Sports Editor:
Adam Jude
adamjude@dailyemerald.com
Assistant Sports Editor:
Jeff Smith
jeffsmith@dailyemerald .com
Tuesday, February 12,2002
Best Bet
NBA: Washington at L.A. Lakers
7:30 p.m., TBS
Bellotti defends
recruiting process
■ The Oregon coach and UCLA coach Bob Toledo
dismiss allegations by Washington’s Rick Neuheisel
By Adam Jude
Oregon Daily Emerald
The lines of war have been drawn, and it appears the
bull’s-eye lies in Rick Neuheisel’s backyard.
Pacific-10 Conference athletic directors are in San Diego
this week for an annual meeting, where
they will discuss complaints by
Neuheisel, Washington’s head coach,
about negative recruiting tactics. Mean
while, Oregon coach Mike Bellotti and
UCLA coach Bob Toledo defended their
recruiting methods.
The defense comes after Neuheisel’s criticism of the re
cruiting process — including references to Oregon and
UCLA — last Wednesday, when recruits could first sign
national letters of intent.
Neuheisel said many schools did not start their recruit
ing until they saw Washington’s list.
“The University of Oregon football staff does not practice or
condone unethical or negative recruiting,” Bellotti said Mon
day. “We do not have to. We do not bend or break the rules.”
Neuheisel’s comments came after Chris Solomona, a top
defensive line prospect, signed with Oregon. A day later,
on Thursday, offensive lineman Albert Toeaina, a 6-foot
4, 345-pound native of Pittsburg, Calif., also signed with
the Ducks. Solomona and Toeaina originally made verbal
commitments to Washington.
“We recruit from our own recruiting list on many merits
of our own program,” Bellotti said. “We don’t recruit
against any one particular person or institution; we recruit
the best student athletes.”
He did not specifically mention Washington in his re
leased statement Monday, but noted that he “was aware
that the first opportunity for a prospective student athlete
to officially commit to an institution is on the signing date.
Some institutions who allegedly received non-binding
verbal commitments seem to have overlooked the fact that
athletes in question also visited four other schools and ver
bally committed to many of them.”
Toledo was more direct.
“We never had a problem in the conference until
(Neuheisel) started talking about negative recruiting,” Tole
do told The Seattle Times. “Now I’m going to start talking.”
Toledo said Neuheisel is also involved in “negative recruiting.”
“He’s taking a lot of potshots at anybody,” Toledo said.
But Neuheisel has backed down from his comments.
“I made a mistake,” Neuheisel told the Associated Press.
“The process in the Pac-10 is to go to the Pac-10 office first.
I was wrong to speak publicly.”
Washington has not made an official complaint with the
Pac-10, but the conference will investigate recruiting practices.
E-mail sports editor Adam Jude at adamjude@dailyemerald.com.
Road woes don’t deter Ducks
Thomas Patterson Emerald
The Ducks’ Luke Jackson, seen here dunking at Oregon State, scored a career-high 29 points
in Saturday’s loss to California but left frustrated with the close defeat on the road.
■ Oregon plays three overtimes
in two difficult losses but is still
in the race for the Pac-10 title
By Jeff Smith
Oregon Daily Emerald
BERKELEY, Calif. — A 19-point
first half lead had evaporated. A
Haas Pavilion crowd of 12,000 had
been recharged.
And the Oregon men’s basketball
team found itself once again in the
midst of a tight game on the road.
This time, the opponent was Califor
nia and this time, the
Ducks were playing
to hold onto their
share of first place.
When the tension
filled double over
time contest finally
ended, the Ducks
had dropped an en
tertaining 107-103
loss Saturday night that also dropped
them from the top spot in the standings.
Arizona (17-6,10-3) swept the Wash
ington schools to take over first place in
the Pacific-10 Conference and Oregon
(17-7, 9-4) now sits a game behind in
second place. The Ducks also fell from
No. 13 to No. 17 in Monday’s Associat
ed Press writers’ poll and are ranked
18th in the coaches’ poll.
Saturday’s loss before the hostile Cal
crowd came two nights after the
Ducks’ setback at Stanford, 90-87, in
overtime. All seven of the Ducks’ loss
es have come away from home, where
they’re 13-0, and all have been by sev
en points or less.
“That’s life on the road in the
Pac-10,” Oregon head coach Ernie
Kent said.
After Saturday’s latest setback, the
Ducks admitted frustration with their
road performances and especially the
overtime defeats from the weekend.
But they also insisted that when the
tension mounts, the minutes dwindle
and the roar of the crowd is against
them, they don’t tighten and play with
less confidence.
“Our team does a really good job with
zoning the crowd out,” said Luke Jack
son, who scored a career-high 29 points
against the Bears. “We took both these
teams into overtime. That proves we
Turn to Basketball, page 6
Men’s tennis hits perfect weekend
■The Ducks improve their record to 5-1 with
a pair of wins over St. Mary’s and Portland
By Peter Martini
for the Emerald
There were some new faces, but the results were
the same for the Oregon men’s tennis team.
Head coach Chris Russell changed the lineup
during the weekend as the Ducks defeated St.
Mary’s, 7-0, and Portland 4-3 to raise their record
to 5-1.
“We needed to rest a few guys and keep them
healthy,” Russell said. “And the other guys
stepped up and played very well for us.”
Against St. Mary’s, freshman Johan Paalberg
played in his first singles match and sophomore
Chris King played his second of the season.
Paalberg beat Josh Farley of St. Mary’s in straight
sets, 6-1, 6-1.
“I played OK,” Paalberg said. “I missed quite a
few shots, but it felt really good to be out there
playing singles and helping the team win.”
King beat J.J. Witlinger 6-2, 6-2 and played his
first doubles match of the season, teaming with
senior Jason Menke. They won their doubles
match 8-2.
“It was great out there today,”
King said. “This is a real confi
dence booster for me.”
“Everyone needs to be able to
play, and we got that chance this
weekend,” Russell said.
During the weekend, Russell
used freshman Manuel Kost as
the No. 1 singles player for the
first time. He defeated St. Mary’s Frank Schmitt 6
2, 7-6 (7-2).
“The guy he played today was very tough, but
Kost played very well and didn’t let him force a
third set,” Russell said.
Against Portland, Kost lost his match 6-3, 6-1
against No. 26 Travis Parrott, the highest ranked
singles player Oregon has faced this year.
The Ducks won the doubles point and sopho
more Martin Pawlowski, freshman Sven Swinnen
Turn to Tennis, page 6
Jonathan House Emerald
Freshman Manuel Kost made his debut as the No. 1 singles player for the Ducks on Friday with a 6-2,
7-6 (7-2) victory over Frank Schmitt of St. Mary’s. Oregon won the match 7-0.