Sports Editor:
Adam Jude
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Assistant Sports Editor:
Jeff Smith
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Wednesday, March 6,2002
Pac-10 ready to showcase talent in tournament
■ After a 12-year hiatus, the Pac-10 Tournament returns
—and the ‘dynamite’ league is ready to celebrate
By Peter Hockaday
Oregon Daily Emerald
Watch out. This league is explosive.
Like a runaway train, the Pacific-10 Conference men’s bas
ketball teams are collectively heading down the track to
ward the conference tournament, and many Pac-10 coaches
see this as a time to reflect on the sheer madness that was
the regular season.
“It’s a dynamite league,” California head coach Ben Braun
said. “Now is a great time to showcase your league and, in a
sense, celebrate the league.”
Cal will be “celebrating” by playing UCLA on Thursday in
the first round of the conference tournament. The matchup is
one of many scintillating first-round con
tests that also include Arizona against Ari
zona State, USC against Stanford and Ore
gon against Northwest rival Washington.
The first conference tournament in 12
years should be an exclamation point on a
regular season that was highly competitive.
Six of the top eight teams in the Pac-10
Tournament finished the regular season
separated by only three games.
“The way this conference has played out this year, I would
n’t expect anything but tough competition in the tourna
ment,” Arizona coach Lute Olson said.
Those top six teams — Oregon, Cal, USC, Stanford, Ari
zona and UCLA — should all be headed to the NCAA Tour
nament, no matter what happens in the conference tourna
ment. But two teams, Arizona State and Washington, will be
trying to win it all and earn the conference’s automatic bid
that goes to the tournament champion.
No. 1-seed Oregon plays No. 8 Washington at 1 p.m. Thurs
day on Fox Sports Net. The Huskies, led by Pac-10 Newcomer
of the Year Doug Wrenn, defeated the Ducks in Seattle, 97
92, on Jan. 24 and played well at McArthur Court two weeks
ago in a loss.
Arizona State could be the surprise of the weekend. The Sun
Devils have beaten Oregon, Arizona and UCLA this season.
“ASU is in a position to win it all,” Olson said of his cross
state rivals. “They have the depth where they can go for three
straight days.”
But don’t talk to the Devils about beating the tough Pac-10
field. On its official Web site, the Arizona State athletic
Turn to Men’s, page 8
Jonathan House Emerald
Sophomore forward Luke Jackson and the Ducks will face Washington and Doug Wrenn (24) in the first round of the Pac-10 Tournament on Thursday.
Wrenn, the Pac-10 Newcomer of the Year, averaged 29.5 points in two games against Oregon this season.
Oregon will send eight wrestlers to NCAA championships
Oregon’s Jason
Harless (right)
was one of three
Pac-10 wrestlers
to receive a
wildcard bid
to the NCAA
Tournament.
Adam Amato Emerald
■ Eight Oregon athletes earned their way
to Albany, N.Y., for the national tournament
—the highest number since 1981
By Chris Cabot
Oregon Daily Emerald
This will be a bill the Oregon Athletic Department
won’t mind paying.
Eight members of head coach Chuck Kearney’s team
have earned invitations to Albany, N.Y., for the NCAA
Tournament after their performance at
the Pacific-10 Conference Tournament
during the past weekend — the most
Oregon wrestlers since 1981 that have
earned invites to the nationals.
The Oregon wrestling team’s three
individual champions and second
place team finish at the Pac-10 Tourna
ment wras the best showing for a Duck squad since 1989.
In addition to Eugene Harris (165 pounds), Tony Over
stake (157) and Shaun Williams (125) all winning their re
spective weight classes, Oregon placed one wrestler in
second (Brian Watson), two in third (Shane Webster and
Eric Webb), one in fourth (Casey Hunt), one in fifth (Jason
Harless) and one in sixth (Jake Leair).
Wild about the invites
Harless, Oregon’s 133-pounder, was one of three Pac-10
wrestlers selected as wild card to compete in the national
tournament. Arizona State’s Rocky Smart (157) and Boise
State’s Gabe Vigil (141) also received invitations to Albany.
Smart was seeded No. 1 in the conference tournament
WRESTLING
Turn to Wrestling, page 6