Sports Editor
Peter Hockaday
peterhockaday@dailyemerald.com
Wednesday, March 12,2003
-Oregon Daily Emerald
Sports
Best bet
NBA: Toronto at Portland
7 p.m., Fox Sports
Mark McCambridge Emerald
Cathrine Kraayeveld (left) is one of many experienced Duck post players returning next year.
At a loss
Oregon has a lot to learn from a season
that had everything from injury to
conflict, but not a postseason appearance
Women’s basketball
Jesse Thomas
Sports Reporter
For the Oregon women’s basketball team, the
Pacific-10 Conference Tournament was like New
Year’s Eve.
It was a chance to be reborn. A chance to start
over after a season of brick walls standing in
Oregon’s path.
That rebirth lasted only 40 minutes. One round
and one more chance against UCLA.
But now the season has come to a close. There
is no chance for a do-over, no mulligan and no
advance to “Go” and collect $200 to start the
path over.
The Ducks leave a bruised and beaten path be
hind them. A 12-16 overall record is far from the
22 wins Oregon racked up in the 2001-02 season.
And the 8-10 showing in Pac-10 play was the first
sub-.500 conference record since the first George
Bush was in office.
“It’s hard to lose; we did have a tough season,
and we played as hard as we could,” junior forward
Cathrine Kraayeveld said.
Yet, Oregon could have given up long ago. Two
weeks prior to the Pac-10 Tournament, the Ducks
sat in ninth in the Pae-10. Two weeks later they en
tered the tournament in fifth place.
“Our coaches put one thing in our head and
we just wanted to go out and achieve that goal
of getting into the second game,” sophomore
Andrea Bills said.
Nothing along the Oregon speedway ever
went smoothly. Through adversity, injury and a
short bench, the Ducks never could get out of
second gear to reach what they thought was
cruising speed.
But the finish line is now behind them, and the
Ducks ended the season without a postseason ap
pearance for the first time in nine seasons.
Oregon was outscored by an average of almost
five points on the season against its opponents.
The Ducks averaged 65.9 points per game, the sec
ond-lowest in the last decade.
In other season statistics, Oregon was beat out
in almost every category by its opponents. The
Ducks’ rebound margin was -3.4 and the turnover
margin was -0.7. Oregon’s opponents averaged
more steals, free-throws attempted and assists
than the Ducks.
The problems began just four games into the
season, when senior Shaquala Williams was dis
missed for reasons still unknown.
Then, just before the winter break, Kraayeveld
developed a staph infection in her knee.
Kraayeveld was the backbone to the Oregon
squad, leading the team in points and rebounds.
Oregon’s bench continued to shrink as sopho
more Amy Parrish announced Christmas Eve
that she would leave the team because of med
ical conditions.
“Just one thing after another skewered a lot of
the things we were going to do,” Oregon head
coach Bev Smith said. “We understand that things
are just out of our control, and we have to make
the best of it.
The Ducks were left without a full bench for
the majority of the regular season. Kraayeveld
did return after 13 games but the damage had
been done. At one point, Oregon suited up only
eight players.
After a season that ended with three losses in
Turn to Women's, page 6
Duck forwards excel late despite tough injury
Oregon’s frontcourt,
expected to be a weakness,
became the team’s most
powerful weapon this year
Hank Hager
Sports Reporter
In a year of turmoil and bad luck
for the Oregon women’s basketball
team, one thing could be said.
If anything, the Ducks had a year
to grow up. A year that produced
tears, sweat, broken noses and
shattered hopes. But it also pro
duced a group of forwards that
could very well become the Pacif
ic-10 Conference standard next
year, if not for longer than that.
The group — junior Cathrine
Kraayeveld, sophomore Andrea Bills
and freshmen Carolyn Ganes and
Yadili Okwumabua — may have
been hit the hardest this year. This is
especially so because of Kraayeveld’s
staph infection that kept her out of
the team’s first 13 Pac-10 contests.
