Sports Editor:
Hank Hager
hank hager@dailyemerald.com
Oregon Daily Emerald
SPORTS
Best bet
NCAA basketball:
Notre Dame vs. Marquette
6 p.m., ESPN2
Monday, December 1, 2003
Jon Roetman
Roughing the passer
Holiday
provides
for heated
contests
Hello.
I hope everyone had a nice Thanks
giving.
I spent the holiday with my family in
Germantown, Md. We relaxed, we stuffed
ourselves, we watched sporting events on
the television and we played cards.
The latter pair of events brought
something to my attention: I am capa
ble of incorporating a sport or general
act of competition into any moment of
my waking life.
OK. I lied. I didn't just realize this.
I've known this my whole life. I'm a
sports nut and a competitive freak. Is
that so bad?
There are others like me. I've met them.
We can't focus on a coherent thought
without wondering if our team can re
bound from last week's devastating loss.
We can't walk by The Break in the EMU
without playing seven or eight games of
"Quarterback Challenge" with a friend
(no one ever wants to end on a loss), and
we can't help but get pissed if our moth
ers beat us at a hand of crazy eights.
When I travel east to visit my family,
the card table is the No. 1 arena for com
petition. I spent last summer with them
while covering sports for a newspaper in
Montgomery County, Md. When the
workday ended, our schedules were coor
dinated to allow for maximum card-play
ing time. Spades has always been our
game of choice, with hearts mixed in as
an occasional change of pace.
It gets so competitive around the card
table (which doubles as a dinner table)
that we often get into shouting matches,
and give ice-cold glares that could break
glass. And that's only what happens dur
ing momentary breaks in the action.
Confrontations during games are too
graphic to share.
When all is said and done, everyone
knows they are loved. When the game is
on, however, there is a general hate for
one's opponent. Even if it's my own
mother. I once got so frustrated about
losing a game of spades that I had to lay
down for an hour because my elevated
blood pressure had sent me into an un
thinkable dizzy spell (I love quality time
with the family).
Spades isn't the only game where com
petitive fires bum bright. Along with the
help of my family and friends, I have al
ways been able to cook up some kind of
novelty sports-related game. After being
told to clean the backyard over the sum
mer, I quickly turned this chore into a
makeshift version of home mn derby.
Using a rubber bat and a whiffle ball
wrapped in duct tape, my brothers, a
buddy and I turned what could have
been a boring afternoon of yardwork into
an epic plastic-ball-bashing-back-yard
battle of monumental proportions. The
contest ended when my eldest step
brother failed to hit the plastic sphere
Turn to ROETMAN, page $.
Ducks capture Classic championship
Guard Kayla Steen returned from a knee injury
to add a spark for Oregon in Saturday’s game
By Mindi Rice
Senior Sports Reporter
WOMEN’S
BASKETBALL
Senior Kayla Steen hadn't played a minute for the Ducks this
season heading into Saturday night's game against North Car
olina State.
Complete with a brace on her left knee, the guard scored 11
points during her 14 minutes in the game and gave Oregon the
spark it needed to overcome the Wolfpack, 83-78.
"It felt good (to have Steen back)," senior Cathrine Kraayeveld
said. "1 was telling her earlier that it didn't feel like I'd played
with her last season because we were both kind of in and out all
year last year. She's doing a great job, working her butt off in
practice and I'm just happy for her to be able to come in and do
such a good job and hit a couple of threes."
Steen made her two three-point attempts in the first half, with
the first putting Oregon momentarily
- ahead, 21-20, with a little more than 10
minutes left in the half. Her second came
on the Ducks' next scoring possession.
The senior guard also hit a three-point
- er and two free throws in the game, finish
ing with one assist and her 11 points.
"We got back to playing team ball tonight," head coach Bev
Smith said. "I really appreciated our poise this evening."
The Ducks extended their season-opening win streak to five
games.
"(The Wolfpack is) very tough inside and that's one of their
biggest strengths," Kraayeveld said. "We tried to focus on that and
we let down a little bit — blocking out — but we tried to stick
with it defensively and that was one of the keys to our game."
The Ducks had 14 personal fouls, but forced North Carolina
State to commit 19. Wolfpack senior Kaayla Chones fouled out
of the game with 1:27 remaining, giving the Ducks more room
to work inside.
Oregon was outrebounded, 39-25. North Carolina State had
19 offensive rebounds compared to the Ducks' 20 defensively.
