Sports Editor:
Hank Hager
hankhager@dailyemerald.com
Oregon Daily Emerald
SPORTS
Best bet
NCAA Basketball
Stanford v. Oregon
6:15 p.m. Friday, FSN
Friday, March 12,2004
Hank Hager
Behind the dish
Venue
displays
impartial
Pac-10
LOS ANGELES — Oh, the beauty of a neu
tral court.
Both the Ducks and Golden Bears showed
the ability to dominate at their respective home
courts this season. Oregon went 9-3 at
McArthur Court this season, California 11-4 at
Haas Pavilion.
On the road, it was a much different story.
The Ducks snuggled, going 4-6 away from Eu
gene. California was worse, taking a 2-7 hit away
from Berkeley.
So when it came down to a neutral court
Thursday at the Staples Center, the better team
won, right?
The thing is, it's really hard to tell which of
these teams was necessarily better. Through
out the season, the Bears and Ducks were the
poster boys for the down year in the Pacific
10 Conference.
Both were expected to be one of at least
four teams to grind their way through the
conference season and earn a bid into the
NCAA Tournament — before the Pac-10's
postseason even started.
Based on the way each battled one another
throughout the season, there really wasn't much
definition. The lines were blurred. Oregon and
Cal players could have switched jerseys, and
Turn to HAGER, page 10
Oregon sinks Cal with three-pointers
Adam Amato Senior Photographer
Luke Jackson (33) co-led the Ducks with 19 points in an 87-82 win against California.
The Ducks won their first game in the 2004
Pac-10 Tournament, earning Oregon
a meeting today against No. 1-seeded Stanford
By Hank Hager
Sports Editor
MIEN'S
BASKETBALL
LOS ANGELES — Oregon set a Pacific-10 Conference Tourna
ment record with 13 three-pointers against California Thursday.
But that's only half the story. I lad the
Ducks made just 12, as they did twice in
last season's tournament, Oregon
might've headed back to Eugene late
Thursday night.
A freshman decided otherwise.
Aaron Brooks sank his second, and the team's 13th, three
pointer of the game with 1:54 to play, propelling Oregon to an
87-82 win over the Golden Bears at Staples Center.
"Everybody was really pumped up," Brooks said. "It was
amazing. I haven't felt that much love from the team since when
I stepped on the floor in the Arizona game"
The Seattle native sat for most of the second half, playing just
five of his 20 minutes. After getting whistled for fouls twice in the
first half, he earned his third of the game less than a minute into
the second half. That prompted Oregon head coach Ernie Kent
to replace him with sophomore guard Brandon Iincoln.
Eight minutes later, Brooks came in again, earned an early foul
and went straight to the bench.
With 3:56 to play, Brooks entered for the final time and two
minutes later sank the three-pointer that sent the Ducks to a
matchup with top-seeded Stanford today at 6:15 p.m.
"All year long, I've felt like this was a good basketball team if
we could get back in rhythm and get all our pieces back," Kent
said. "Having Aaron back, it gives us an opportunity to do that."
Those pieces began to fit for the Ducks (15-11 overall), allow
ing Oregon to play the wide-open, up-tempo style of basketball it
came into the season hoping to play. The Ducks dished out 20
assists — led by Luke Jackson's six — and out-rebounded the
Golden Bears, 32-29.
"I think we got back to playing our style of basketball, espe
cially on offense," Kent said. "We are a terrific shooting team
when we take balanced shots and make that extra pass."
Balanced shots allowed Jackson, Andre Joseph and lames
Davis to all score 19 points. For Joseph, it tied a career-high.
For Davis, the 19 points came on 5 of 10 shooting from be
yond the three-point line.
"We were pretty efficient offensively," Davis said. "We were
swinging the ball and finding the open man, and when we do
that, our guards shoot the ball well and we can knock down
some good shots."
Four of those three-pointers came in the first half, helping Ore
gon jump out to as much as a seven-point lead early in the game.
That eventually evaporated, due in large part to Amit Tamir's 19
Turn to SINK, page 10
Eleven Ducks showcase NFL readiness
NFL scouts were impressed
by Sarnie Parker’s 4.3-second
40-yard dash time in Thursday’s
workout at Moshofsky Center
By Kirsten McEwen
Freelance Reporter
Come April 24 and 25, 11 former Ore
gon football players will have a better un
_ derstanding of
gpH jg n gap** gyr what their future
•-# ILP jsjfL football ca
FOOTB ALL reers will look like.
- Until then, all
they can do is
showcase their skills and speed, and play
the waiting game.
Thursday afternoon, countless NFL
scouts made the trip to Eugene in hopes of
getting another look at some of the coun
try's top draft picks. Quinn Dorsey, Jason
Fife, Keith Lewis, David Martin, Kevin
Mitchell, Steven Moore, Igor Olshansky,
Sarnie Parker, Josh Rogers, Junior Siavii
and Dan Weaver participated in a number
of speed and quickness drills in the Uni
versity's Ed Moshofsky Sports Center.
Thursday's Pro Day was run in a much
more casual fashion than what the players
experienced last month at the NFL Combine
Parker stole the show from the begin
ning, recording a 4.3-second 40-yard dash,
one of the fastest times in the country.
Lewis had the second fastest 40-yard dash
of the day, clocking in at 4.54 seconds.
Martin, on the other hand, failed to finish
due to a hamstring injury. Olshansky was
the lone player who did not participate in
the drill, having already recorded a 4.97
time at the NFL Combine.
Olshansky said he has been given no in
dication of what team will draft him come
April, but he has been told he is doing well
and "will be happy in a of couple months."
"I'll be in the first day, that is what I have
been told," Olshansky said. "The first day
is quite an accomplishment."
Olshansky at least has a vague idea of
his fate come draft day. Fife, on the other
hand, isn't certain.
Fife has increased his stock tremendous
ly in the past few months, after he was
named the MVP of the Las Vegas Classic.
Thursday's session was a chance to
possibly improve some of his previous
marks. Fife said he was pleased with his
past performances.
"I'm pretty happy with my previous
times, it was just another opportunity to
maybe better those times," Fife said. "As far
as throwing, if you are completing balls,
you are doing well."
Following in the footsteps of Chris
Miller, Akili Smith, A.J. Feeley and Joey
Harrington, Fife hopes to continue the
streak of former Oregon quarterbacks who
have found success in the NFL.
"At this point, I am just kind of like a dark
horse; and that's fine, I don't mind," Fife said.
Fife, as well as Moore, are two players
more concerned with getting the chance to
play professionally than what round they
are drafted in.
"I don't want to get my hopes too high
or too low, I am just kind of in the mid
dle," Moore said.
Although each player will go in a dif
ferent round to a different team, they all
find themselves in the same boat. No
one knows where they will reside come
next season.
"You never really know, they don't tell
you anything," Moore said.
For now, the performing is over, but the
wait is not.
"I just hope something goes well for
me," Moore said. "That's all you can do, be
cause at that point, it is out of your hands."
Kirsten McEwen is a freelance reporter
for the Emerald.