Sports Editor
Jesse Thomas
jessethomas@dailyemerald.com
Tuesday, July 1,2003
Oregon Daily Emerald
SPORTS
Best bet .
Tennis: Wimbledon
women's quarter finals
10 a.m., ESPN
Seattle
snatches
Ridnour
for No. 14
Former Oregon guard Luke Ridnour is
chosen in the first spot outside the lottery
and heads to the Seattle Supersonics
By Jesse Thomas
Sports Editor
Former Oregon point guard Luke Rid
nour had his first chance to relax Thursday.
After weeks of flying around the
country for team workouts leading
up to the 2003 NBA Draft, Ridnour
woke up at 5 a.m. and took some time
for himself.
Following an afternoon at the beach,
Ridnour was all ears when the draft be
gan at 4 p.m. The draft took nearly two
hours before his wait was over and Rid
nour could breathe a sigh of relief
after being chosen at No. 14 by the
Seattle Supersonics.
"1 didn't even know until they said my
name," Ridnour said via a conference call
after the draft. "Now that I'm there I'm
ready to play at that level."
"It's real exciting to be
able to play there; Seattle's
going to be a good fit.
To be a Sonic and in
the NBA is a big honor.''
Luke Ridnour
former Oregon guard
The Sonics, who had shown interest in
Ridnour ever since his workout in May,
chose the Pacific-10 Conference player of
the year in the first round with their sec
ond pick.
And Ridnour may now live the dream as
he plays for a professional team a mere
two hours away from his hometown of
Blaine, Wash.
"It's real exciting to be able to play
there; Seattle's going to be a good fit,"
Ridnour said. "To be a Sonic and in the
NBA is a big honor."
The Supersonics also held the No. 12
pick in the draft and chose power forward
Nick Collison, formerly of Kansas. Colli
son will likely start for Seattle, as could
Ridnour, who was the fourth point guard
chosen in the draft.
"We were trying to be as active as we
can (be)," Sonics General Manager Rick
Sund told ESPN via teleconference
Thursday night. "We are very fortunate
with Nick, he can run. Speaking of run
ning, that's where Luke comes in. They're
young players and I think they'll be able
to contribute next year."
Ridnour was chosen just one spot out
of the top 13 picks — known as the Lot
tery — a position where former Oregon
star Fred Jones was selected in the 2002
NBA Draft.
Ridnour had a chance of going as high
as No. 11 to the Golden State Warriors, but
they chose guard Mickael Pietrus of
France. After the Sonics picked up their big
man at No. 12, they got the point guard in
Ridnour that will help Seattle recover from
their trade of Gary Payton.
Turn to Ridnour, page 6
Patrick Farrell Miami Herald (KRT)
Miami President Donna Shalala and Athletic Director Paul Dee moved their school into the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Departures rattle Big East
The Miami Hurricanes and Virginia Tech Hokies
defect from the Big East conference, favoring
the ACC, which offers equal revenue-sharing
By Michelle Kaufman
Knight Ridder Newspapers (KRT)
MIAMI — The Hurricane watch is over.
After a seven-week courtship, wrangling among
college presidents and athletic directors up and
down the East coast, and a lawsuit with rotating
plaintiffs and defendants, the University of Miami
announced Monday it is defecting from the Big
East Conference to the Atlantic Coast Conference.
The Hurricanes will begin ACC play in the
2004-05 season.
Miami's decision — along with that of co-defec
tor Viiginia Tech — drastically alters the balance of
power among the conferences, dealing a major blow
to the Big East and strengthening the ACCs football
presence. IJM officials cited financial, academic, ath
letic and geographic reasons for die switch.
"I don't want to pretend money wasn't a factor,
because that would be disingenuous of us," Mia
mi President Donna Shalala said. "We have a com
prehensive athletic department and there were sev
eral factors that went into this decision, one of
them being money."
The Big East made a last-ditch effort to retain Mi
ami, offering a lucrative short-term economic pack
age, but Miami officials felt the 1 lurricanes were bet
ter off in the ACC for the long run because of the
conference's equal revenue-sharing, commitment
to Olympic and women's sports, academic vision,
proximity, and intention to add a 12th football
school, which would guarantee a conference cham
pionship game and $ 12 million more to divvy up.
