Sports Editor:
Hank Hager
hankhager@dailyemerald.com
Wednesday, February 25,2004
Oregon Daily Emerald
SPORTS
Best bet
NBA:
Cleveland vs. Houston
6 p.m., ESPN
Mindi Rice
The giri and the game
Renovate
Howe Field
instead of
new arena
In all the racket surrounding the indefi
nite postponement of a new sports arena,
there has been talk of missed opportuni
ties, the ongoing collegiate arms race and
the letdown after such a quick buildup.
One thing remains forgotten: Howe Field.
The softball team's home sweet home
that was set to dose following this season,
allowing the Athletics Department to con
struct a 15,000-seat arena on the site, will
remain standing.
At least for now.
Despite the University's desire to keep
the new arena's location the same — re
gardless of when it is built — it would make
a cheaper deal to shelve the Howe location
and move the new arena to the Autzen Sta
dium area. Just work out a deal with Lane
Transit District for student-only shuttles
from campus and one problem is solved.
Some of that saved money — from the
estimated $10 to $12 million budgeted to
relocate the softball field — could instead
be put to use upgrading Howe Field and
giving it amenities. Someday, head coach
Kathy Arendsen and her No. 21 Ducks want
to host an NCAA Regional Tournament.
In the NCAA's list of 20 different "Facili
ty Requirements for Softball Champi
onship Hosts" (also known as Appendix
C) in the Division I softball handbook,
Howe meets many of the standards al
ready. The field is the right material, the di
mensions fit the requirements and Mac
Court is right across the parking lot for
training facilities and closed interviews.
Turn to RICE, page 6A
Crunch time
comes for UO
The Ducks are reeling after losing two straight
at McArthur Court to Arizona and Arizona State
By Hank Hager
Sports Editor
As the Pacific-10 Conference regular season begins to grind
down and teams prepare for the conference tournament, one
ugly truth for Oregon is beginning to show.
The Ducks need to win the Pac- 10's postseason tournament
in order to get to the NCAA version.
OK, so it's still possible that four wins in four games to end
the season could get Oregon to the Big Dance. Ihat, however,
is not a likely scenario.
MEN’S
BASKETBALL
"Yeah, it is hard not looking forward
to (the Pac-10 Tournament)," Oregon
forward Ian Crosswhite said. "You
think about it a little bit. But still we're
not going to win it if we don't play well
up to it. If we don't kind of get on a roll
and win some games, it's going to be
hard to get into the tournament and play good basketball."
This season, eerily, has mirrored Oregon's 2002-03 effort. With
four games left to play last season, the Ducks were 8-6 in Pac-10
play. They went on to drop two of their next four before winning
three straight in Los Angeles at the conference tournament.
Oregon needed to win it last season to get into the NCAA
Tournament, and it did. The scenario this year will be the same.
But as Crosswhite said, the Ducks can't look too far ahead.
California and Stanford are pivotal opponents, especially on
their home courts.
"The thing you learn in terms of being in athletics is that
you can't look back, you've got to continue to look ahead,"
Oregon head coach Ernie Kent said. "We're still in the grind of
the season. Obviously it has not gone the way we want it to
go, but that's OK. We're still here and we're still in the hunt for
some things."
Playing to the Ducks' favor this season is the lack of any
clearcut favorites after No. 1 Stanford. Arizona showed its vul
nerability in a loss to Oregon State on Saturday, and teams
ranked third through sixth in the Pac-10 standings are just a
game and a half apart.
"With the exception of Stanford, everybody has had some
tough losses along the way," Kent said. "We're just sitting there
battling each other, so someone is going to emerge out of all of
that. We have just as good a chance as anyone else to do that."
After the Ducks emerge out of the muck that will be Cali
fornia's Haas Pavilion and Stanford's Maples Pavilion, they re
turn to McArthur Court to face off against Southern Califor
nia and UCLA. Then comes Pac-10 Tournament time.
Watch the ball bounce
Aaron Brooks emerged before Tuesday's practice without
Turn to CRUNCH, page 6A
Erik Bishoff Photographer
Luke Jackson and the Ducks will likely need to win the Pac-10 Tournament to go to the NCAA version.
Danielle Hickey Photo Editor
Natalie Jones leads Arizona and is third in the Pac-10 with a 78.8 free throw percentage.
Battle for top Pac-10 berth
comes down to Cardinal,‘Cats
The top two Pac-10 teams are
one game apart with two games
remaining in conference season play
By Mindi Rice
Senior Sports Reporter
One of Stanford's three Pacific-10 Conference losses this
season came almost three weeks ago against the team now sit
ting one game behind the Cardinal in the Pac-10 standings.
With the final conference games of the season taking
place this weekend, Arizona (20-7 overall, 12-4 Pac-10)
and No. 10 Stanford (20-5, 13-3)
are in a tight race for the No. 1
seed in the Pac-10 Tournament.
The Wildcats travel to the Wash
ington schools while the Cardi
nal closes its home season with
Oregon and Oregon State.
"We are in control of our own destiny," Arizona head
coach Joan Bonvicini said following Saturday s victory over
Oregon. "We need to be a little tougher on the road. We
are not going to look back we are going to look forward."
The second-place Wildcats closed their home season 14-0
at McKale Center on Saturday. Arizona is 3-4 on the road in
conference play, which lends some worry to the Wildcats' run
PAC
io
at the top seed. They dose the regular season against
Washington and Washington State this weekend.
"I am not sure why we play like we do on the road,"
Arizona guard Dee-Dee Wheeler said. "1 mean, we take
the same players, but we don't play our game."
The race for the top of the Pac-10 doesn't just include
two teams, however. Arizona State (17-8, 11-5) is close
behind in third, and Southern California (14-11, 11-6) is
a half-game behind the Sun Devils.
The only conference teams who have a record — Pac
10 or overall — below .500 are the bottom three: Ore
gon, California and Washington State.
'The Pac-10 is a tough conference," Oregon head coach
Bev Smith said Saturday. "You can separate the top and the
bottom. I think Stanford, Arizona, Arizona State and South
ern California had good (non-conference) preseasons, and it
carried through to the Pac-10 competition. The Pac-10 has
tough teams that play well at home."
With the Pac-10 Tournament taking all 10 teams, the
bottom four play on the first day. The No. 7 and No. 10
seeds face each other first while the No. 8 and No. 9 seeds
play the tournament's second game
The only team that appears to have its conference tourna
ment position wrapped up is Washington State The Cougars'
(5-20,1-15) only conference win came at California.
Turn to BATTLE, page 6A