Oregon Daily Emerald
Wednesday, November 3, 2004
“Idon’t know what to expect right now, but
we as players have to do what we’ve got to do
to make sure that the pot is spread equally. ”
Jim Jackson | Houston Rockets guard on a new collective bargaining agreement
■ In my opinion
CLAYTON JONES
SEVENTHINNING STRETCH
Division
shifts a plus,
but Blazers
will still lose
It’s that special time when “candidates” have
worked hard, and it’s time to produce.
Who will finish on top?
Who knows? It’ll be months before the re
sults are found.
The National Basketball Association started
play yesterday, and I’m pumped.
By the time anyone reads this, three games
will have been played in this young NBA season.
There are a lot of new and fun aspects to the
NBA this year, including division realignment.
For the league, this is a great idea. Divisional
matchups will be more compelling and will
make more sense geographically.
Portland TTail Blazer fans: Hold on, don’t get
too excited.
Portland now plays in the Northwest Divi
sion, which has arguably two of the top three
teams in the conference, Denver and Minnesota.
Minnesota is one of the “sexy” choices (i.e.
the Seattle Seahawks of the NFL) to win the ti
tle this year.
Why, you ask?
K.G. Enough said.
Kevin Garnett is the best all-around basket
ball player on the planet right now. He led his
team to the best record in the league last year
and nearly beat the Lakers in last season’s
Western Conference Finals.
But all you Portland fans thinking that the
drama of the Lakers is finally out of your divi
sion, fear not; Minnesota has its own problems.
Both Sam Cassell and Latrell Sprewell are
griping about contract extensions (Why? I don’t
know, because both are 34-years-old and past
their primes) with Sprewell demanding a trade.
But once again, the Timberwolves have K.G.
In Denver, the Nuggets picked up one of the
most coveted free-agents of the off-season in
Kenyon Martin. The Nuggets are young, excit
ing and made the playoffs last year with rookie
Carmelo Anthony leading the team in scoring.
A damn rookie!
With Martin and Marcus Camby on the in
side, Andre Miller and Voshon Lenard on the
outside and Anthony covering everything in be
tween, Denver will be tough.
An improved Utah team is also in the Blaz
ers’ division. One of the surprises of the league
last season, Utah will now have added pressure
to succeed. The Jazz picked up two big men
during the off-season: Mehmet Okur and Car
los “Yeah I’ll stay in Cleveland — unless they
give me more money somewhere else” Boozer.
Those two, teamed with Andrei Kirilenko, will
give the Jazz a tough frontcourt to contend with.
Their backcourt isn’t too shabby either, as long as
Carlos Arroyo (fresh off shocking Team USA in
Greece) isn’t out too long with his ankle injury.
Luckily for the Blazers, Seattle will join them
in the division, and it looks like these two teams
will be fighting to the death over last place.
The Sonics, as I’m sure every Oregon fan
knows, have Luke Ridnour. This figures to be the
year he gets more playing time, which could fit in
well with Nate McMillan’s run-and-gun offense.
He will be flanked by All-Stars Ray Allen and
Rashard Lewis. These two combined for more
JONES, page 6
■ Duck volleyball
Erik R. Bishoff | Photographer
Oregon libero Katie O’Neil, seen here against Arizona, posted the third-best Pacific-10 Conference
performance for total digs in a match with 43 in a losing effort to Washington State last week.
Huskies
keep grip
on No. 1
position
OSU forces Washington to drop
two consecutive games, the first
time since December 2003
BY STEPHEN MILLER
SPORTS REPORTER
In 41 of the last 45 weeks, a Pacific-10 Con
ference team has occupied the top spot in the
USA Today/CSTV Top 25 poll. Washington has
been at No. 1 for the last five weeks.
During a televised match last week, the
Huskies (19-0 overall, 11-0 Pac-10) were forced
into a five-game contest and were nearly upset
by Oregon State. The Beavers (9-11, 3-8) won
the first game 30-20 and then overthrew the
Huskies again in the second, 39-37, marking
the first time Washington has lost two consecu
tive games since Dec. 13 of last year, when they
dropped games against Minnesota in the NCAA
Regional Tournament.
