Stanford, Arizona meet
in heated top 5 match
This week, No. 4 Stanford
faces off against No. 3
Arizona in Tucson, where
the Cardinal won last season
By Jesse Thomas
Sports Reporter
Arizona head coach Lute Olson
will look for career victory No. 701 on
_Saturday after
passing anoth
er milestone
against rival
Arizona State
last weekend.
MEN'S
BASKETBALL
It won't be an easy task as his No. 3
Wildcats face their toughest opponent
so far this season — No. 4 Stanford.
The Cardinal is unbeaten at 11-0, and
Arizona's only loss was by one point
against then-No. 8 Florida.
Arizona (9-1 overall, 1-0 Pac-10)
comes off a blowout win over Ari
zona State on Saturday. Junior guard
Salim Stoudamire had 26 points for
the Wildcats.
After the game, Arizona State head
coach Rob Evans took a shot at Ol
son, saying that the Stanford team
coming on Thursday would be a
much more worthy opponent.
"The team we play next is better
than this team," Evans told the Ari
zona Daily Wildcat.
It is not unusual for the Cardinal
to be off to a quick start. Stanford
opened the 1998 season at 18-0, the
2000 season at 12-0 and the 2001
season at 20-0.
The Cardinal comes off two victories
over Washington and Washington State
with senior forward Justin Davis lead
ing Stanford in scoring. Davis recorded
his third double-double of the season
against the Huskies with 17 points and
13 rebounds.
Junior forward Josh Childress saw
his first action this season against
the Washington schools. Stanford
head coach Mike Montgomery said
he will see limited action this week
as well.
Arizona finished atop the Pac-10
Conference last year with only one
loss. That loss came against Stanford
and took place in Arizona.
"That's not an issue," Olson said
on Tuesday. "We were 17-1 in the
league last year and we were disap
pointed that we lost to Stanford
here, but we still have the Pac-10 tro
phy in our trophy case."
Long range conference
Note to all other NCAA confer
ences: Don't let any Pacific-10 Con
ference team shoot the long ball un
less it can't be avoided.
Why?
Not only has Oregon already led
the nation in three-point shooting
percentage, but ten different players
hit three or more three-pointers in a
game during the opening weekend
of conference action. *
Leading the way was Oregon's
James Davis, who scorched LISC by
shooting 7 of 10. Stoudamire made
six against Arizona State, and Cali
fornia's Amit Tamir had 10 in his
opening two games.
Oregon's Aaron Brooks had three
against USC.
Cal made 26 three-pointers in its
first nine nonconference games —
averaging a league low 2.89 three
pointers per game. In the opening
weekend, the Golden Bears notched
15 from downtown.
Rubin receives recognition
Junior guard Janou Rubin of
UCLA is finally having his chance in
the spotlight.
Rubin — a walk-on from LInion
City, Calif., who was put on scholar
ship this season — was awarded the
Pac-10 Player of the Week honors af
ter leading the Bruins to victories
over Oregon and Oregon State.
He averaged 21 minutes off the
bench and posted an average of 13
points, 2 rebounds and 2.5 assists.
Over the weekend Rubin shot 9 of
14 from the field, an impressive 83
percent and made five three-pointers.
Rough beginning for Bears
California isn't off to the start that
some would have expected.
The Golden Bears sit in a tie for
fourth in conference play at 1-1, but
the team's 5-6 overall record is the
worst in the conference. The Bears
played one ranked opponent in the
preseason, losing to then-No. 12
Saint Joseph's 59-57 in Oakland.
Cal's schedule will not get any eas
ier for the time being with three
straight road games coming up. It
faces the Arizona schools this week
end and then heads to Stanford.
Contact the sports reporter
at jessethomas@dailyemerald.com.
Molitor, Eckersley inducted into Hall on first ballot
Both players received more
than the 380 votes needed
for admission into the Hall
By Ken Daley
The Dallas Morning News (KRT)
DALLAS — Hitting machine Paul
Molitor and door-slamming closer
Dennis Eckersley on Tuesday be
came the 39th and 40th players to
win induction into baseball's Hall
of Fame in their first year of eligibil
ity.
