Sports Editor:
Hank Hager
hankhager@dailyemerald.com
Tuesday, February 24,2004
Oregon Daily Emerald
SPORTS
Best bet
NCAA basketball:
Michigan State vs. Michigan
4 p.m., ESPN
Hank Hager
Behind the dish
Colorado
situation
provides
problems
Let's not kid ourselves.
The scandal surrounding the Colorado
football program was brewing for a while.
It was just a matter of time before a big
time program slipped up.
Colorado head coach Gary Barnett
slipped up. Athletics director Richard Tharp
slipped up. The entire program slipped up.
And rightly so.
But let's not get past the fact that the
Buffaloes aren't alone. They're not a coin
cidence. Their kind of parties are not cen
tral to Boulder.
From Tallahassee, Fla., to Seattle, Los
Angeles to Portland, Maine, the landscape
of competitive collegiate athletics de
mands a little bending of the rules.
A little bend here, a little bend there.
Make sure not to break the rules — or lest
be found guilty of a hypocritical crime.
Everybody does it, why shouldn't State U?
That's the sad and ugly truth of the mat
ter. It just turns out Colorado got caught.
In the past two years, scandals have bro
ken out in college sports faster than wild
fires. Jim Harrick was caught at Georgia for
academic violations. Dave Bliss was run
out on a rail at Baylor after a player's death.
Rick Neuheisel lost his job at Washington
because of gambling on collegiate sports.
Minnesota has seen its share of reports
that players took recruits to strip clubs.
Even Oregon saw its share of controversy
with the Lynell Hamilton "incident" last year.
It's everywhere, and it's a black eye for
academia all across the nation.
This is not an "everybody does it, so we
should too," type of situation. Flat out, it's
wrong. Whether that means free rides
from professors or strip club parties for re
cruits, it's wrong. Most folks in the good
old United States of America would agree.
Even if it's technically not a crime.
Colorado took it one step further with
allegations of sexual harassment and rape.
What Barnett and his boys are doing over
there needs some serious cleaning up.
Whether that means he loses his job —
which is almost the case already — or the
program puts itself on suspension via the
death penalty, something has to be done.
In this case, it would be reactive. For the
future, it needs to be proactive.
Who's to say this kind of thing won't
happen down the road? Even if that
means one year, five years, or 10, it should
be a concern for all involved.
The root of most of the problems docu
mented in collegiate athletics is the practice
of recruiting. A tool used for as long as most
of us can remember, it's supposed to be a
way to entice potential students to a campus.
That, at least, is the way most of us visit
ed campuses. We were recruited from high
school and got the general tour. Meanwhile,
student athletes get the royal treatment.
That's where the line between right
and wrong — too thin and too far — is
Turn to HAGER, page 6
OSU fighting for postseason berth
Lauren Wimer Photographer
J.S. Nash (22), Jim Hanchett (12), and the Beavers are on the cusp on the Pac-10 Tournament.
Oregon State is making a run at the Pac-10
Tournament, having won three of its last four
games; the Beavers sit in eighth place
By Jesse Thomas
Sports Reporter
Don't count out Oregon State just yet; it is making a nin for
it— a run tor the Pacific-10 Conference Tournament, that is.
Oregon State (11-13 overall, 5-9 Pac-10) has won three of
its past four games after having lost six straight.
The Beavers are currently tied with Washington State for
eighth place in the conference. Only eight teams advance to
compete in the Pac-10 Tournament.
Oregon State head coach Jay John has done a credible job
in reviving this program in his second year, mostly by beating
his former bosses.
John served as an assistant coach under Oregon head coach
Ernie Kent from 1997-98 and Arizona head coach Lute Olson
from 1998-2002 before taking the position at Oregon State.
_ John has led the Beavers to wins
|tfKEriVl'<£ over Oregon, 90-81 on Jan. 10, and
1 wI Hi ill Arizona, 90-84 on Feb. 21. Oregon
BASKETBALL State's victory over then No. 14-ranked
- Arizona on Saturday was its first victo
ry over a ranked opponent since 2000.
"Yeah, I've got to say this was a big one," John told The
Daily Barometer after the game. "We beat Oregon and that is
also big for our program, so those two home wins have
shown that we're making progress and starting to head in
the right direction."
David Lucas and Chris Stephens led the Beavers with 22
points each. Oregon State will have the opportunity to
again pull another upset when it visits No. 1 Stanford on
Thursday.
Pac-8 tournament?
For a team such as Arizona State (10-14, 4-11), which sits
in last place in the Pac-10, the season very well may end in two
weeks. The Sun Devils will likely have no postseason oppor
tunities and are on the brink of not earning the chance to
compete in the Pac-10 Tournament.
Only eight of the 10 Pac-10 teams compete in the tourna
ment. The two teams with the worst records are not invited.
Olson is disappointed that no solution has been made and
said coaches are in agreement that all 10 teams should have
a shot in the tournament.
"And that's been discussed more than probably the league
office wants to hear," he said. "A huge mistake is being made
with that. It's been 10 to nothing by the coaches — the solu
tions for this — but we get no support from eight of the (ath
letic directors) on this."
Lucas receives honor
Lucas was named the Pacific-10 Conference Men's Basketball
Player of the Week for February 16-22 on Monday.
Turn to POSTSEASON, page 6
UO works to improve
before Pac-10 tourney
Oregon is focusing on the little
things after being blown out
twice last week in Arizona
By Jon Roetman
Sports Reporter
Oregon is getting back to basics.
After a pair of 20-plus point losses in Ari
zona last week, the Ducks are concentrating
on the minor aspects that go along with being
a successful basketball team.
With only two regular season games re
_ maining before the Pa
cific- 10 Conference
Tournament, Oregon
knows it needs to im
prove quickly.
"We have to make
sure that we are focusing on the short-term
things," Oregon head coach Bev Smith said.
WOMEN'S
BASKETBALL
"Like get ready and have a great practice and look
after the little things that are still plaguing us.
"Footwork, spacing offensively and shot se
lection. Those are things we have to continue
to work on that are going to help us, not only
for the upcoming games (against Stanford and
California), but for the Pac-10 Tournament."
Oregon (12-14 overall, 4-12 Pac-10) experi
enced plenty of "little" problems Thursday
when the Ducks managed to score only 40
points in a 25-point loss at Arizona State. Ore
gon didn't have a player reach double figures
in scoring and the Sun Devils closed the game
on a 31-8 mn.
Guard Brandi Davis finished with a team
high nine points.
"It was a very disappointing night," Davis
said after the game. "We didn't step up to the
challenge."
Oregon lost to Arizona by 26 two nights lat
er. The Ducks fell behind 43-20 by halftime en
route to an 84-58 loss.
Turn to WOMEN, page 6
Adam Amato Senior Photographer
Kayla Steen will play her final game at McArthur Court Saturday.