“I think (missing the postsea
son) is a break we’re going to
need,” Kraayeveld said. “It’s going
to be nice to have a break, but we
are still disappointed.”
Statistically, the group produced
solid figures. Kraayeveld led the
team in scoring at 14.5 points per
game, although that was an aver
age of just 15 games. Ganes was
close behind at 10.5, although she
did score 13.5 points per game
during the Pac-10 season.
Bills wasn’t the scoring machine
she was projected to be after a
monster freshman season, but she
posted 9.8 points per game, and
was solid down low, averaging 6.8
rebounds per game.
Of the group, Okwumabua pro
duced the lowest figures, but ulti
mately, she proved to be the most
athletic forward. She averaged just
two points a game, but was used
more often late in the season.
“I liked the way I’ve been playing,
especially in the last few games,”
Bills said after Oregon lost, 71-58, to
UCLA in the Pac-10 Tournament
Saturday. “It was a struggle dealing
with all the stuff that’s been happen
ing this season, but I’m just going to
take my intensity and just work on
stuff over the summer. ”
On a team that loses just two
players to graduation — Alissa Ed
wards and Kourtney Shreve — the
forwards will be the most seasoned
next year. Kraayeveld should have
been an All-American candidate
this year, and was before her injury.
Bills is showing promise, the
kind that could lead to an All Pac
10 team award soon. Ganes could
step into Kraayeveld’s spot when
the Kirkland, Wash., native gradu
ates after next season. And
Turn to Forwards, page 6
Bubble-icious: Men need win to secure NCAA berth
Oregon will move squarely
onto the infamous ‘bubble’
with a loss to ASU on Thursday
Men’s Pac-10 notes
Peter Hockaday
Sports Editor
The Oregon men are thinking bub
bles these days, and we’re not talking
about Michael Jackson’s monkey.
Nope, it’s March, so “bubble” takes
on a much more ominous tone.
“I hate that word,” Luke Jackson said.
Indeed, the Ducks are now a “bub
ble” team in the eyes of many pundits
around the country', meaning they
could miss out on an at-large bid to the
NCAA Tournament.
Especially if they lose to Arizona
State on Thursday in the first round of
the Pacific-10 Conference Tourna
ment. Oregon faces a daunting task in
beating Arizona State, considering the
Sun Devils blew the Ducks out of
Tempe, Ariz., only six days ago.
“It’s all us right now,” Oregon head
coach Ernie Kent said.
“It’s one-and-done from here on out;
that’s how we’re viewing this tourna
ment,” guard Luke Ridnour said.
Of course, the Pac-10 Tournament
is literally a one-and-done format like
the NCAA Tournament, but on a the
oretical level, the Ducks may be one
or-NIT when they face the Sun Devils
on Thursday.
“If the Ducks don’t win their Pac-10
Tournament quarterfinal vs. Arizona
State, they’ll have less than a 50/50
chance for an at-large bid,” wrote
ESPN.com’s Joe Lunardi in his weekly
“Bracketology” report, which predicts
the NCAA Tournament field. “It should
never have come to this, but losses at
USG and Washington made it so.”
Sports Illustrated’s Stewart Mandel
lists Oregon as a team that “needs a
strong showing in its conference tour
nament this weekend to avoid a sad Se
lection Sunday.”
Oregon has slipped because of the
road losses and a low RPI. The Ducks are
53rd in the RPI rankings, just ahead of
15-12 Providence and right behind 15
12 St. Louis. The RPI factors in winning
percentage, schedule strength and oppo
nents’ schedule strength.
Only a win over ASU will get that
bubble monkey off the Ducks’ back.
Double Luke departure?
With all the hype surrounding Rid
nour’s possible early exit to the NBA
(in case it wasn’t already seared into
your memory, fans repeatedly chanted
“one more year” at the junior in Ore
gon’s final home games), Jackson has
avoided the draft spotlight.
But when Jackson was named to the
All Pac-10 Team Monday, the spotlight
Turn to Men's, page 6
Adam Amato Emerald
Luke Jackson's NBA hopes have fallen from people's minds this season. ,