"It has been a bizarre, strange and goofy
process," Shalala said. "But it has allowed us the
opportunity to have the distance to decide who we
are, where we are and where we want to go."
Beginning in Fall 2004, Miami athletes and fans
will have to forget the Big East's big-city markets
(New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington,
D.C.) and become familiar with cozier Raleigh
Durham, N.C.; Charlottesville, Va.; Clemson, S.C.
'ancf’Tallahassee, Fla., where the rivalry with the
Seminoles will intensify.
Instead of the Georgetown Hoyas and Syracuse
Orangemen, the I lurricanes will be playing the
Duke Blue Devils, North Carolina Tar Heels and
Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. Miami's travel budget
will get some relief, as plane tickets to ACC cities are
generally cheaper than to the Northeast, and teams
will be able to travel closer to game time, allowing
them more class time and savings on hotel bills.
"Our nearest conference opponent FSU is now
400 miles away instead of 1,000 Temple," Miami
Athletic Director Paul Dee said.
Added Miami basketball coach Perry Clark:
"We're going from $300 a night for a hotel in New
York to $65 a night in Winston-Salem. But more
important, this puts UM in a conference where it
can house all its sports and more Pevenue to help
support everyone."
TTie price for the move is steep. Miami will pay
the Big East a $ 1 million exit fee and the ACC a $3
million entrance fee over the next few years. But
Miami officials and trustees felt the switch was the
Turn to Miami, page 6
Jesse Thomas
Go the distance
Big East
exoduses
may ignite
reshuffling
lust like the bids that went back
and forth for Barry Bonds' 73rd
home run ball last week, the At
lantic Coast Conference ended with
the winning offer to bring Miami
over from the Big East Conference.
According to The Associated
Press, Miami accepted the ACC's in
vitation to join the conference de
spite last minute desperation efforts
from Boston College and Syracuse
to try to get the 1 lurricanes to stay.
And with Virginia Tech by its side,
who can really blame Miami Presi
dent Donna Shalala for making
such a decision?
The Hurricanes and Hokies have
been the two most dominant Big
East programs for years now, as well
as two of the strongest programs in
the nation. Now, at the end of the
2003-04 season, they will pack their
bags and take a stroll into a confer
ence where they can earn more
money and put up a fight in what is
considered the strongest football
conference in the nation.
So now the Big East is left to cry
like Bill Walton, whose son wasn't
even worthy of a first round choice
by any team, or Todd McFarlane,
who blew nearly half a million dol
lars on a baseball team that will be
forgotten in two years.
To tun a few numbers by you, Mia
mi (6) and Virginia Tech (3) have
combined for nine of the 12 Big East
football championships, and the
Turn to Thomas, page 8
Ems look for consistency against Volcanoes
The Ems will look to get things back on
track as they meet the Volcanoes again
after taking two of three from the team to
start the season
By Jesse Thomas
Sports Editor
The Eugene Emeralds have been as up
and down as a roller coaster as they head
into today's matchup against Salem/Keizer
at Civic Stadium.
After winning six games in a row, in
cluding five against -
Tri-City, the Ems Round
went on to lose
three in a row. _ur_
The Ems and the Volcanoes already met
once this season in a three-game series to
begin the 2003 schedule. The Ems took the
first two games at Salem/Keifcer before the
Volcanoes took away game three.
The Ems (8-4) currently lead the West
Division of the Western League Standings
with the Volcanoes in a close runner up
spot at 7-4. The two rivals will play tonight
through Thursday evening in a three-game
series before meeting again on Aug. 21.
Starters for today's game are right-han
der Jared Wells for the Ems and right-han
der Jesse Floyd for the Volcanoes.
Prior to today's matchup, the Ems
wrapped up a rough series against Yakima.
After jumping out to a rocket start, the
Emeralds are struggling after losing three
in a row to the Yakima Bears.
On Sunday's fourth game of the five
game series, the Bears scored five runs in
the fifth inning and six runs in the sixth in
ning to rally from a four-run deficit.
Yakima won 13-6 in the battle of the
Northwest League Divisional leaders be
fore 1,168 at Yakima County Stadium.
Eugene dropped to 8-4 overall as the
Turn to Emeralds, page 8
Jessica Waters Emerald
Ben Johanning puts his powerful swing to use for the Emeralds.