Sports Editor:
Adam Jude
adamjude@dailyemerald.com
Assistant Sports Editor:
Jeff Smith
jeffsmith@dailyemerald.com
Thursday, March 14,2002
Best Bet
NCAA Tournament:
Oregon vs. Montana
2 p.m., CBS
Ducks focus only on Montana
■ No. 2-seed Oregon starts
the NCAA Tournament today,
but the Ducks aren’t looking
past No. 15 Montana
By Peter Hockaday
Oregon Daily Emerald
So now it starts.
After a season of low expectations,
the Oregon men’s basketball team
shocked the country
and won the Pacific
10 Conference title.
But years from
now, the Ducks will
be remembered for
how they performed
in the NCAA Tourna
ment. They will be a
Sweet 16 team, or a Final Four team.
Or, if Montana has its way, the
Ducks will be a first-round team.
“We’re so focused in on getting
ready for our next opponent,” Oregon
head coach Ernie Kent said.
Oregon, the No. 2 seed in the Mid
west regional, will face 15th-seeded
Montana at 2 p.m. today. With the
country, or at least the region, watch
ing on CBS, the Ducks will try to win
in the NCAA Tournament for the first
time since 1960.
Montana is an enigma. They went
through the Big Sky regular season
with a 7-7 record and seemed des
tined to watch the Big Dance from
home. But then came a magical Big
Sky Tournament
run, and the Griz
zlies ended up as
the automatic
qualifier from the
conference.
The Grizzlies
and Ducks have
history in more
than one way.
Montana standout
Brett Cummings
played against
Oregon guard Luke Ridnour in the
Washington State AA championship
game in 1999. Ridnour’s Blaine Bor
derites won that game over Cummings’
Pullman Greyhounds, and also won
On tap
WHO: Oregon men
vs. Montana
WHAT: NCAA
Tournament
WHE*l:2pm today
WHERE: Arno Arena,
Sacramento, Calif.
HIIs
the state title the following year.
As far as team history, the Ducks and
Grizzlies played in the same confer
ence, the Pacific Coast Conference, in
the early part of the 20th century. Ore
gon leads the series, 21-4, but Montana
has had luck in modern times.
The Grizzlies were the last team to
beat the Ducks in a season opener. But
“beat” is too nice a term. Montana
clobbered Oregon, 78-38, in the opener
of the 1991-92 season. That game was
the Ducks’ first without star Terrell
Brandon, who was drafted after the
1990-91 season.
Of course, this meeting is much dif
ferent. The Ducks have heaps of pres
sure on them to perform in the tourna
ment, but Kent said they won’t feel
that pressure.
“They’re the Pac-10 champions,”
Kent said. “They’ve handled them
selves extremely well the entire year,
with all that same pressure on them
for the last 12 or 13 games. Biggest
game in school history, must-win
games — all of that. This pressure
Turn to Men’s, page12A
The view’s been
greatfrom here
Amazingly, the end has come.
And fittingly, it ends at the NCAA Tournament.
After almost four years of covering sports for
this publication, I will move on after watching Oregon
dance in the madness of March.
It’s truly been an incredible ride, espe
cially with the steep, upward direction
Oregon athletics continues to travel.
But no, this isn’t being written with a
tear in the eye or with nostalgia kicking in.
Simply put, I just wanted to share
with you what it’s been like to be on this
end of the newsprint.
It’s different. A lot different. And I
love it.
With the men’s basketball team having
a storybook season, and with the NCAA
Tournament beginning today, people
just can’t seem to stop talking Ducks.
Much like it was with football and the
historic Fiesta Bowl season.
Much like it was with football and the
record-setting Holiday Bowl season.
Much like it was with men’s basketball and the wild 2000
Turn to Smith, page 12A
Smith
HakunaMatata
Ducks oust
St. Mary’s
for first win
inWNIT
■The Ducks take their first
postseason game since 1999 with
an impressive win over the Gaels
By Hank Hager
Oregon Daily Emerald
It was Jamie Craighead’s kind of night
against the Gaels on Wednesday.
Behind the senior’s treble of three
pointers in the second half, the Ducks
were able to storm past St. Mary’s
(Calif.) en route to a 72-61 win at
McArthur Court in the first round of the
Women’s National Invitation Tourna
ment. It was the team’s first postseason
win since the 1998-99 season.
“This one really meant a lot because
we finally got that postseason win,”
junior Kourtney Shreve said.
With junior Shaquala Williams on
the bench in the second half because of
an illness, Craighead and Shreve
stepped up their game, combining for
16 points. Craighead accounted for
three of the team’s five three-pointers in
the game, and Shreve kept the crowd in
the game with her passing display.
“It was a good game to get us started,”
Craighead said.
St. Mary’s (16-13 overall) seniors Jerk
isha and Jermisha Dosty led the way for
the Gaels in the first half — they com
bined for 20 points and 11 rebounds —
and gave the Ducks a fit under the
boards. Their play allowed St. Mary’s to
overcome 13 first half turnovers and keep
the Gaels within two points at the half.
However, in the second half, Ore
gon (18-13) was simply too much for
the twins.
“They’re pretty good players and
Turn to Women’s, page 10A
Adam Amato Emerald
Oregon senior Edniesha Curry and the rest of the Ducks were able to pull ahead of the Gaels in the second half for a 72-61 win.
The Ducks now await the winner of Oregon State-Hawaii for their second-round game in the WNIT.
Shreve lifts
Shaq-less
Duck squad
■Junior guard Kourtney Shreve
sparks the Ducks as Shaquala
Williams sat out with the flu
By Adam Jude
Oregon Daily Emerald
They did fine without her last year
and didn’t need her Wednesday night,
either.
Battling the flu, Shaquala Williams,
the star guard of the Oregon women’s
basketball team, played just eight min
utes in the Ducks’ 72-61 victory over St.
Mary’s at McArthur Court.
In the first round game of the
Women’s National Invitation Tourna
ment, Williams was held scoreless for
the first time in more than three years,
when she was kept off the scoreboard
at Washington State on Feb. 11, 1999.
Until Wednesday, Williams had never
not scored in a game she’d played at
Mac Court.
The 2000 Pacific-10 Conference Play
er of the Year, who sat out last season
with a knee injury, took just two shots
against St. Mary’s.
“You could definitely tell there was
something wrong with her,” Oregon for
ward Cathrine Kraayeveld said.
But you couldn’t tell there was any
thing wrong with the Ducks, particular
ly in the second half.
St. Mary’s Julie Morris scored the first
basket of the second half to tie the game
at 30, but Oregon went on an 18-10 run
to take a 48-40 lead with 11:07 to play.
Junior guard Kourtney Shreve, play
ing extended minutes in Williams’ ab
sence, hit a deep three-pointer with
9:19 left to extend Oregon’s lead to 10.
Just over a minute later, Shreve blocked
a Carey Noakes three-point attempt and
went in for any easy layin to give the
Turn to Williams, page 12A