Sports Editor
Peter Hockaday
peterhockaday@dciilyemerald.com
Thursday, January 9,2003
-Oregon Daily Emerald
Sports
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‘Rare’ injury may end junior’s season
Cathrine Kraayeveld, the team’s
leading scorer and rebounder,
may miss the rest of the season
because of a staph infection
Women’s basketball
Hank Hager
Sports Reporter
The seemingly ongoing saga of
junior Cathrine Kraayeveld has hit
another snag.
The 6-foot-4-inch forward, side
lined with a left knee injury since
the start of Pacific-10 Conference
play on Dec. 27, has received nei
ther a favorable nor a poor diagno
sis recently.
But according
to Oregon doc
tors, this could
deal a definite
blow to
Kraayeveld’s
chances of re
turning to the
court this
season.
“The
chances of her
getting back to the fitness and stam
ina level of the Pac-10 is not very
good,” said Dr. Robert Grist, Ore
gon’s director of athletic medicine.
Grist implied that if Kraayeveld
had been sidelined because of an
injury such as a sprain, her recov
ery time would be lessened. How
ever, because there is a a staph in
fection involved, doctors must be
much more careful.
This means that Kraayeveld
may not participate in any tradi
tional rehabilitative measures,
such as workouts in a pool. Effec
tively, she can do nothing but rest
until the bacteria that have caused
the staph infection in her right
knee subside.
“How Gathrine got the staph in
fection, we have no idea,”
Grist said.
Grist said that staph infections
commonly result from boils and
floor burns. He said that Kraayeveld
had an insect bite on her left arm
when she was sidelined, but said
there is no indication that it could
have been the cause.
Grist added that he and Dr. Ken
Singer, an Oregon team physician,
have never seen an instance like
Kraayeveld’s and called it an un
usual occurrence in a healthy ath
lete. He said staph infections nor
mally result after surgery, or in
older-aged patients.
“In a rare situation, one bacteria
lodged in her knee and started
growing,” Grist said.
If Kraayeveld fails to come back
— she was originally diagnosed to
be out for six weeks — she may
have an option to file for a medical
hardship waiver. If she were to be
granted one, it would allow her to
repeat her junior season next year.
But it’s not going to be easy.
For an athlete to be eligible, he
or she must have played less than
20 percent of the team’s games in
a season. Kraaveveld played nine,
which amounts to 33 percent of
Oregon’s contests this season. Had
she played in just six, she would
be eligible.
Normally, the Pac-10 is respon
sible for granting medical hardship
Turn to Kraayeveld, page 12
Men prepare for physical,
hard-fought California trip
The Ducks return to San
Francisco, the site of two
close losses from last season
Men’s basketball
Peter Hockaday
Sports Editor
There’s a lot of traffic in the
Bay Area.
That’s where the Ducks are
headed this weekend, and traf
fic is exactly what they’ll run
into. Only it’s not freeway traf
fic they’re worried about, it’s
traffic in the paint.
As the Oregon men’s basket
ball team heads into its second
weekend of conference play, the
Ducks will ready to play against
a big, bruising California team
that should try to out-physical
Oregon in a rocking Haas Pavil
ion in Berkeley.
Physical play — especially on
rebounds — is exactly how Ari
zona beat Oregon last week.
And it’s exactly how the Bears
beat the Ducks in a thrilling
overtime contest at almost the
same point in the season
last year.
“This team was devastated
about not getting the two W’s,
but I thought they really
bounced back and showed their
character, and made a run at
the conference championship,”
Oregon head coach Ernie Kent
said. “As we head back down
there, circumstances are a little
different.”
The Ducks will also face Stan
ford in Palo Alto — where Ore
gon hasn’t won since 1986, a
streak of 16 straight losses —
on Saturday, but for now their
attention is focused squarely
on Cal.
More specifically, the Ducks’
focus is consumed by Amit
Tamir, the sophomore forward
who torched Oregon for 36 in
the loss last year. Tamir is a 6
foot-10-inch, physical player,
but he shoots 42 percent from
3-point land, making him a
threat from anywhere on
the court.
“Just like with any good play
er, we’ve got to try to limit his
touches,” Oregon forward
Robert Johnson said. “Hopeful
ly, we can do a better job with
that. We didn’t do such a good
job last time, but this year is an
other year. We’ve got enough
guys; we’ll just keep throwing
guys at him.”
