Sports Editor:
Adam Jude
adamjude@dailyemetald.com
Assistant Sports Editor:
Jeff Smith
jefifsmith@dailyemerald.com
Thursdayjanuary 10,2002
Best Bet
NCAA hoops: Cal at Oregon
7 p.m., KEZI
Living up
to the hype
■With soaring expectations, the 2001 Ducks put
together a season unlike any in school history
By Jeff Smith
Oregon Daily Emerald
Amid the postgame celebration from Oregon’s Holiday
Bowl victory over Texas on Dec. 29, 2000, there were two pro
found emotions.
One, there was a great sense of accomplishment for that team,
having recorded a school-record 10 wins and capping off a sea
son that also included a Pacific-10 Conference co-championship.
But in addition, for the players who would return the fol
lowing season, there was the anticipation of taking Oregon
football to the next level — a level that not only included win
ning the Pac-10 title outright but also playing for the national
championship.
“Our goal will be to play for it all next year,” Steve Smith
said then. “We’ll shoot for it and see what happens. It’s going
to be exciting to see if we can do better than we did this year. ”
The expectations were high, but they reached unprece
dented heights in June when the Oregon football program
publicly introduced itself to the rest of the nation.
The Ducks’ entrance into the national spotlight came in the
form of the 100-foot billboard featuring Joey Harrington in
New York City. The excuse for the extravagance was to pro
mote the senior quarterback for the Heisman Trophy.
A main reason for the $250,000 billboard, paid for by private
donors, was to let the country know that something special was
brewing in Eugene. Same for the billboards of Rashad Bauman
in San Francisco and Maurice Morris in Los Angeles.
“It’s not as much risk-taking as it is investing for the fu
ture,” Oregon head coach Mike Bellotti said.
The investment in Harrington’s billboard could have easily
backfired if the Ducks didn’t live up to the hype. And that
hype also included being the favorite to win the Pac-10, being
ranked No. 7 in preseason polls and having Harrington
splashed across the-cover of an August Sports Illustrated is
sue with Oregon State’s Ken Simonton.
But somehow, these Ducks thrived under the pressure.
Close wins over Wisconsin and USC highlighted their 6-0
start. And after the 49-42 loss to Stanford on Homecoming
weekend, in a defeat that ended the nation’s longest home-win
ning streak, the Ducks picked themselves up with the motto
Turn to Football, page 12A
Adam Amato Emerald
Seniors Maurice Morris (9) and Ryan Schmid (left) played a big role in bringing the Ducks together
this season and not letting them be deterred by the preseason hype.
Staying up
is the real
challenge
They made their move. Now they
must move on.
The Oregon football team
reached its way to the top in the 2001
season and was within a couple com
puter points of the ultimate high.
The Fiesta Bowl victory over Col
orado was as close to perfect as Oregon
has ever been. It’s something to re
member, to cherish.
“Winning that game gives us the
credibility, but more, the ability to en
joy,” head coach
Mike Bellotti said.
Enjoy indeed.
But don’t dwell.
The past is the
past. It has little sig
nificance now or on
Aug. 31, when Mis
sissippi State rolls
into town for next
season’s opener at
newly-renovated
Autzen Stadium.
What matters now
is that instead of
playing catch-up,
the Ducks are play
ing stay-up — and that’s even harder.
The Ducks have always thrived at
being the underdog, just ask Colorado.
But instead of hunting, the Ducks are
now the hunted — the two-headed
beast of the Pacific-10 Conference, and
everyone wants a piece of them.
It’s a long fall off the top of a pedestal,
and if the Ducks don’t have their wings
ready next year, they could fall head first.
“I think, obviously, we’ve said all
along that if we played a game tomorrow,
we’d have some holes,” Bellotti said.
One notable hole: Quarterback.
Turn to Jude, page 10A
Men face tests against Bay Area squads
■Oregon takes on Cal tonight,
before All-American Casey
Jacobsen leads Stanford
into Eugene on Saturday
By Peter Hockaday
Oregon Daily Emerald
Last year, the Oregon men’s basket
ball team couldn’t stop California. Not
even McArthur Court, with all its at
mosphere, could help the Ducks slow
the Golden Bears.
But this is a different Oregon team.
But this is a different California team.
Cal is 10-2 on the season and fresh
off a win over No. 14 Stanford — the
Ducks’ opponent on Saturday. The
Golden Bears lead the conference in
many defensive categories, including
scoring defense, steals, turnover mar
gin and blocked shots. On Sunday, the
Bears held the offense-minded Cardi
nal to just 31.9 percent shooting from
the floor.
“It’s great to talk about, it’s great to
put it on paper, it’s great to put your
hands in a huddle and say you’re going
to play hard,” Cal coach Ben Braun
said about his team’s tenacity on de
fense. “It’s another thing to go out and
do it. I hope our players realize that no
matter how good you are, that it’s
something that you can’t just turn on
and off.”
Oregon, on the other hand, has blos
somed this year with team unity, and
while it has improved on the defen
sive side of the ball, the most impres
sive numbers have come on the offen
sive end.
The Ducks lead the conference in
points per game, as they average 88.1
per contest. They lead in several other
categories, including field goal per
centage, three-point percentage and
scoring margin. They blow out their
opponents by an average of 20 points
per game.
Oregon head coach Ernie Kent said
his team’s improved play comes from
its balance.
“The two Lukes (Ridnour and Jack
son) are going to have themselves
ready to play every night,” Kent said.
“Chris (Christoffersen) is going to be
there every night, Robert (Johnson) has
been a consistent force, and Freddie
(Jones) needs to be there every night.”
Three of the five players Kent men
tioned — Jackson, Ridnour and Jones
— are averaging in double figures.
Cal’s offense comes from two main
sources, junior forward Joe Shipp and
senior center Solomon Hughes. Shipp
averages 14.4 points per contest, and
dropped 31 on poor Fresno State in a
97-75 California win in December.
Hughes averages 11.4 points per game,
but is questionable to play tonight be
cause of a strained knee.
“Joe is a scorer, not just a shooter,”
Braun said. “He’s putting the ball on
the dribble, he’s going to the basket,
he’s scoring in transition. He’s been
finding ways to score.”
Oregon’s opponent on Saturday,
Stanford, features one of the nation’s
most prolific scorers who just happens
to give the Ducks hissy fits. Casey Ja
cobsen, an All-American last season,
scored 33 total points in two victories
over Oregon last year.
“He’s a great player,” Duck senior
guard Anthony Norwood said of Ja
cobsen. “We’re definitely going to
have to be on our horse and ready to
go against him. But our intensity level
is going to increase with that kind of
player on the floor.”
The basketball team will also get a
chance to see Teyo Johnson, the 6-foot
7 sophomore forward who burned the
Ducks as a wide receiver for the Stan
ford football team. Johnson tallied 95
receiving yards and a touchdown in
Oregon’s only loss of the season, but it
Turn to Basketball, page 12A
Adam Amato Emerald
Senior post Chris Christoffersen’s inside presence will be crucial for Oregon
against Cal and No. 14 Stanford this weekend.