Friday
Best Bet
NCAA Basketball (Big East Semifinals):
Seton Hall vs. Boston College
4 p.m., ESPN
SPORTS EDITOR: JEFF SMITH Smittside@aol.com
Civil War will decide teams’ postseason fates
uregon expects
a physical
battle with the
Beavers, who
have not won
at The Pit
since 1993
By Adam Jude
Oregon Daily Emerald
And you thought the Civil War
football game was big.
Saturday’s final regular-season
game for the women’s basketball
team is its most important of the
year — and not just because the
Ducks are playing Oregon State.
Both teams will enter McArthur
Court for the 1 p.m. tip-off with
hopes of an NCAA Tournament
berth. Only one of them will leave
with a realistic shot.
Oregon (16-11 overall, 9-8 Pacif
ic-10 Conference) sits in fourth
place in the conference standings,
while the Beavers (16-11, 8-9) are
only one game behind in seventh
place.
While preparing for the 65th
Civil War meeting and hoping for
an eighth consecutive trip to the
Big Dance, Oregon has had to do
much reflecting this week.
In a Sunday meeting with Ore
gon Athletic Director Bill Moos,
eight players requested that head
coach Jody Runge be fired. Since
Tuesday, the team’s first practice
of the week, the Ducks have been
forbidden to
speak with the
media.
But, on Tues
day, the team
said it was go
ing to focus on
the game.
Like the first
meeting of the season — which
the Ducks won 71-67 on Jan. 5 in
Corvallis — senior forward Lind
sey Dion expects nothing less than
a hard-fought battle.
“It’s going to be a rough, physi
cal, very emotional game, re
gardless of where either team is
in the standings. One could be at
the bottom, the other at the top
— it doesn’t matter,” senior for
ward Lindsey Dion said. “Every
thing’s fair game in the Oregon
Civil War game. 1 wouldn’t ex
pect anything different Saturday
afternoon.”
For Dion and the four other Ore
gon seniors — Angelina Wolvert,
Jenny Mowe, Brianne Meharry and
Camber Ellingson — who will be
playing in their final game at Mac
Court, beating the Beavers is not a
new idea. In fact, they have never
lost to their rival, with the Ducks
winning the last 10 contests.
“We’re really excited about
playing Oregon State,” said
Wolvert, the team’s leading scorer
at 14 points a game. “It’s always
been a great battle for us; it’s al
ways been very physical. We just
want to come out and play well.”
Shadowing Oregon’s bid to the
NCAA Tournament is the Beavers’
Pac-10 Player of the Year candi
date Felicia Ragland. The junior
guard is leading the conference
with 19.8 points per game.
The post matchup should also
be interesting. Mowe and Oregon
State’s Ericka Cook have a history
of struggles in the paint, although
they became friends this year.
“Ericka and Felicia have been
super leaders, really trying to
bring our younger players along,”
Oregon State head coach Judy
Spoelstrasaid. “We’re not really
thinking about all the postseason
stuff; we feel pretty confident
about the WNIT already, and any
Turn to Women’s, page 12A
DION
Laura Smit Emerald
Oregon’s Julius Hicks, who has provided many smiles during his career, would love nothing more than to beat OSU in his final game.
The Juice is Loose
Julius Hicks'
close bonds
with
teammates
have led him
to call his
two-year
Oregon
career a
success
By Peter Hockaday
Oregon Daily Emerald
“It’s not about me. It’s never
been about me.”
Those are the words of a Divi
sion I men’s basketball player.
No really, stop pinching your
self, they are. They’re the words
of Oregon center Julius Hicks,
and they embody what the sen
ior is all about.
Imagine, for a moment, all the
qualities of the perfect athlete
rolled into one body. Now, sub
tract dominating athletic abili
ty. What you have left is humili
ty, leadership and work ethic.
Who you have is Julius Hicks.
“Juice,” as he is affectionately
called by his teammates and
coach, has had a successful ca
reer at Oregon, as long as suc
cess isn’t measured in steals and
three-point percentage. Hob
bled by injuries and sickness
during his two years in Eugene,
Hicks has never fully made the
impact he desired.
Unless you talk to his team
mates.
“He believes in us a lot,” Ore
gon freshman Luke Ridnour said.
“For a senior to do that to a fresh
man, that’s pretty cool. It’s nice
just to know he respects you. ”
Since he came to Oregon from
West Valley Junior College before
the 1999-00 season, Hicks has
been slowed by injuries and nev
er “found his rhythm,” according
to Ducks head coach Ernie Kent.
“He never really had a chance
to play on top of his game for an
entire season, or really even a
stretch of a season outside of the
preseason this year,” Kent said.
Hicks started the 1999-00
campaign backing up senior
A.D. Smith and junior Flo
Hartenstein, but had an impres
sive preseason all the same.
Then, Hicks was struck with
Turn to Hicks, page 9A
UO hopes to end
with War victory
■Two 4-13 teams meet in Corvallis as Oregon and
Oregon State look to finish on a positive note
By Jeff Smith
Oregon Daily Emerald j
This isn’t how the Oregon men’s bas
ketball team envisioned ending its sea
son.
Especially not after beating Oregon
State 84-66 on Jan. 6 to move to 10-1 at
the time — the best Oregon start in the
head coach Ernie Kent era.
But since that win, the Ducks have
nose-dived all the way down to 4-13 in
the Pacific-10 Conference and face the
cold reality of theiollowing:
Oregon must beat Oregon State at 7
p.m. Saturday in Corvallis just to be
come NIT eligible.
“It’s been frustrating, but still having a
chance to go to the postseason is nice,”
said senior Flo Hartenstein, who will
play in his 112th game in a Ducks uni
form. “But really, it doesn’t matter
against Oregon State. I mean, you never
want to lose to them. They’ve only beat
en us once in the last 15 games and we
have to keep it that way.
“We don’t want them thinking they
can beat us.”
The last time that the Beavers did beat
the Ducks was a 48-45 victory on Jan. 30,
1999, at Gill Coliseum. Before that,
though, Oregon State hadn’t won since
Feb. 12,1994.
Still, the Beavers (10-19 overall, 4-13
Pac-10) have been playing solidly as of
late, including victories over Washing
ton (83-69) and Southern California (67
52). They’ve also impressed even in de
feat, as in their overtime losses to
California (72-69) and UCLA (68-65).
“I know they’re going to be waiting for
us and ready to go,” Oregon freshman
Luke Ridnour said. “They are playing
really good right now. ”
The game will feature two teams with
contrasting styles of play. Oregon State
likes to slow the pace down and use up
the shot clock whenever possible, while
the Ducks are at their best when they can
run-and-gun.
“The key will be who can best get into
their style of play,” Kent said. “This is
going to be a big game over in that envi
ronment, especially with their seniors’
last game.”
One of those seniors is Oregon State
Turn to Men’s, page 9A
CC I know
they're
going to be
waitingfor
us and
ready to go.
They are
playing
really good
right now.
Luke Ridnour
freshman,
guard yy