Sports Editor:
Adam Jude
adamjude@dailyemerald.com
Assistant Sports Editor:
Jeff Smith
jeffsmith@dailyemerald.com
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NBA: L.A. Lakers @ Milwaukee
5 p.m., TBS
Tuesday, February 26,2002
Jones becomes men’s first Pac-10 Player of Week
■ mtjsmiur guara scores
51 points overthe weekend to
gain attention from the Pac-10
By Jeff Smith
Oregon Daily Emerald
It took awhile, but the Oregon men’s
basketball team finally had a player
honored by the Pacific-10 Conference.
Freddie Jones was named the Pac
10 Player of the Week on Monday
for the first time in his career follow
ing his dominating performances
against the Washington schools.
Every Pac-10 team besides Oregon
bad a player recognized by the
league entering the weekend, a fact
that never escaped the attention of
bead coach Ernie Kent. In recent
weeks, Kent would lament the fact
that none of his players had received
the award despite “being on their ‘A
^ame’ for so long.”
The Ducks’ three-game win
streak has propelled them to the
Mo. 13 spot in both the USA To
day/ESPN coaches’ poll and the
Associated Press writers’ poll re
leased Monday.
A big reason Oregon is the highest
ranked Pac-10 team and is in sole
possession of
first place has
been the play of
Jones. The sen
ior has now
scored in dou
ble figures in 21
straight games
and has become
a favorite of
ESPN’s Sports
Center, which
featured a selec
tion of Jones’ best dunks during its
Monday afternoon program.
Jones contributed 18 points in a
JONES
115-77 win over Washington State on
Thursday, and then capped the
weekend in style against the Huskies.
His barrage of three-pointers, power
ful dunks and leaning jumpers ac
counted for a game-high 33 points in
the Ducks’ 90-84 victory.
“Fred’s game was just real emo
tional for him,” Oregon sophomore
Luke Jackson said Saturday. “He’s
been here so long and given these
fans so much to appreciate. He was
just showing them one last time
how good he is and how much he
loves to play here.”
What made Saturday even more
special for Jones was that he was
able to end his senior season at
home with a perfect 16-0 record
and do so with many family and
friends in attendance.
“That’s special,” he said of the
undefeated home mark. “Can’t no
body take that from us now. This is
a great place. The fans are unbeliev
able. They come out and support
you win or lose.
“I just wanted to play my best.”
And for his efforts, he was rewarded.
E-mail assistant sports editor Jeff Smith
at jeffsmith@dailyemerald.com.
Title still in doubt
before final games
■ The Oregon men have the best shot at the Pac-10 title,
but several other teams are within striking range
By Peter Hockaday
Oregon Daily Emerald
With the men’s basketball regular season drawing to a close
and March fast approaching, it’s tournament season.
And with the Pacific-10 Conference Tournament just
around the corner, it might be easy to get caught in the
tourney fever.
But there’s still a regular season to finish and a confer
ence champion to crown. Despite the controversy over who
will be crowned official league champi
on — the regular-season champion or the
tournament champion — the conference
office confirmed Monday that the regu
lar-season champ will get the crown.
That’s good news for Oregon, which can
clinch the top spot in the Pac-10 with a win
over USC on Thursday or a victory over UCLA
on Saturday. The Ducks can assure themselves
sole possession of the championship with a sweep in Los Angeles.
Other teams have a harder road to the championship. Five
teams are bunched behind the Ducks, all separated by a single
game. California, USC and Arizona, all one game behind Ore
gon, have the best shots at the conference championship if
the Ducks get swept.
Aliof the season-ending posturing will have a direct impact
on next week’s Pac-10 Tournament. The top seed will play a
team with a losing record, either 12-15 Oregon State or 10-17
Washington. The second seed will play Arizona State in the
opening round, and the Sun Devils have had a penchant for
killing giants this season. ASU has knocked off Oregon, Ari
zona and UCLA on it’s way to a 14-11 overall record this year.
^ The winner of the conference tournament, while not the of
ficial Pac-10 champion, will receive an automatic berth in the
NCAA Tournament.
Oh! You’re Back!
When Jimmie Haywood and Brian Jackson left the Oregon
State men’s basketball team last week, the future looked dim
for the Beavers.
A key stretch of the season. Two starters leave. To top it off,
the Beavers lost their seventh home conference game of the
season, to Washington, in the great Battle For Eighth
— the final spot in the Pac-10 Tournament.
But then Jackson rejoined the team after a reported late
night tete-a-tete with coach Ritchie McKay. Then the
Beavers creamed Washington State in a game that kept Ore
gon State one half-step in front of Washington in the Great
Battle for Eighth.
Then there was much joy in Corvallis.
Pollsitting
California finally got some national recognition this
week, entering the Associated Press top 25 for the first
time this season at No. 21. The Golden Bears squeezed
out UCLA, which dropped out of both the AP and
USA Today/ESPN Coaches’ polls after splitting with
Cal and Stanford.
The Pac-10 still has five ranked teams, the most of any sin
gle conference. In the AP poll, Oregon is the highest-ranked
Pac-10 team at No. 13, Arizona is 14th, Stanford is 17th and
USC is 19th.
Turn to Men’s, page 8A
Oregon State’s
Felicia Ragland
(top), guarded by
Oregon’s Kedzie
Gunderson, was
named the Pac-10
Player of the
Week. Oregon
guard Edniesha
Curry (right), seen
diving for a loose
ball earlier this
season, and the
Ducks host
Washington State
at 6:30 p.m. Friday
to kick off the Pac
10 Tournament.
Oregon says
tournament
may draw
7,000 fans
■ The Ducks play in the Pac-10
Tournament’s first game at Mac
Court, and support should be high.
By Adam Jude
Oregon Daily Emerald
Say goodbye to Jamie Craighead and
Freddie Jones. The Pacific-10 Confer
ence now owns McArthur Court.
Billboards of Craighead, the sharp
shooter for the Ore
gon women’s team,
and Jones, the high
light machine from
the men’s team, were
replaced Monday by
signs welcoming fans
to the inaugural Pac
10 women’s basket
ball tournament,
which begins Friday at Mac Court.
As the conference’s biggest supporter
of women’s basketball for the last three
years, Eugene was the obvious choice to
host the tournament.
“I can’t think of a more exciting place to
kick off the women’s basketball Pacific-10
Conference Tournament than in Eugene,”
said Pac-10 assistant commissioner Chris
tine Hoyles, the tournament coordinator.
“The Eugene community has supported
women’s basketball in an outstanding
manner, and that’s one of the things that
attracted the Pac-10 to this venue. ”
Oregon Associate Athletic Director
Renee Baumgartner said more than
5,000 ticket booklets, at $60 each, for all
of the tournament games have been sold.
And with the Ducks, a seventh-seed,
playing in the tournament’s first game,
a 6:30 p.m. bout Friday against 10th
seed Washington State, fans support
should increase.
“I think it will enhance ticket sales
tremendously,” Baumgartner said of the
Ducks playing in the first game. “When
the Ducks play, there will probably
close to 7,000 people in that arena.”
In a one-and-done situation, the
Ducks need to win four games in four
nights to claim the tournament’s auto
matic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Next year, however, the Pac-10 is trying
to eliminate the home-court advantage for
the conference tournament.
Turn to Women’s, page 8A