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Emmies continued from page 13A course of the year, but not one was as funny, as refreshingly honest, as insightful as Rashad Bauman. The big-mouthed defensive back talked a lot on the field, and he talked a lot off of it, and we loved him for both. We’ll show you what we mean. After the Fiesta Bowl, while the rest of the Ducks talked about the “good win” and that “Colorado played well,” Bauman said this instead: “They thought they were some thing they weren’t,” Bauman said. “And we went out and proved that they weren’t what they thought they were.” Beautiful. Worst Interview: Ernie Kent, rumor has it, actually schooled his team in how to deal with the media. It showed. When the na tional media crush descended late in the season, the same stories came out, and none were even close to controversial. Or close to interesting, after you’d heard them over and over. But we love the guys anyway. Really. • Best Athlete You’ve Never Heard Of: You’d be surprised how many talented athletes get over shadowed in the large Oregon Ath letic Department. With that in mind, this category is a tie, be tween tennis players Manuel Kost and Daria Panova. Kost, a freshman from Switzer land, took over the No. 1 singles job on the men’s team for the sec ond half the season, no small feat with the presence of Oded Teig, last year’s winner of this category. Panova joined the team in mid season and the Ducks promptly won seven of their last nine matches, including a first-round NCAA Tournament win over No. 18 UNLV. Best Game: Late in Oregon’s re markable men’s basketball season, the Ducks needed at least a win in Los Angeles to clinch the Pac-10 ti tle and cap a surprising run to the top of the conference. With 31 seconds left at USC, and the Ducks up by three points, Tro jan senior David Bluthenthal hit a clutch three-pointer to even the score. On the ensuing Oregon pos session, sophomore Luke Ridnour had the ball with 10 seconds left and found a driving Freddie Jones with the pass. Jones elevated, fin ger-rolled and hit the shot to send all of Oregon into celebration. Best Play: Jones also gets part of the “best play” award, but he’ll have to share it with Maurice Mor ris. Jones’ play came against USC at McArthur Court, when he went up to block Errick Craven’s shot on a fast break. But Jones did more than block the shot, in an unbe lievable display of athleticism he Hockaday continued from page 13A Collins said. “We have our home coming during lacrosse season.” Which is in the spring. In fact, the lacrosse Ducks recently went to the NCAA Tournament for the second year in a row. That’s the Division III NCAA Tournament, of course. With an enrollment of 1,600 and an aver age incoming GPA of 3.70, Stevens is far more selective about its stu dents than its athletics. “When our coaches recruit, they know they have to recruit athletes that can do the work here,” Stevens athletic director Russell Rogers. “We do compete (for students) with some of the top schools like MIT, Carnegie Mellon, NYU.” Despite the gap in academics, Oregon and Stevens have eerie athletic parallels. The Ducks of the Hudson recently installed Next Tprf onto the lacrosse field. The mi lit It u-* « w-'nrvc*. **r*?mnt*r '*-*'«*-•* i came down with the ball, too, and led the fast break the other way. Morris’ play came in the Fiesta Bowl. The senior running back broke free of a tackier and only had two or three defenders beat. He was wrapped up by a Colorado de fender. Play over, right? Nope. Morris danced around, sat on top of the defender, somehow stayed on his feet, and left the rest of the Buffalo defense behind as he rushed for the end zone. Rookie of the Year: This catego ry is also a tie, but only because we can’t differentiate between these two athletes. Help us out. They’re both freshmen. They both throw the javelin for the women’s track team. They were both heavily re cruited and they both followed through on those expectations. They’re both awesome. That’s why Roslyn Lundeen and Elisa Crumley get our Rookie of the Year award. Both won All-American honors in the javelin at last week’s NCAA Championships, the first time that two freshman did that in the same event since 1981. Most importantly, they’ll both be back for three more years. Coach of the Year: Two Oregon coaches were named Pac-10 Coach of the Year