"They're just such an athletic team, even if you do block them
out, they're able to come and jump up over you at times,"
Kraayeveld said. "We did a pretty good job of sticking with it and
just being tough in there and going after every rebound."
The Ducks recovered from a poor shooting game Friday to hit
57 percent of their field goals and 78 percent of their free throw
attempts in Saturday's game.
"We learned (Friday) night that we really have to come ready
to play every night," guard Kedzie Gunderson said. "I think
everyone stayed calm and we felt confidence from that."
Friday, the Ducks pulled out a close victory against Kansas,
Turn to CLASSIC, page 8
Danielle Hickey Senior Photographer
Andrea Bills led the Ducks with 31 points in two games at the Oregon Classic. The Ducks defeated
Kansas, then North Carolina State, to win the tournament and improve to 5-0 this season.
Muscatell, trio of former Ducks lead
Sacramento State in return to McArthur
The weekend's tournament
welcomed back four former
Oregon stalwarts as
Sacramento State coaches
By Mindi Rice
Senior Sports Reporter
Former Oregon assistant coach
Dan Muscatell made his return to
McArthur Court for Friday and Sat
urday' s Oregon Classic.
Muscatell's Hornets were a late
addition to the tournament after
Eastern Washington declined a spot
to play at McArthur Court.
"We're going through a process at
Sacramento State that transcends
winning and losing," Muscatell, the
team's head coach, said Saturday.
"We have to go through some
things, so for our players to get a
chance to play in this environment
is just absolutely special."
Sacramento State lost both of its
games over the weekend. On Friday,
North Carolina State handed the
Hornets a 69-42 loss, and the final
Saturday against Kansas came as a
. 7Q-64 loss...
For the Hornets, which won six
games in the past three seasons, the
increased offensive production was
an improvement.
"To lose like we did (Friday)
night, to not shoot the ball very well
and to lose by 27, then turn around
tonight and we were down at least
18 at one point and to fight back
and give ourselves a chance to play
for the game, that's what it's all
about," Muscatell said.
"Our players are learning an en
tirely new language of the game of
basketball — an entirely new way of
playing offensively and defensively
— and literally there are times
when they have to stop and say
'Coach, I don't know that word' so
there's a lot of learning going on.
It's a steep curve."
Assisting Muscatell with that
curve are three former Oregon play
ers. Lindsey Dion, Karen Piers and
Shaquala Williams made the return
trip to Eugene as Hornet assistant
coaches and received a warm wel
come from the fans.
"The return to Mac Court was
wonderful," Muscatell said. "The re
ception that we received horn the
fans was tremendous and we can't
thank them enough."
The players all played for Mus
catell while he was an assistant at
Oregon, giving Sacramento State's
entire coaching staff a very Duck
like feel.
"I got instructed by the very best
— coach (Fred Litzenberger) and
Muscatell and coach (Jody) Runge,"
Dion said. "We were very well
coached and a very disciplined bas
ketball team, and that's what we've
taken to Sac State."
Even though Oregon and Sacra
mento State didn't face each other in
the Oregon Classic, the return of for
mer teammates and a former coach
was an added enjoyment to Thanks
giving weekend for the players and
Oregon head coach Bev Smith.
"It was nice to see them, kind of a
different setting," senior Cathrine
Kraayeveld said. "They're doing a
great job. It will take them a couple
years, but (Muscatell)'s going to do
a great job with that program. It's
fun to see old teammates out there
coaching."
All the current Ducks — minus
five freshmen rr .spent* at,least a
season with Muscatell as a coach
and a few games with Williams, and
Kraayeveld played with both Dion
and Williams.
While Smith's ties to the return
ing Ducks aren't as strong — Mus
catell was one of her assistants and
Williams played a little more than a
season for Smith — she recognized
the importance of their appearance.
"It's nice to see that they're still
involved in basketball," Smith said.
"It was good to see Lindsey Dion
back because she's made a lot of
'herstory' here. It was good to see
that Dan's pacing the sidelines and
doing those things we coaches like
to do."
As for Muscatell and his Hornet
assistants, some things come with
the territory and some are new. Like
the team, the four coaches are learn
ing every day.
"Everything is new," Muscatell
said about the head coaching expe
rience. "Everyday you wake up and
go hard, but it's a tremendous
amount of fun."
Contact the senior sports reporter
at mindirice@dailyemeraki.com.