said. “It’s been typical of
our season where we get a big bucket and
turn around and wave our hands and do all
those things, but our focus has to stay.”
In overtime, the Ducks could only
muster one bucket — an Anthony Nor
wood three-pointer — and shot just 1-for
th Led by David Bluthenthal’s seven
points, USC (18-8, 8-6) out-scored Oregon
11-4 in the extra session. Bluthenthal had
a game-high 29 points on 8-of-ll shoot
ing, including a 5-for-7 performance from
three-point land.
“We really wanted to get this for our
seniors for all that they’ve done for us,”
junior guard Freddie Jones said. “And I
thought we had it.”
Before fouling out with 25 seconds to
play in overtime, Jones had one of his bet
ter all-around games of the season. He
scored 20 points on 8-of-13 shooting,
grabbed seven boards and dished out sev
en assists — with only one turnover.
“Freddie played a tremendous game,”
said Norwood, who scored 16 points.
“That’s how we need Freddie every game,
and he knows it. He’s an awesome player,
and that’s exactly what we need from him. ”
The loss puts the Ducks’ postseason
hopes even further in the balance. To be
considered for the National Invitational
Tournament, Oregon must win one of its
three remaining games, either at one of
the Arizona schools or at Oregon State in
the Pac-10 finale.
“There’s no quit in this team,” Kent said.
“[The road] is a good place for us to be be
cause right now it’s important for me to
teach these young guys how you come back
and continue to battle. In reality, regardless
Turn to Men’s loss, page 10
Perhaps Dick Vitale should see the hard-luck Ducks
During the Oklahoma-Maryland
game on ABC Saturday, always
opinionated announcer Dick Vi
tale started spouting off about the
Terrapins.
“Oooh, those Terrapins,” Vitale said, or
something to that effect. “They get me ex
cited, because they go on those spurts, but
they’re such a letdown, baby! They just
play so well at times, but then they go flat.
They just go flat.”
Hey, Dickie V., have you ever seen Ore
gon play?
You see, it gets harder and harder, as the
men’s basketball season winds to a close, to
figure out why the Ducks lose so much.
At times during Saturday’s 87-80 over
time loss to Southern California, Oregon
looked like Duke. The Ducks could have
been North Carolina or Florida, in green
and yellow uniforms of course.
They were brilliant. They were dazzling.
They were every sparkling adjective under
the sun.
There was Freddie Jones, reaching back
for a too-strong alley-oop pass from Luke
Ridnour to throw it down for a Sportscen
ter-worthy jam. There was Bryan Bracey,
fading back for a Jordan-esque jump shot.
There was Anthony Norwood, draining
three-balls like they were lay-ups.
But for the Ducks, there’s always a Mr.
Hyde to go along with that Dr. Jekyll. Bad
defense, miserable rebounding and cold
stretches on offense are just a few of the rea
sons the Ducks are 4-11 in the Pacific-10
Conference instead of 11-4.
Oregon head coach Ernie Kent said Sat
urday’s loss was “typical.”
“That was a mini-version of our season,”
Kent said. “There were times when we
played great and looked awesome and con
trolled the game, and there were times
when we didn’t play particularly smart.”
Oregon players have often said that if
they all play well, on the same night, there
isn’t a team in the country that could stop
them. The Ducks’ 79-67 win over then-No.
7 Arizona on Feb. 1 is positive proof that
Oregon can put together a complete game.
“We have a young team,” Norwood said.
“We’re so good. If we could put it all togeth
er, it’s going to happen. It’s definitely going
to happen.”
There’s always the youth factor that Nor
wood mentioned, if you’re a Duck fan look
Turn to Hockaday, page 10
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