Molitor, whose 3,319 hits rank
eighth on the all-time list, was
named on 431 of the 506 ballots re
turned by 10-year members of the
Baseball Writers Association of
America (85.18 percent). This year,
380 votes were needed to meet the
75 percent support required for in
duction July 25 in Cooperstown,
N.Y.
"It's a great relief," Molitor said,
"and certainly a great honor."
Eckersley, whose career was re
born when he became one of histo
ry's most efficient closers at age 32,
drew 421 votes (83.2 percent). That
enabled him to join Hoyt Wilhelm
(1985) and Rollie Fingers (1992) as
only the third relief pitcher in the
Hall.
"It's just an honor to be in the
Hall of Fame, let alone to think of
some of the guys who aren't in, like
Bruce Sutter and Goose Gossage
and Lee Smith," Eckersley said. "I
feel fortunate they let me in, be
cause I know it's not an easy thing."
Sutter, a six-time All-Star who pi
oneered the split-finger fastball as
his out pitch, picked up 35 more
votes in his 11th year on the ballot.
But his total of 301 left him well
short of induction at 59.49 percent.
Gossage, who followed Fingers as
the second closer to amass 300
saves, lost three votes in his fifth
year on the ballot. His 206 votes
equated to 40.74 percent, down
from 42.1 percent last year.
And Smith, baseball's all-time
leader with 478 career saves, lost 25
votes from his 2003 total, slipping
to 185 (36.56 percent).
Save totals have become inflated
since Eckersley revolutionized the
role of the one-inning closer during
his nine seasons in Oakland. But he
also completed 100 of his 361 starts
earlier in his career and won 197
games.
"Maybe that helps set me apart,"
Eckersley said. "1 tell Goose, 'I went
nine.' I know Gossage and Sutter
pitched more innings to get saves,
and it's not Lee Smith's fault he
went one inning a lot at the end of
his career. Maybe this will help
them. I respect what they did, be
cause saving games was much more
difficult when they did it."
Molitor overcame a similar voting
bias by becoming the first Hall of
Famer who played a significant
number of games (1,174 of 2,683)
as a designated hitter.
(c) 2004, The Dallas Morning News.
Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune
Information Services.
STARTERS
continued from page 7
The women know they aren't off to
the best of conference starts, but they
are well aware that the season isn't
over just because of a few losses.
"We're not done," guard Chelsea
Wagner said after Sunday's loss to
UCLA. "We had a rough start with
the Pac-10, but we've still got a ways
to go."
High school reunion
Center Andrea Bills squared off
against a familiar face in Sunday's
SAVE $«
BUY USED TEXTS
768 East 1 3th
345-1651
A UO CAMPUS ALTERNATIVE /
SINCE 1974
a proud member of Unique Eugene
game against UCLA.
Bruins sophomore Emma Tauto
lo, a former high school teammate,
matched up against Bills for about
five minutes of the UCLA victory.
Both players were called for a foul
during the second half in skirmish
es at each end of the court.
Tautolo and Bills played together at
Moreno Valley High School in Cali
fornia.
Surgical holiday
Kraayeveld had surgery on her
right knee Dec. 26 for the torn ante
rior cruciate ligament that she suf
fered in practice on Dec. 3. The 6
foot-4 former All-American candi
date returned to the sidelines to sup
port her teammates at the Jan. 2
game against USC, complete with a
large brace on her right leg.
Contact the senior sports reporter
at mindirice@dailyemerald.com.
lUNti KOIL
FIRM SUPPORT
TWIN SET $199°°
FULL SET $269°°
QUEEN SET *299°°
10-Year Warranty
-4
KING KOIL
SUPER PLUSH
TWIN SET $259°°
FULL SET $299°°
QUEEN SET $359°°
KING SET $459°°
10-Year Warranty
KING KOIL
PILLOW TOP
TWIN SET $299°°
FULL SET *359°°
QUEEN SET $399°°
KING SET $599°°
10-Year Warranty
016893
Jt AMERICAN
/0*cf' MATTRESS
MANUFACTURING
4075 w. 1 ith • 343-2690
Monday - Saturday 9-6 • Sunday 11-5