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.