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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 22, 2004)
Sports Editor: Hank Hager hankhager@dailyemerald.com Thursday, January 22,2004 -Oregon Daily Emerald SPORTS Best bet NHL: Philadelphia vs. N.Y. Rangers 4:30 p.m., ESPN Jesse Thomas Go the distance Blazers produce mistake with Miles Too bad it wasn't Lebron James who came to Portland in Wednesday's trade. In stead, the Blazers picked up forward Darius Miles. It was announced on Wednesday that Miles — formerly of Cleveland — is be ing traded to the Trail Blazers for guard Jeff Mclnnis and center Ruben Boumtje Boumtje. Miles was the third overall pick in the 2000 NBA Draft by the Los Angeles Clip pers. Coming straight out of East High School in Illinois, Miles was expected to be the next prodigy from high school to professional basketball. People were com paring him to Minnesota's Kevin Garnett. Miles has failed to impress or come dose to expectations in his first three and half years in the league, however. And Blazers General Manager John Nash has failed to impress and is making a mistake in bringing Miles to Portland. "In Darius Miles we acquire a superior athlete who has already successfully com pleted almost four years in the league," Nash said. Miles is a "superior athlete" who can't shoot — in fact, he's a horrible shooter. Last year's numbers show that Miles' per formance declined at a rapid rate and he has never recovered. In October 2002, Miles began solid play in Cleveland, averaging 14 points and 7.5 rebounds per game. Remember, Miles was the young superstar around whom Cleve land thought it could build a franchise. Enter James and the end of that story. In November 2002, Miles' numbers slipped to 11.7 points and 6.4 rebounds per game. In December, he was all the way down to 6.9 points and 5.4 rebounds per game. He was shooting 36 percent from the field in December. If (NBA personal trainer) Tim Grover can teach Darius Miles to shoot, then he deserves a lifetime achievement award," Charles Barkley told ESPN Insider in June 2003. "I'm not sure anyone can fix that." In the summer of 2002, before he joined the Cavs, Miles was a little too busy filming the movie "The Perfect Score" to be in the gymnasium working on his game. At least it's clear where his priorities are. Miles is an inconsistent player who lacks confidence. He has played few minutes for Cleveland this season be cause head coach Paul Silas has been hesitant to put him on the floor due to his inconsistencies. In 16 starts and 37 games this season, Miles is averaging 8.9 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game. Miles played his best ball in his rookie season with the Clippers when he averaged 9.4 points and 5.9 rebounds per game. The Blazers get the worst end of this deal. Boumtje Boumtje was easily dispensable. Turn to THOMAS, page 14 Ducks face challenge against ‘Cats Tim Kupsick Freelance Photographei Junior Kedzie Gunderson is one of several Oregon players who needs to step up offensively. WOMEN'S BASKETBALL Oregon faces the daunting task of stopping Arizona stars Shawntinice Polk and Dee-Dee Wheeler when the Wildcats visit tonight By Jon Roetman Sports Reporter Tonight's challenge for the Oregon women's basketball team is to slow down the Pacific-10 Conference's version of Shaquille O'Neal. Arizona center Shawntinice Polk leads the Wildcats (14-4 over all, 6-1 Pac-10) into McArthur Court tonight to face the Ducks (10-7, 2-5). At 6 foot-5 and with a sturdy build, Polk is con sidered one of the nation's top players, av eraging 16.3 points and 9.4 rebounds per game. With Oregon's recent problems in the paint, the Ducks will need a tremendous defensive effort to slow down last season's Pac-10 Freshman of the Year. The last time Arizona ventured to Eugene, Polk had a dominant 23-point, 15-rebound performance in a 71-66 victory over Oregon. "Her presence and her talent require some extra thought de fensively," Oregon head coach Bev Smith said. "She's a player we have to have a good individual game plan against, but also a great team game plan." Having Polk on the floor often causes opposing defenses to col lapse, leading to wide-open looks for her teammates. One of those teammates is junior guard Dee-Dee Wheeler, who is third in the conference in scoring at 17.4 points per game. Wheeler, the 2001 -02 Pac-10 Freshman of the Year, makes a liv ing off burning defenses that focus on Polk. Oregon will likely counter with Corrie Mizusawa, who has done a good defensive job against opposing point guards. "In the games that we've played where we've had to have some body shut down a point guard, Corrie has done it very well," Smith said. "I think Corrie has the smarts and the quickness to stay with (Wheeler)." Tonight's game will be the toughest test the Ducks have faced since defeating then-No. 9 LSU 76-67 on Nov. 16. The Oregon team that beat the Tigers at McArthur Court and the Oregon team facing Arizona tonight, however, are quite dif ferent. The Ducks relied on Cathrine Kraayeveld to carry them ear ly in the season, a luxury Oregon lost after the senior All-Ameri can candidate injured her right knee on Dec. 2. Facing Arizona with a healthy Kraayeveld wouldn't seem like such a daunting task. Facing Polk, sans Kraayeveld, with the worst per-game rebounding margin in the conference (minus 3.6), is a Turn to CHALLENGE, page 14 Diogu,Tempe troubles await Oregon The Ducks have never swept the Sun Devils and Wildcats on the same road trip By Hank Hager How do you guard the player that some call the best in the Pacific-10 Conference? do you guard the sophomore who averages 23.1 points and 9.7 rebounds per game? Do what everybody else does: Double team him, say the Ducks. It just might not be that easy. "If he gets inside and he gets low posi tion, he's going to score just about every time," Oregon's Ian Crosswhite said of Ari zona State's Ike Diogu. "You can't foul him because he's such a great free throw shoot er. It's going to be a big job. It was last year and it will be this year." Diogu, of course, is central to Cross white's focus when Oregon travels to Tempe to take on Arizona State at 7:30 p.m. today. The Garland, Texas, native consti tutes the bulk of the Sun Devil offense. He accounts for 31 percent of Arizona Sports Editor MEN’S BASKETBALL How do you keep the 6-foot-8 forward from dominating the low post and hav ing his way? How State's 74.4 points per game. His re bounding rate of 8.7 per game amounts to 23.5 percent of the team's average (36.9). To sum it up, Diogu leads the conference in scoring, is second in blocked shots (33), third in rebounds per game and eighth in free throw shooting (84.6 percent). Diogu is Arizona State. He dominates the Sun Devils' media guide, appearing on its cover with descriptions, including: "Wooden Award candidate and a First team Preseason All-American by Dick Vi tale, Street & Smith's, Basketball News and Sporting News." Not too shabby. "You don't attack Ike on defense," Oregon head coach Ernie Kent said. "Ike's going to get his points. You just need to make sure he doesn't have a monster game, but I think you need to make Ike play defense. We have some capable post guys that we're not going to be afraid to turn loose and have them go score the basketball." During the 2002-03 season, Diogu posted 17 points and 14 rebounds in Arizona State's 91-77 win against the Ducks at Wells Fargo Arena. That's the same place the teams will play tonight. It's also the same place that has pre sented itself as a house of horrors for Oregon over the past three seasons. The Ducks have not won in Tempe since Feb. 5, 2000. That was the year before Luke Turn to TROUBLES, page 14 Danielle Hickey Photo Editor Ian Crosswhite and the Ducks have not won in Tempe, Ariz., since 2000.