this year. We had to choose one of them. Ernie Kent didn’t have to go though his entire season without the services of Luke Ridnour and Freddie Jones. Martin Smith did. Smith led the men’s track team to a second-place finish at the Pac 10 Championships despite playing most of the season without NCAA individual champions John Stiegeler and Santiago Lorenzo. Remarkable. Most Valuable Female: Cathrine Kraayeveld stepped up in the post season for the Oregon women’s basketball team this year, averag ing a double-double in the WNIT and truly carrying the team on her back. She hit two game-winners in the tournament, including the championship game-winner. But Kraayeveld was only contin Ducks of the Willamette recently took it out of Autzen Stadium. Like the long-standing tradition of track in Eugene, in New Jersey they have a long-standing lacrosse tradition. Stevens, in fact, has the longest-running continuous lacrosse program in the country. Led by that lacrosse team, Stevens is experiencing an athlet ics renaissance, similar to the re cent Oregon resurgence. No Stevens team went to an NCAA Tournament before lacrosse did it last year. Then, this fall, the soc cer team did it. The lacrosse team did it again. The baseball team joined the party. “We’ve never been known for athletics up until recently,” Rogers said. “We’ve gotten additional dol lars to do things like improving our facilities, and we’ve got a contract with Adidas sports now for all our uniforms and equipment needs.” A ^djd^spJiQol, Fqr, • •*. •»*-* Dm* ft -•—**—" “ — uing an excellent regular season, when she averaged 10 points and eight rebounds per game. For her regular-season stability and her postseason dominance, Kraayeveld earns her first Emmie MVP. Most Valuable Male: We saved the best for last and this athlete dominated Oregon sports for more than just this year. He will be remembered years from now as perhaps the best quarterback to ever hoist the ball downfield for the Ducks. Someday, you’ll be able to say that you saw Joey Harrington play. Really, he was that good. His pres ence on the field was matched only by his presence on the side lines, where he led the team with a fierce attitude and a winning spir it. Joey Harrington brought the en tire Oregon Athletic Department to a new level and deserves the Most Valuable award in every way. Jody Runge Lifetime Achieve ment Award: We started this award last year as a joke and gave it to Jody Runge, figuring it would be a long time until another coach pulled a truly boneheaded move like she did. But somebody did! Former soft ball coach Rick Gamez officially pulled a Runge! He alienated his players, messed with the athletic department and really made a nui sance of himself! Then he re signed. For that, Gamez earns the second annual JRLAA. Hopefully this year will be the last year we give it out. And that wraps up the Oregon Daily Emerald’s sports coverage for 2001-02, the “Year of the Duck.” We had a blast covering Oregon sports this year, and we hope you had as much fun watching as we did covering. For those of you in Eugene this summer, read us on Tuesdays. If you’re graduating, read us online. If you’re coming back next fall, get ready. “Year of the Duck II — The Attack of the Quack” could be coming. E-mail sports reporter Peter Hockaday atpeterhockaday@dailyemerald.com. shame. Thus begin the differences between Ducks East and Ducks West. For one, there’s the absence of tailgating and, well, any crowds whatsoever at Stevens. Then there’s the academics-oriented ath letes. Stevens athletes have an av erage 3.1 GPA, which is markedly higher than Oregon’s athletic GPA. But that’s OK by the Ducks at Stevens. They’re happy to hpve the jocks of Oregon, even if Oregon doesn’t appreciate the academic visibility that Stevens earns for Ducks around the country. “They’re obviously two totally different schools in terms of scope and size and athletics pro grams and all that,” Rogers said. “But we do have at least one thing in common.” We certainly do. The Ducks. E-mail sports reporter Peter Hockaday at peterhockaday@dailyemerald.com. OVEN TOASTED BY TWO LOCAL GUYS! TOASTED SUBS • SOUPS • SALADS UO Campus at 13th & Alder (Inside Starbucks) 5th Street Public Market • Gateway Blvd. & Beltline Rd. SBatua I wmmmm OREGON FESTIVAL 6 oregonbachfestival.com Advertise. Get Results, Oregon Daily Emerald 346-?7l2 ,,
