Sports Editor:
Adam Jude
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Oregon Daily Emerald
Oregon Daily Emerald - Wednesday, June 5,2002-5
Best Bet
NBA Finals:
L. A. Lakers @ New Jersey
6 p.m., NBC
Wednesday, June 5,2002
■Jones and Christoffersen
await their futures in basketball
while many other former Ducks
pursue their dreams
By Chris Cabot
Oregon Daily Emerald
With the NBA draft fast approach
ing, two of Oregon’s former basketball
players await their future.
Freddie Jones and Chris Christof
fersen — with a little help from some
influential friends — led Oregon to a
Pacific-10 Conference championship
and an Elite Eight finish in the NCAA
Tournament last season. Now that col
lege life has passed and 21 days remain
until the draft, the future of bigger are
nas, more talented opponents and ac
tual paychecks is within sight.
The most successful Oregon alum
in recent years is the Minnesota Tim
berwolves’ Terrell Brandon. In his
11th season in the NBA, Brandon
ranked No. 1 this year in assists per
turnovers with 6.14, and he needs just
six points to reach 10,000 in his career
to go along with more than 4,400 as
sists. Brandon left Oregon after his
junior year in 1991.
Jones, who wowed McArthur Court
crowds with his high-flying dunks and
shooting touch, has statistics that
. match Brandon’s numbers. Jones’ 650
points in the 2001-02 season ranks sec
ond on the Oregon single-season list
behind Brandon’s 745. Jones broke
Brandon’s record for free throws made
in a season with 169 and tied Brandon
with 63 steals in a season.
Christoffersen, who probably would
have won the team’s most improved
player award were it not given to the
entire team at the Ducks’ annual
awards ceremony, finished his career
with 75 blocks, which ranks him third
all-time at Oregon.
Prior to his senior season, the 7-foot
2 Christoffersen attended Pete Newell
Big Man’s Camp, and the off-season
help showed as he compiled a .547
shooting percentage and 189 total re
bounds. He was fourth on the team,
with 286 points.
Jones is predicted by many analysts
to be selected in the middle of the first
round while Christoffersen should go
in the second round, but Oregon head
coach Ernie Kent knows that the draft
Emerald
can be unpredictable.
“I don’t think (Jones and Christof
fersen) have a real good feel for what
will happen in the draft,” Kent said.
“No one knows. Anything can happen
in the draft. I think a lot of it will de
pend upon how they do in their indi
vidual workouts with the teams they
are interviewing with right now. They
won’t know until draft day because the
draft is so uncertain.”
Of the 11 other men Jones and
Christoffersen played with on the
1999-2000 NCAA Tournament team,
eight are playing professionally or plan
to this summer.
Alex Scales, who averaged 16.3
points per game in the 1999-2000 sea
son for Oregon, continues to amaze
crowds with his leaping ability. He was
Emerald
co-winner of the slam dunk contest in
this year’s Chinese Basketball Associa
tion all-star game.
Scales’ list of basketball employers
is extensive. He was drafted by three
teams — the Kansas City Knights of
the American Basketball Association,
the Sioux Falls Skyforce of the Conti
nental Basketball League, and the In
ternational Basketball League’s Tren
ton Shooting Stars, who traded his
rights to the Las Vegas Silver Bandits.
In 2000, he played 14 games for the
Mabo Basket Livorno averaging just
over 10 points per game. He has
since played in the Liga Sudameri
cana Tournament in February and
March of 2001, the Jiangsu Nangang
Dragons Nanjing in China and the
Central Entrerriano in Argentina.
While with the Central Entrerriano,
Scales had disputes with the team
about his payment, but finally agreed
to be paid in pesos instead of U.S.
currency.
A.D. Smith ranked second on the
1999-2000 team in scoring behind
Scales, and currently plays for the
Perth Wildcats in Australia. The Eu
gene native has also played in Austria
for the Klosterneuburg Dukes, Amicale
Steinsel in Luxembourg and Gent Unit
ed in Belgium.
Sacramento, Calif., native Darius
Wright shared the team MVP award
with Scales in 1998-1999 and played
two years for Oregon. In March 2001,
Wright was signed by San Diego Wild
Turn to Basketball, page 6
Adam Amato Emerald
While Bryan Bracey
(upper left) and
Darius Wright (lower
left) have experience
playing professional
basketball overseas,
Freddie Jones
(above) will have to
wait until the June 26
NBA Draft to start his
career in hoops.
He is expected
to be selected
in the first round.
Duck crew sets collegiate record in 115-mile competition
Five women
from the Club
Sports crew
team become
the first
collegiate
athletes
to row the long
distance course
By Jesse Thomas
for the Emerald
When most people travel to Port
land, it is usually by car or bus or some
other mode of transportation that fol
lows Interstate 5.
But not five women from the Club
Sports crew team. They made their
way by water, via the Willamette River.
Freshmen Kristin Hanggi and Sarah
Higgibothan, sophomores Amanda
Fenton and Brantley Harrison and sen
ior Nicole SherSi all competed in the
115-mile marathon from Corvallis to
Portland over the weekend.
The women began at 6 a.m. Satur
day, along with six other boats, and
rowed 85 miles. Waking up slightly
sore on Sunday, the Oregon women
rowed the final 30 miles to the finish.
Although they finished sixth out of
seven boats — most other boats were
made up of masters rowers — Oregon
set a collegiate record with its time of
14 hours, 44 minutes. Oregon was the
first collegiate boat to compete in a race
of that distance and to row for that
amount of time.
The women competed throughout
the spring season but had never gone
anywhere near that distance or rowed
for that long.
“We wanted
another chance to
race together,”
Harrison said.
“We are all really
good friends and
didn’t want the
Oregon’s biggest worry wasn’t the dis
tance, but its boat. The boat they raced
in was old and needed some polishing
before the race; Harrison said nobody
had rowed in it in several years.
The women would take rests every
30 minutes for a quick 60-second water
break and there were a few rest stops
season to be over.
for the boats along the course. But oth
er than that it was straight rowing.
“You just get in a rhythm,” Harrison
said. “You had to find a way to keep
each other going.”
Harrison said the women would sing
songs together as a way to keep each
other entertained.
Through it all, the women could not
have been happier with their experience.
“It’s hard to describe; it was amaz
ing,” Harrison said.
Jesse Thomas is a freelance reporter
for the Emerald.