Sports Editor
Peter Hockaday
peterhockaday@dailyemerald.com
Monday, March 17,2003
Oregon Daily Emerald
NC^AA Tournament
Best bet
NCAA men's championship
April 7, CBS
Big box
O’basketball
Tasty morsel No. 1
Oregon has not fared well
against the Mountain West
Conference. The Ducks
have a winning record
against their first-round
opponent, Utah (6-5), but
overall, Oregon is 30-34
against the MWC.
Morsel No. 2
The Pacific-10 Conference
has won more NCAA
Division-! men’s basketball
titles than any other
conference in the nation.
Oregon won the first in
1939. UCLA has won the
most(11).
Trivia Bowl
Who holds the record for
most points in an NCAA
Tournament game by an
Oregon player?
Rank me
Oregon and Utah in the
2003 national rankings.
Scoring
Oregon.5
Utah.233
Rebounding
Oregon.137
Utah.243
Three-point percentage
Oregon.16
Utah.34
Free-throw percentage
Oregon.5
Utah.115
Quote Me
“We want to go deep like
last year or even deeper."
— Oregon’s Luke Ridnour
Morsel No. 3
Of the four teams to play
in the women’s NCAA
Tournament at McArthur
Court, only SW Texas has
yet to make a previous trip
to Eugene. LSU is 0-1 all
time at The Pit, while UW
Creen Bay is 1 -0 and
Washington sports a 11 -19
record.
Morsel No. 4
The Pac-10 sent five teams
to the NCAA Tournament
this season. That makes
nine straight seasons
where the conference has
sent at least four teams to
the Big Dance.
Trivia answer
Frederick Jones scored 32
points in Oregon’s 104-86
loss to Kansas in 2002 in
the Midwest Regional
Final.
Tigers, Huskies lead pack at Mac
With Oregon out of the
NCAA Tournament, four
teams will enjoy a neutral
bracket at McArthur Court
Hank Hager
Sports Reporter
Oregon, after a 12-16 season, failed
to make the NCAA Tournament’s
field of 64 when it was announced
Sunday. That leaves McArthur Court
as a neutral site when four teams
come calling March 22.
Top-ranked LSU, No. 16 South
west Texas, eighth-ranked Wiscon
sin-Green Bay and No. 9 Washington
will converge on Eugene when the
NCAA Tournament opens up.
No. 1 Louisiana State
vs. No. 16 SW Texas
Fans in Eugene will get to see the
best of the West bracket when LSU,
the third-ranked team in the nation
and top-ranked in the region, takes
on SW Texas.
The Tigers (27-3 overall, 11-3
Southeastern Conference) are led by
forward Aiysha Smith and point
guard Temeka Johnson, who both
earned All-SEC honorable mention
honors. Johnson connected on 52
percent of her shots from the field
this season.
Still, the Tigers believe they have
to fight for respect, evidenced by
the fact the Tigers failed to place a
member on the All-SEC first or sec
ond teams.
“We really don’t get the respect we
deserve,” Smith told the Reveille
Online. “So we just have to come out
and earn it, just like we did in the
(SEC) tournament.”
The Bobcats (18-13, 14-6 South
land Conference), on the other
hand, will be making their second
ever visit to the NCAA Tournament.
»t f
^rkMcCambrtfge Emerald
Loree Payne (left) and the Huskies come to Mac Court as the No. 9 seed in the West, and will face Wisconsin-Green Bay.
That became possible after SW
Texas defeated Texas-San Antonio
in the Southland Conference’s
championship game.
“We are excited to be represent
ing the league in the NCAA Tourna
ment,” SW Texas head coach
Suzanne Fox said. “What an in
credible moment for our program
and our players.”
No. 8 Wisconsin-Green
Bay vs. No. 9 Washington
UW-Green Bay (27-3, 15-1 Hori
zon League) enters Mac Court with
a sense of history in Eugene. The
Phoenix defeated Oregon, 75-57, in
the 2001-02 season.
The Phoenix are led by Kristy
Loiselle, who averaged 14.4 points
per game and was tops in rebounds
at 5.3 per game. Chandra Johnson
gives the Phoenix a presence down
low, as she is scoring 13.3 points
per game.
“We've got a good squad,” UW
Green Bay head coach Kevin Borseth
told the Green Bay News-Chronicle.
“Obviously, we're not to be taken
lightly. We'll play well, and we'll
Turn to Women's, page 7B
Frank Anderson KRT
Keith Bogans, hoisting the SEC Tournament MVP award Sunday, and No. 1 Kentucky
could be awaiting Oregon in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Oregon’s regional
loaded with talent
The Midwest bracket has one
of the NCAA Tournament’s
favorites, top-seeded
Kentucky, lying in wait
Peter Hockaday
Sports Editor
It’ll be a grand ole time in
Nashville, Tenn., on Friday. Country
music. Square dancing. Elvis.
And oh, a little basketball, too.
Oregon’s bracket is stacked
with a defensive monster in Ken
tucky, a famously rotund coach in
Utah’s Rick Majerus and a team
with the longest name in the his
tory of universities (probably) in
Indiana University-Purdue Uni
versity Indianapolis.
So without further ado, let’s try to
sort through the madness.
No. 1 Kentucky
The Wildcats have the nation’s
longest winning streak and a defense
widely regarded as the best in college
basketball. What’snot to fear?
Kentucky, ranked No. 2 in both
national polls, is riding a 23-game
win streak. The Wildcats (28-3,16
0 Southeastern Conference)
haven’t lost since Dec. 28 when
they fell to Louisville, 81-63. Ken
tucky then ran the SEC table, cap
ping the year by winning the SEC
Tournament title game Saturday
over Mississippi State.
Kentucky’s defensive statistics are
mind-boggling. The Wildcats hold
opponents to an average of 64.5
points per game and keep them
shooting only 41.6 percent from the
floor. The Wildcats outscore their
opponents by 13.4 points per game,
on average.
Kentucky, it seems, has finally re
sponded again to Tubby Smith’s de
fensive system. The Wildcats won
the NCAA title in 1998 but exited
early in subsequent seasons.
Those in the Nashville bracket
hope the Wildcats will exit early
this year, too.
No. 16IUPUI
We’ll spare the full name on sec
ond reference, but IUPUI has that
funny moniker and not much
chance to beat Kentucky.
IUPUI (20-13,10-4 Mid-Continent
Conference) made it to the NCAA
Tournament by winning the MCC
Tournament last week. The Jaguars
have only been competing at the Di
vision-1 level since 1998 (that’s when
IUPUI changed its mascot from the
“Metros”), and went through the
2002-03 season with a 17-13 record.
Turn to Midwest, page 6B