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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (May 3, 2002)
Sports Editor: Adam Jude adamjude@dailyemerald. com Best Bet NBA Playoffs: Seattle at San Antonio 6:30 p.m., TNT Friday, May 3,2002 Kent aims for recruiting boost with USA ■The Oregon coach is given reins to the USA Basketball Junior Team, which will be ‘huge’ for Oregon’s recruiting By Adam Jude Oregon Daily Emerald Ernie Kent admitted he had an ulteri or motive in accepting a two-year post as head coach of the USA Basketball Ju nior National Team. “It’s going to enhance our recruiting a great deal,” the Oregon basketball coach said at a press conference Thursday. “Instead of me traveling from city to city, camp to camp, all-star game to all star game, all of those (recruits) will be coming to me now in one location, where we can evaluate and coach that talent. That’s going to be huge for us in the long run. It became a no-brainer in the regards to the time commitment.” Kent, the 2002 Pacific-10 Conference Coach of the Year and an assistant on last year’s gold medal-winning USA Basketball Youth Team, said in his new position this summer he will get a first hand look at some of the top high school basketball players in the country. “Players, who in the past the Univer sity of Oregon didn’t even have an op portunity to even get a phone call from, we will now be able to coach and men tor for three weeks,” Kent said. “After we went to the Elite Eight, the question that comes up to me all the time is ‘recruiting must be so easy and wonderful right now’ — and it’s not. We are still at the University of Oregon, we’re still here in the Northwest — there are elements with weather and distance that we have to deal with as well as notoriety, continuity and hype, all of those things that Duke, Kentucky, Illinois and Arizona — they’ve all over come those things. But we’re still bat tling to still overcome those things.” Kent said his decision to coach the Turn to Kent, page 12 Thomas Patterson Emerald Oregon’s Ernie Kent will coach the USA Basketball Junior National Team this summer, which he said was a ‘must do’ to keep the Ducks in the national spotlight. Oregon tennis team to battle UNLV in NCAA ■The Oregon women’s tennis team is ‘peaking’ as it prepares for its first round NCAA Tournament foe By Peter Martini for the Emerald Two seasons of close battles and hard work have finally paid off for the Oregon women’s tennis team. Finishing 5-17 last season, the No. 39 Ducks (13-10) will face No. 18 UNLV in the first round of the NCAA Tourna ment next weekend at USC. “I’m excited for our players because we met our goals for this season,” Ore gon head coach Jack Griffin said. “We bounced back from a difficult year last year.” UNLV finished 20-3 overall on the season and is riding a seven-match win ning streak. They had 11 wins against ranked opponents, but were only 2-2 away from home. “They are a very good home team,” assistant coach Nils Schyllander said. “But we get them at USC, where we’ve played before. We know the courts.” UNLV’s losses were against No. 2 Stanford, No. 8 Wake Forest and No. 26 San Diego State. Oregon, winners of six out of its last seven, will make its third trip to the NCAAs in the last four years. The Ducks lost to Mississippi State in the first round of the tournament two years ago. In 1999, Oregon beat South Florida before losing to Stanford in the second round. “We’re peaking right now,” Schyllander said. “I would n’t want to play us right now.” Griffin said he expected his team would play at Stan ford, but is pleasantly surprised by the seeding. “Because of Sept. 11, they are trying to regionalize the tournament,” Griffin said. “They are trying to keep us within 400 to 600 miles from home. But I’m glad we get to play at USC instead of Stanford.” The Rebels hosted the first round NCAA match two years ago and beat the Ducks. Seniors Janice Nyland and Turn to Tennis, page 10 Ducks head to Nebraska looking to flex their Quad ■Oregon faces its final road test when the team travels to the Midwest for this weekend’s Quad meet By Hank Hager Oregon Daily Emerald The Ducks will have a lot of baggage with them on the plane that will take them to Lincoln, Neb., for their up coming meet. Oregon, so far this season, has three NCAA automatic marks, seven NCAA provisionals, and 15 qualifiers for the Pacific-10 Conference Championships — and the Ducks say they haven’t even reached their potential. With only two weeks left before the confer ence meet, the Ducks still have plenty of time to fully realize their potential. “There’s a lot more that can be done,” Oregon head coach Tom Heinonen said. “The marks that are yet to come are just more difficult to get.” Oregon has only two meets before a majority of the squad will travel to Pullman, Wash., for the Pac-10 Cham pionships on May 18 and 19. The con ference sets a limit of 24 athletes from each individual school, and Oregon has eclipsed that. Better yet, the team is still not close to being done. After competing against Ne braska, Kansas State and Wyoming on Saturday in a highly-competitive Quad, the Ducks return to Hayward Field next week for the Oregon Twilight. If there ever was a road meet, the Quad would be it. Oregon has traveled east of the Pa cific time zone only once during the outdoor season. A majority of the team competed at the Texas Relays in Austin in early April. “I don’t even know what to expect there,” pole vaulter Becky Holliday said of the Quad. “I think it’s going to be windy. As long as the wind is going in the right direction, I’m excited. I think 14-5 is definitely a possibility.” The competition the Ducks face should be a good test. Holliday, now the No. 2 pole vaulter in the nation at 14-1 1/4 — UCLA’s Tracy O’Hara has cleared 14-3 1/4 — may not have a serious competitor, but is still going into each meet looking to better her career best of 14-4. “I don’t care what the competition is, I’m going to go in thinking this may be Pac-lOs,” Holliday said. “It’s the conditions I may have. Whatever it is, I’m just going to do it.” Turn to Women’s, page 12 Jonathan House Emerald Eric Logsdon (74), who is qualified for the Pac-101,500-meter race, will compete in the 5,000 at the Cardinal Invite today. Men’s track to solidify postseason qualifiers ■The Ducks will send 22 competitors to two meets this week, looking for the best candidates for the Pac-10 meet By Peter Hockaday Oregon Daily Emerald Oregon men’s track and field head coach Martin Smith will need multiple personalities to follow his athletes this weekend. Or at least multiple bodies. The Ducks will travel to two differ ent meets, the Jesse Owens Track Classic in Columbus, Ohio, and the Cardinal Invite in Stanford, Calif. The multiple-meet weekend is one of two remaining chances to score marks before Oregon heads to the Pa cific-10 Conference Championships on May 18. That means the Ducks will be on in the hunt to qualify as many athletes as possible for the Pac-lOs. Though Ore Turn to Men’s, page 12
