Sports Editor:
Hank Hager
hankhager@dailyemerald.com
Monday, May 24, 2004
-Oregon Daily Emerald
SPORTS
Best bet
NBA Playoffs:
Detroit vs. Indiana
5 p.m., ESPN
Hank Hager
Behind the dish
Oregon,
Kent: The
right fit at
right time
There it was.
The first little hint of how Mike Mont
gomery's hiring at Golden State could af
fect Oregon.
It was placed so far down in the story it
almost seemed like an afterthought in an
artide focused primarily on Montgomery's
move to the NBA.
Oregon head coach Ernie Kent, a possi
ble replacement for Montgomery at Stan
ford, so suggested The (San Jose) Mercury
News on Friday.
In any other time, after any other re
cruiting dass, that would seem like a plau
sible statement. But now, after a year
where four Oregon signees are ranked
among the top 75 in the nation by recruit
ing services, the statement almost borders
on pure fallacy.
Kent has said he's not interested in the
vacant Stanford head coaching position.
Heck, it's not even on his radar. He was
out on the golf course Thursday and Fri
day giving that exact impression. The po
sition is available, but right now, the Car
dinal would be better served by going with
Nevada's Trent Johnson, who is rumored
to be the top candidate for the job.
Even Gonzaga's Mark Few would be a
better fit at this point in time, even though
it seems he may be more interested in the
job than Stanford is in him.
Either way, indications show that it's
not going to be Kent. Even though he's got
Stanford ties — the only head coach in the
Pacific-10 Conference that does — it won't
matter.
Even though Montgomery wants some
one to fill the job who has ties to the pro
gram, that shouldn't make Kent a candi
date.
However, it does, both in the eyes of
media prognosticators and Stanford ath
letic director Ted Leland.
And when you think about why Kent
could be a candidate, it begins to make
sense.
A little.
As much as a berth in the National In
vitation Tournament was a step back for
the Oregon program this year, Kent has
brought the future into focus. He recruit
ed a talented trio of players in October —
Chamberlain Oguchi, Bryce Taylor and
Maarty Leunen — then got a gap guy. A
player, Kenny Love, who will fill a gap that
Brandon Lincoln couldn't fill last season
— backup point guard.
After that, well, we all seem to know
what Malik Hairston brings to the table.
Well, we don't actually know, but all the
hype — fair or not — has him leading a
mini-revival at Oregon. And as much as
that is hype, there was no talk of that when
Luke Jackson and Luke Ridnour came to
the Ducks, nor when any of the current
Turn to HAGER, page 9
Softball misses World Series by one
Erik R. Bishoff Photographer
Oregon pitcher Ani Nyhus, shown here earlier this season, threw a four-hit shutout against Florida State on Sunday before
allowing the winning run in the second game. The Ducks lost, 2-0, to Florida State in the regional title game.
Four Ducks are named to the
All-Region team as Oregon
bounces back from a Saturday
loss to play two on Sunday
By Mindi Rice
Senior Sports Reporter
Two different seasons, two different
NCAA Regional Tournament locations,
two identical results.
Sunday in Tallahassee, Fla., the second
seeded Ducks took top-seeded Florida
State to a tiebreaker game in the hunt for
a Women's College World Series berth.
But Oregon's dreams ended with a two
hit shutout by Florida State's Jessica van
der Linden, sending the host school to the
World Series and
the Ducks back to
Eugene, one win
away from Okla
homa City for the
second time in as
many years.
"It's frustrating to get so close," senior
catcher Jenn Poore said in a release. "But
at the same time, it's exciting to see where
we've come as a program. Three years ago
we weren't even in this situation."
Oregon, which three years ago was 1-20
in Pacific-10 Conference play and finished
the season 12 games below .500, was in
the NCAA Regionals for the second time
in Oregon head coach Kathy Arendsen's
two-year tenure.
The Ducks kicked off their trek through
the NCAA Regional Tournament with a 1
0 win against Bethune-Cookman on
Thursday. Advancing in the winners'
bracket, Oregon beat South Florida 12-0
in five innings Friday, finally finding the
offensive firepower that the Ducks had
been missing in the final weeks of their
season.
Oregon first baseman Beth Boskovich
was 3 for 3 with four RBls in the game, and
third baseman Ashley Richards was 1 for 2
with two RBIs.
"It's always fun to be able to hit in your
teammates, but this is probably only my
third time being lead-off hitter," Boskovich
said in the post-game press conference.
"I'm usually in the meat part of the lineup,
DUCK
SOFTBALL
Turn to MISSES, page 9
Erik R. Bishoff Photographer
Ddminika Dieskova starts play in the NCAA Individual Championships today in Athens, Ga.
Top Oregon duo
to go to Georgia
for NCAA singles
Daria Panova and Dominika Dieskova enter
the NCAA Individual Championships with
collegiate and international tennis experience
By Clayton Jones
Freelance Reporter
Although the Oregon women's team season ended in dra
matic fashion at the hands of Washington this past week, jun
ior Daria Panova's and freshman Dominika Dieskova's indi
vidual seasons continue at the 2004 NCAA Women's
Individual Championships at Georgia beginning today.
IsPm.
TENNIS
Panova is competing in her second
consecutive NCAA Tournament and
will face Middle Tennessee State's top
player, Manon Kruse, in a first-round
match.
"My dream is to win this tournament and I want nothing
less," Panova said. "I need to fight hard for every ball because at
this level everybody is going to want it."
Turn to SINGLES, page 8