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Young and old are right mix for men’s track
Emerald
Junior Tim Overfield and the track team are out of the starting blocks and ready for 2001.
f
■ The Oregon track and field
team has new and old reasons
to make some noise at the Pac-10
and NCAA Championships
By Robbie McCalium
Oregon Daily Emerald
Over the past decade, the makeup of
collegiate track and field teams has
changed drastically. Where teams were
once measured in overall depth and
well-roundedness, teams are now
measured almost solely on their per
formance at the NCAA Championships.
Under the guidance of legendary coach
es Bill Bowerman and Bill Dellinger, Ore
gon track and field teams were built into
national powerhouses. Duck teams were
deep, won meets and scored many points
at the NCAA championships.
Towards the end of Dellinger’s coach
ing career, several trends began to change
collegiate track and
field. The reduction of
athletic scholarships
made teams less deep.
Also, the influx of star
international athletes
made it easy to for
teams to score many
points at the NCAA
meet with only a handful of entrants.
Through the 1990s, Oregon stayed
true to its heritage and kept a deep,
well-rounded roster of mostly in-state
athletes, but found itself falling by the
wayside in the national scene.
Turn to Men’s Track, page 10
44 We went
after the
best possi
ble athletes
we could
find, regard
less of the
event.
Martin Smith
head coach,
men’s track
and field
Failing to put it all together
TWO MINUTES FOR
CKING
PETER HOCKADAY
The chemistry experiment went bad
ly awry.
The beakers exploded in the
Ducks’ faces.
The Oregon men’s basketball team
thought that chemistry was going to be
enough to carry it through a tough Pacific-10
Conference schedule and into the postsea
son for the third straight season.
On media day, before they had even
tipped a practice ball, the Ducks spoke of
“coming together” (head coach Ernie Kent)
and “getting along” (freshman forward Luke
Jackson). They spouted off about “helping
the team” (junior guard Freddie Jones) and
how it was filled with “good people” (junior
guard Anthony Norwood).
Ironic, now that all the Ducks have to
show for the 2000-01 season are individual
accomplishments.
But those individual accomplishments
are impressive, aren’t they? Luke Ridnour
is the Pac-lO’s Freshman of the Year — the
first ever for Oregon — Bryan Bracey was
named first team All Pac-10, while Jackson
joined Ridnour on the Pac-lO’s All-Fresh
man team.
Still, the fact remains that the Ducks will
have to throw their own Big Dance parties,
instead of dancing themselves. They won’t
even go to the middle-school hoedown that
is the NIT. Ridnour said Monday he would
have traded his honor for a trip to the
NCAA Tournament, and who could blame
him?
It remains nearly impossible to pinpoint
the cause of Oregon’s downfall this season.
Baffling losses to Arizona State, Southern
California and California at home left re
porters, fans and even team members
scrambling for answers. Lack of defense?
Not enough intensity? Too much intensity?
Poor shooting? Bad luck? All of those were
thrown out as excuses by the Ducks this
season.
A common link between all of Oregon’s
losses was lack of chemistry. Only twice
during the Pac-10 season did the Ducks
truly play together as a team, once when
Turn to Hockaday, page 12
Laura Smit Emerald
Oregon freshman forward Luke Jackson will be expected to play a key role in next year’s team.
■The 2000-01 season started off great
for the Ducks, but then took a severe
downward turn that left Oregon with
nowhere to go in the postseason
By Jeff Smith
Oregon Daily Emerald
No matter how highly ranked a recruiting
class is, a team is going to have a rough time
trying to replace three talented seniors with
four inexperienced freshmen.
That was a point emphasized this past sea
son, as the Oregon men’s basketball team fin
ished off a ho-hum, disappointing year with
a tied-for-sixth place standing in the Pacific
10 Conference.
The Ducks (14-14 overall, 5-13 Pac-10)
truly thought they could be the surprise
team in the league and scoffed at critics
who predicted them to finish sixth or sev
enth.
Granted, the Ducks knew that the loss of
departed seniors Alex Scales, Darius Wright
and A.D. Smith would be huge.
But with the returning nucleus of Freddie
Jones, Bryan Bracey and Anthony Norwood,
as well as a recruiting class that was ranked
No. 1 in the West, the belief of the group was
that a second straight trip to the NCAA Tour
nament was in their future.
As head coach Ernie Kent said at the annu
al media day in October, “They see what we
lost, but they don’t understand all of the in
ner workings,” said Kent in regards to the
critics. “Do the players get along? Are they on
the same page? That is what I’m concerned
with.”
Kent’s optimism would only grow once the
season began and the Ducks won their first
six games en route to a 9-1 preseason start.
They were even impressive in their only de
feat, a 101-97 overtime loss to Auburn at the
Las Vegas Showdown.
But then the loss of the three seniors that
accounted for 54 percent of its scoring and 37
percent of its rebounding the year before be
gan to take its toll.
“Experience is a big factor,” Oregon assis
tant coach Greg Graham said. “Those three
seniors had the experience in close games
that makes all the difference. They knew
what plays to make and when to make
them.”
After beating Oregon State at home to open
the Pac-10 slate, the Ducks embarked on a
road trip to the Bay Area that would start the
downward spin cycle. Oregon lost by a com
Turn to Basketball, page 12