Johnson, a San Francisco na
tive who will be returning home
this weekend, will have the du
bious job of guarding Tamir. He
should also have the job of fac
ing Bear forward Joe Shipp,
who has finally found his stride
this year as a senior. Shipp,
who averaged 14.8 points per
game last season but 10.8
points per contest over his ca
reer, has averaged 19 points per
game this season.
Shipp and Tamir have led the
Bears to a 9-2 record. The
Bears’ losses came in two tour
naments — to the Jim Harrick
led Georgia Bulldogs in the
Wooden Classic, and to the
Kansas Jayhawks in the Pete
Newell Challenge.
Both those losses came away
from the confines of Haas Pavil
ion, an environment that, de
spite being relatively new, ri
vals McArthur Court in its
boisterous, loud atmosphere.
Maples Pavilion at Stanford is
n’t much quieter. But Kent said
he isn’t worried about the two
loud arenas.
“You don’t want to look at
them as tough environments.
You think of them as great envi
ronments,” Kent said. “We’d
rather play there than an arena
where nobody shows up to
the games.”
Like last year, the early,
tough road trip could mold the
Ducks for the rest of the season.
The Ducks stand in a tie for
fourth in the conference after
splitting with the Arizona
schools in the conference’s
opening weekend. California is
third in the Pac-10 after top
pling Stanford in the opening
week, and the trip to the Bay
Area provides the Ducks with a
Turn to Men's, page 12
Adam Amato Emerald
Ernie Kent hasn't won at Stanford in his career as coach of the Ducks. He tries again Saturday.
Women look to steady teetering ship vs. Bears
Oregon looks to break out of its early
Pac-10 doldrums when it returns
to McArthur Court tonight
Women’s basketball
Hank Hager
Sports Reporter
With perennial Pacific-10 Conference cellar
dweller California coming to McArthur Court for
a 7 p.m. contest tonight, the Oregon women’s
basketball team is looking to get better, real fast.
Supplanted in ninth place after two weeks of
conference play, the Ducks (5-8 overall, 1-3 Pac
10) look to the Golden Bears as a means to right
the ship that has teetered violently since the loss
of junior Cathrine Kraayeveld, the team’s leading
scorer and rebounder.
“I think we just need to play our game, just
calm down and play some solid defense,” fresh
man Carolyn Ganes said. “Get on the boards.
The boards will be a big thing for us.”
Since the announcement Dec. 26 that
Kraayeveld would be sidelined, the Ducks have
struggled mightily. Oregon has averaged just 68.8
points per game during Pae-10 play while allow
ing opponents 85 per contest. To make matters
worse, the Ducks have been outrebounded on av
erage 41-30.
But while Ganes speaks volumes about Ore
gon’s need to improve its rebound, there is a con
sensus that if the Ducks can play at the top of
their game, there is no need to worry about statis
tical categories.
With a nine-player roster, that task is becom
ing increasingly difficult with every game.
“The focus right now is our mental aggressive
ness and our physical aggressiveness which fol
lows into mental readiness and going from there,”
head coach Bev Smith said. “This team is ready
and focused when it is mentally aggressive and
not taking little timeouts, which allows critical
and mental lapses to occur, which we cannot give
to Pae-10 schools.”
The Ducks have shown hints of quality play
since conference play began, especially in a 79-73
victory over USG in Week 1. However, blowout
losses to UCLA and Arizona have diminished
Oregon’s aggressiveness. Only against Arizona
State have the Ducks shown progress in a loss.
“It’s just basically what we’ve been doing in
practice the last couple of days,” sophomore
Brandi Davis said when asked about what Ore
gon needs to do to win. “Usually, we like to pick
and choose our games. We’ve been on and off
with our wins and stuff like that. It’s just going to
take what we’ve been doing in praetice — going
hard and giving it our all ”
Davis said Oregon has had a tough time adjust
ing to the shortened bench. The Ducks, in their
losses, have been out-of-syne, a possible attribu
tion for the blowout losses. But when Oregon is
able to gel together as a team, it can be an offen
sive powerhouse.
“We have to be ready to look after the basket
ball to make sure we are giving Cal our best ef
fort, our best execution and our best defense,”
Smith said. “If we do that it, it doesn’t matter
who we play. We have a pretty good chance of
winning the ball game.”
Yet, California (5-6, 1-1) will not be the
pushover it once was. After suffering a similar loss
to Arizojia £is Oregon, the Golden Bears upset
Turn to Women's, page 10