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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (June 29, 2004)
Sports Editor: Alex Tam alextam@dailyemerald.com Tuesday, June 29, 2004 -Oregon Daily Emerald SPORTS Best bet: Wimbledon Championships 2004 1 p.m. Tuesday, ESPN ALEX TAM HOLDING COURT Clean up college recruiting A negative image is hovering over colle giate athletics. Findings of more and more recruiting violations committed by coaches around the country are ruining the integrity of athletics overall. The recently released details about Oregon football assistant coach Gary CampbellQ is further this problem. Campbell, who has coached at Oregon for nearly 21 years, was found to have committed multiple NCAA violations with his recruitment of junior college prospect J.J. Arrington in january 2003. Arrington is now a reserve tailback at the University of California-Berkeley. According to an NCAA release, Camp bell reportedly traveled to Arrington's hometown of Newhall, Calif, on Ian. 15 — the deadline for junior college players to sign a letter of intent to attend a Divi sion 1 school. Campbell, who has had a big hand in the development of current NFL players and former Ducks Onterrio Smith and Maurice Morris, instructed Ar rington to forge his father's signature and to "falsely indicate" that the signature was made before the deadline. The Oregon athletic program conse quently suspended Campbell for one week without pay during the 2003-2004 academic year and assigned him to a dif ferent area of recruiting. These occurrences are not only hap pening in college football, but in other sports as well. Just two days after Oregon's incident, the University of Missouri was found to have paid more than $ 136,000 to two bas ketball coaches who were accused of breaking NCAA rules, in exchange for their resignations, according to the Associated Press. Assistant head coach Tony Harvey reportedly gave a former player $250. Flar vey and assistant coach Lane Odom also committed several recruiting violations. And you wonder why more and more high school athletes are deciding to skip college and heading straight to the profes sional ranks, in mainly football and bas ketball? Who would want to be associated with the increasing negativity surrounding collegiate athletics? It is simply hurting the quality of the sports. In turn, it is also decreasing the quality of the professional game. These young athletes jumping from high school to the pros, who are just teenagers, are not prepared physically or mentally to handle the challenges on their respective field of play and especially off it. This issue was never more apparent than in last Thursday's NBA Draft. A record eight high school players were selected with the first 19 picks. High school phe nom Dwight Howard was chosen with the first overall selection and it marked the fourth consecutive year that a non-college player was selected first overall in the NBA Draft. However, two of those four — Houston's Yao Ming in 2002 and Please see TAM, page 6 Jackson selected 10th in NBA draft — ——---:■ . 7 Former Oregon forward Luke Jackson was picked 10th by the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2004 NBA draft. Jackson is the third Oregon player in the last three years to be taken in the first round. The Creswell native led the Ducks last year in points, rebounds and assists. Tim Bobosky Freelance Photographer Luke Jackson says he'll 'fit in' with the Cleveland Cavaliers ALEX TAM SPORTS EDITOR Former Oregon forward Luke lackson arrived at last Thursday's press conference to talk about his selection in this year's NBA draft as if he just came from the gym and was eager to embark on his professional career. Jackson showed up wearing a white tank top, black basketball shorts, white sneakers and a re versed crimson and gold baseball cap that repre sented the team who chose him with the 10th overall selection — the Cleveland Cavaliers. "The one thing that was more important to me was where 1 went and not really how high 1 went/' Jackson said. "Going No. 10 is just a huge bonus and going to Cleveland — where I'm go ing to fit in — that really feels good and I feel there's something special there."Jackson is the 42nd NBA draft pick in Oregon history and is the highest selection of a Duck alumnus since Wash ington drafted Greg Ballard in 1977 with the fourth overall pick. The 6-foot-7 Creswell native, who led the Ducks in points, rebounds and assists last year, also became the third Oregon player in the last three years to be taken in the first round of the NBA Draft. l.ast year, Luke Ridnour was chosen by Seattle with the 14th pick and in 2002 Fred lones was selected by Indiana, also at No. 14. Jackson said he spoke before the draft with Ridnour, who was competing in a golf tourna ment in Bend, and received advice from his for mer back court mate of two years ago. "He just wished me the best of luck and said no matter what happens, you'll be all right (and) you're going to be in the NBA next year, so you got to feel good about that," Jackson said. Please see JACKSON, page 6 Ems offense breaks out against Boise Jared Paben Editor in Chief Infielder Brett Burnham is batting .250 with three runs scored in six games played through Sunday. Eugene has scored 20 runs on 26 hits in its past two games in Boise ALEX TAM SPORTS EDITOR Maybe the offense is finally coming around for the Eugene Emeralds. The inability to produce key base hits in late game situations with players in scoring position hampered the Emeralds to begin the 2004 campaign. The Emeralds (4-7) sit in last place in the West Division of the Northwest league, but have won two straight games on the road after a 13-8 win against Boise on Monday. Eugene manager Roy Howell said he is still learning how to use his players and place them in the right situations for them to succeed. "What you try to do with these guys is get v* * f,-•, * ■< K | t^iem out t^iere anc*to play and I have to judge h U Cjr cN L what's going on and what I can get out of it," FMFRA1 DS Howell “id-,<Are we going to run? Are we go _ ing to hit and run? How we are going to score runs and what we're going to do with the per sonnel we have — that's what I have to find out." Scoring runs had been difficult for Eugene with a team batting aver age of .201 and an average of four runs per game through Sunday. However, the offense is showing signs of improvement after scoring 20 runs on 26 hits in the past two games. "The only thing we can do for the first two weeks is sit back and watch," Howell said. On Sunday, Eugene broke its four-game losing streak with a 7-6 win in 12 innings against Boise. After letting a 6-4 lead slip away in the bot tom of the ninth, Emeralds's third baseman Lachlan Dale blasted a solo home run in the top of the 12th inning to give Eugene the lead. Reliever Jake Vose closed the game out in the bottom of the 12th in ning for his first save of the season. What we have to do as a staff is make sure these guys pull together," Howell said. 1 he common goal is to win the baseball game and to go out there and play the game die way it's supposed to be played." Catcher Colt Morton, one of Eugene's top hitters in the middle of the lineup, also hit a home run on Sunday. The 22-year-old Morton, who is Please see EMERALDS, page 8
