Sports Editor;
Peter Hockaday
peterhockaday@dailyemerald.com
Thursday, March 6,2003
-Oregon Daily Emerald
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Ticket glitch shrinks student section
Students were shorted 140
seats per game during the
men’s basketball season
because of a contractual mix-up
Peter Hockaday
Sports Editor
The ASUO’s Athletic Depart
ment Finance Committee is set to
recover a large sum of money
from the Athletic Department
next week in compensation for
1,820 student tickets that were
never given out for basketball
home games this year.
ADFG Chair Kate Rranzush said
the glitch was not intentional, and
that the Athletic Department has
been fully cooperative in getting
the money back.
The 1,820 tickets, or 140 seats
per game, come from section 13,
where the band was moved this
year because of NCAA regulations
that bands can’t be too close to an
opponent’s bench. The switch ex
posed a glitch; The tickets from
the section were never distributed
and the ADFC ended up with few
er tickets than stated in its 2002
03 ticket contract.
Associate Athletic Director
Steve McBride found out about
the discrepancy when counting
stubs after a basketball game, and
presented it to the ADFG in a Feb.
19 meeting.
“He was as surprised to learn
about it as we were,” Kranzush
said. “Steve had no idea about it.”
After it discovered the discrep
ancy, the ADFG hammered out an
agreement to recover $33,989 in
compensation. The figure is the
total cost of the lost tickets minus
almost $11,000 that the ADFG
owes the Athletic Department for
an upgrade this year in the com
puter ticketing system.
McBride was presented with the
ADFG’s final plan Wednesday
morning and still has to present it
to Athletic Director Bill Moos, who
is out of town. But McBride said
he doesn’t think the plan will hit
any speed bumps.
“I think it’s fair to say that they
haven’t been getting all the tickets
they paid for,” McBride said.
Most of the money will go into
the McArthur Court Subsidy Fund,
which helps student groups rent
Mac Court for events. Some of the
money will go into the Incidental
Fee Clearing Account, which helps
fund student groups, or the Stu
dent Senate Surplus Account.
Kranzush said this isn’t the first
time a glitch like this has happened.
“It happened four or five years
ago in football,” Kranzush said.
“The Athletic Department did the
same thing, they refunded the
Turn to Tickets, page 13
Adam Amato Emerald
Luke Jackson and the Ducks head to the desert trying to improve their NCAA Tournament position against UA and ASU.
Men hope to survive
trip to Arizona, ASU
The Ducks are hoping to avoid
a repeat of the UA senior night
massacre of two years ago
Men’s basketball
Peter Hockaday
Sports Editor
The last time Oregon walked into Tuc
son on Arizona’s senior night, the result
was uglier than the bearded lady.
It was two years ago, and luckily the
104-65 beating Wasn’t Oregon’s last game
of the season. *
But when the Ducks waltz into the
McKale Center on Saturday, it will be the
final game of the regular season for both
teams. And Oregon is doing more than
hoping to avoid a blowout. The Ducks
want a win.
“We are a basketball team that has
been in those tough environments,”
Oregon head coach Ernie Kent said.
“It’s all about accountability, if we’re ac
countable we have a good chance to
win that game.”
Before Arizona, Oregon will face Ari
zona State. The Ducks and Sun Devils
have a set date in the first round of the
Pacific-10 Conference Tournament, so
tonight’s game will be as good a scouting
report as is available.
“They really like to put the ball on
the floor and drive to the basket,” Kent
said. “We need to not let (Ike) Diogu
have a monster game. I think we let
him have a monster game when they
played (in Eugene).”
Diogu is the superstar freshman who
is almost a lock for the Pac-lO’s
Freshman of the Year award. He aver
ages 19.3 points per game, good
enough for fourth in the Pac-10, and
adds eight rebounds per game, also
fourth in the conference.
“He just wants the ball,” Johnson
said. “They’re a team that really goes
after the ball, and he’s like that.”
So how to contain Diogu and the
Sun Devils? Kent said the Ducks
need to keep the style fast and furi
ous, not down and dirty.
“We need to play smart and keep the
tempo at our pace,” Kent said.
For Oregon, the tempo has been high
for a while. The Ducks are 4-1 since a 1
2 stretch in early February cast their
NCAA Tournament hopes briefly in
doubt. With their 20th win against
UCLA on Saturday, Oregon seems like a
lock for March Madness now.
But the Ducks still have a 3-4 Pac-10
road record, and that doesn’t look good to
the NCAA Tournament prognosticators.
A win or two in Arizona would cer
tainly help boost Oregon’s March
Madness standing. And one of the
selection committee’s criteria is how a
team did in its last 10 games. If the
Ducks split in Arizona and win one
game in the Pac-10 Tournament, they’ll
Turn to Men's, page 12
Women need 3 wins for NCAAs
The scenarios of the Rac-10
tourney show the Ducks have
a long road ahead if they wish
to return to McArthur Court
Women’s notes
Jesse Thomas
Sports Reporter
Three games lie ahead for Oregon.
Three games that all require a ‘W’ if
the Ducks want to hear screaming
fans under the bright lights of
McArthur Court again.
Three games stand in the way of
the Pacific-10 Conference Champi
onship, which if won by Oregon
would place the Ducks in the NCAA
Tournament. McArthur Court is a site
for the first two rounds of the NCAAs.
They are three games that won’t be easy.
“It’s about playing hard and who
wants it more,” sophomore Brandi
Davis said. “We just need to have con
fidence in ourselves and know that
we have an opportunity to do some
thing great here with this Pac-10
Tournament.”
Oregon’s first test is Saturday night
against UCLA. The Ducks lost to the
Bruins on Saturday after a late shot
by senior Michelle Greco.
Oregon will head into Saturday
with the same game plan: stay pa
tient, run the offense and try and
drive the ball inside. Oregon led most
of the game last Saturday and it plans
to have the final say this time around.
If the Ducks can overcome the Bru
ins, the most likely scenario is for
them to face Stanford. That is, pro
vided the Cardinal are not upset by
the winner of the Arizona State-Cali
fornia game.
The Cardinal visited the Pit in ear
ly January and left the crowd shocked
as the Ducks lost by only one point.
When Oregon traveled to Maples
Pavilion, Stanford had its way, win
ning 85-54.
The Ducks would love the chance
to have their turn against Stanford
one more time.
“Stanford is always within our
reach,” sophomore Kedzie Gunderson
said. “To me, we are the best matchup
with them. Overall, our guards and
our post match up well to them.”
If Oregon can manage the top-seed
ed Cardinal and contain junior Nicole
Powell, the Ducks will head to the
championship game Monday.
Who would they face? Probably
Washington or Arizona, provided up
sets by Oregon State, USC or Wash
ington State don’t occur.
The Huskies and Wildcats pose two
completely different threats to Oregon.
With Arizona, there is the post
dominance with freshman Shawn
tinice Polk, and Washington brings
Turn to Women's, page 13
Jeremy Forrest Emerald
Kedzie Gunderson (23) said Stanford could be within Oregon's reach.