Sports Editor
Peter Hockaday
peterhockaday@dailyemerald.com
-Oregon Daily Emerald —
Sports
Best bet
NBA: Portland at Denver
6 p.m., Fox Sports
Wednesday, February 26,2003
Will Luke
start Sonic
boom in
Seattle?
Back by popular demand (drum roll)...
my random thoughts. OK, I’m lying.
There is no demand. But I have a surplus
of thoughts, so here they are. Read at
your own risk:
Seattle Supersonics President Wally
Walker was seen at Saturday’s Oregon
Washington game, perhaps looking for
someone to replace
Gary Payton, who
was traded to Mil
waukee last week.
The Sonics are now
in dire need of a
point guard, and
will likely have two
first-round draft
picks this year (in
cluding one from
the Payton trade).
Adam
Jude
It seems Wash- Out in left field
ington native Luke
Ridnour would be a
possibility to replace Payton, assuming
Ridnour forgoes his senior season, but
Walker had to be turned off by the Ore
gon point guard’s eight turnovers. It does
n’t help that Nate Robinson, the Huskies’
tiny guard (aka “Gary Coleman”) stole
the spotlight...
Speaking of Rid, 62 consecutive free
throws made is, uh, good. I can’t even do
that in a video game on easy mode, and
I’m considered (by those who know what
they’re talking about) the Sinatra of Sega
basketball. You wanna rumble?...
Memo to the esteemed Pit Grew: No
body cares what you think about USG
head coach Mike Bibby. Show some
tact Thursday...
While I have your attention, crew
members, if I give you some doughnuts
(uh hum, Nate Jolly), would you pretend
to like me? Or do you only accept Nike
shoes as bribery?...
The new Duck, by the way, is still the
worst mascot in sports and will stay that
until Nike gives me free shoes...
Which will come first: Mike Bellotti
starts recruiting convicted felons or Bev
Smith gives her best player the boot? Oh
wait, sorry...
I’ve given him a long look — and prac
ticed a lot of patience — but Jimmy Kim
mel isn’t worth missing Conan. But any
body’s better than Leno...
Let me get this straight: Dennis Er
ickson left Oregon State to coach in the
NFL — again. While Mike Riley left the
NFL to coach Oregon State — again.
Both will be a bust — again. And who
wants to go to Oregon State? Honestly,
most high school facilities are bigger
than Reser Stadium...
I want snow...
But I’d give up snow for an Oregon
baseball team...
Twenty-seven days until Opening
Day, Seattle vs. Oakland in Japan. Huh?
Yep, the great American pastime. But
I’ll take it: Baseball is baseball, and Ichi
ro is god...
Kobe Bryant is not god, hence not
Michael Jordan or anything remotely
similar. He’s just selfish (give me 45
Turn to Jude, page 12
Mark McCambridge Emerald
Andre Joseph said that he'has to deal'with his one-game suspension for Thursday's game.
Joseph says
he accepts
suspension
The Oregon guard, suspended for Thursday^ game
against USC, speaks to the media for the first time
since Saturday’s ‘meltdown,’ but doesn’t say much
Men’s basketball notes
Peter Hockaday
-Sports Editor
Andre Joseph spoke to reporters after practice Tuesday, but didn’t
reveal much about the incident causing his one-game suspension.
The junior guard was suspended for Thursday’s game against
USC after his emotional “meltdown,” as head coach Ernie Kent put
it, in the second half of Saturday’s contest at Washington. The de
cision for his suspension was reached by Kent and the team itself.
“This is a family, and I’m glad it didn’t turn its back on me,”
Joseph said. “It’s a one-game suspension, and now I have to deal
with it.”
Joseph called Saturday’s incident a “disagreement” between
himself and the coaching staff. Joseph left the game late in the first
half with his third foul, and when Kent called on him to enter the
game in the second half, he refused to go back in.
“At that particular time, my mental wasn’t ready to go back
into the game, I thought it was best for me to stay on the
bench,” Joseph said.
On Sunday, Joseph and Kent had “a nice litde time together,” as
Joseph put it. The two met for a while, and Kent told local papers
that Joseph wouldn’t be suspended. But then Kent met with the
team on Monday.
“The coaches came to us and gave us some options,” senior for
ward Robert Johnson said. “So we agreed on something that was
n’t too harsh but got the point across.”
Joseph also addressed the team Monday, but wouldn’t go into
the details of the speech he gave his teammates. He expressed his
regret about the entire situation to the media Thesday.
The junior has been the sixth man of the Oregon perimeter
crew for most of the season. He’s averaging 11.8 points per game in
Pac-10 play, and plays an average of 26.9 minutes per game in
conference action.
He won’t play a minute on Thursday.
“I’m gonna be real pumped for Saturday,” Joseph said.
Kent to Pit Crew: Be nice
Kent said he hopes The Pit Grew will be civilized this weekend
— as much as it might want to rip into USC head coach Mike Bib
by and soon-to-be-departed UCLA head coach Steve Lavin.
“We obviously want The Pit Grew as rowdy as they’re going to
Turn to Men's, page 12
UO women see seasonal similarities
The Ducks find themselves in an almost-identical
situation from one year ago as they sit in sixth
Women’s basketball notes
Jesse Thomas
Sports Reporter
The Ducks have experienced some ddj& vu lately.
The Oregon women’s basketball team is in a tie for sixth with
USG in the Pacific-10 Conference standings and, at this same
time last year, the Ducks were in a tie for fifth with two games un
til the tournament.
Last year, Oregon defeated the Cougars, fell to Washington in
its final two games and approached the tournament as the No. 7
seed. Although that’s exactly what the women don’t want this time
around, as they face the Cal schools in their final two games.
“We want to finish sixth or above because we don’t want to
play in the games before the Pac-10 Tournament,” senior Alissa
Edwards said. “Right now, we are just taking it one game at a
time. Every game is important to us because it’s going to affect
our postseason.”
Oregon (11-14 overall, 7-9 Pac-10) entered the conference tour
nament last year above .500 at 15-12 and 10-8 in conference.
The Pac-10 Tournament is a focus of interest right now, and as
the anticipation is growing, the Ducks are confident in their abil
ity to play with any of the other nine teams.
“We played Stanford in a good game and they’re right at the
top, so we can play against the teams in the Pac-10,” Edwards
Turn to Women's, page 10
Jeremy Forrest Emerald
Alissa Edwards and the Ducks are in almost the same position they were last year at this time.