Washington was still without senior Sanja
Tomasevic — a 2003 second-team All-American
— during last week’s road trip but managed to
stay undefeated.
A core of outside hitters picked up the slack
and kept the Huskies two games ahead of their
nearest Pac-10 foe. Brie Hagerty is averaging
4.81 kills per game through the last six matches,
and she recorded 40 kills against the Oregon
teams. The junior’s season average in kills is
4.10, which is third in the conference.
Senior Kaitlin Leek recorded a team-high 27
kills against Oregon State and added 12 against
Oregon.
Fellow outside hitter Christal Morrison con
tinues to post substantial numbers for the
Huskies and is second in the conference in kills
per game, averaging 4.32. The true-freshman
phenom is the team-leader with 268 kills.
With one more victory Washington will
VOLLEYBALL, page 6
■ Duck golf
Oregon ties for 10th at The Prestige
The Ducks finish out their fall season with the
team's best showing at the tourney since 2000
BY SCOTTI. ADAMS
FREELANCE SPORTS REPORTER
The Oregon men’s golf team
wrapped up its fall season tying
for 10th at The Prestige at PGA
West, played on the par-72, 7,156
yard Greg Norman course in La
Quinta, Calif. For the Ducks, it
was their best Prestige finish since
2000, when they finished ninth.
Freshman Joey Benedetti lead
the Ducks after shooting a final
round l-over 73 to finish in a tie
for 10th. The Huntington Beach,
Calif., native carded four birdies
and five bogeys to mark his best
performance as a collegiate ath
lete. Benedetti finished the tour
nament with an 11-over par 227
for the three rounds.
Eleventh-ranked UCLA topped
the field with a final round 294,
bringing its total score to 904.
This made for an impressive nine
stroke lead over second-place fin
isher and host UC Davis, who
scored a 913, followed by UC
Irvine and No. 24 Texas Tech,
who tied for third at 917. Okla
homa took fifth at 922 and Stan
ford nabbed sixth with 924, fol
lowed by Kansas and No. 7 Texas
Christian who tied for seventh at
925. Texas Christian came into
The Prestige as 2003 defending
champions. No. 13 Brigham
Young finished ninth at 931.
Oregon saved its best round for
last and carded a 308, but still fell
two spots into a tie for 10th with
Notre Dame at 934.
The individual title of The Pres
tige went to Erik Hill of UC Davis,
who carded a tournament-best 69
on Tbesday. Hill finished with a 1
over 217 to edge out Cole Isban of
Notre Dame by two strokes.
The Ducks’ Kyle Johnson,
who was competing in his first
event of the season, tied for 33rd
at 231. Chris Dukeminier tied for
53rd at 240.
Second round action of The
Prestige saw the Ducks take their
newly remodeled starting rotation
into an eighth place finish. John
son led Oregon after shooting a 9
over 153 Monday to tie for 13th
with Michael Putnam of Pepper
dine. Johnson started the round
strong but struggled a bit toward
the end of the front nine, carding a
pair of double bogeys. Johnson did
get one stroke back, however, with
a birdie on the par-5 12th hole.
Benedetti had first and second
rounds of 79 and 75, respectively,
to tie for 15th at 10-over going
into the third round. During the
second round, Benedetti carded
four birdies, five bogeys and a
double bogey, making for a roller
coaster of an afternoon for the
freshman. Sophomore Matt Ma,
making his varsity season debut
at the PGA West, shot 79-80-159
and was tied for 38th. Ma’s name
reverberated throughout the
course after he fired a head-turn
ing eagle on the par-4 11th hole in
the second round.
UC Davis took the lead at the
end of the second round after
shooting a 303 to edge UCLA by
one stroke. The Aggies finished
the day at 609, followed by the
Bruins at 610. UC Irvine complet
ed the University of California
sweep of the top three spots by
taking third with 612, followed by
Kansas at 618 and Texas Christian
at 621. The Red Raiders of Texas
Tech finished sixth with 622, fol
lowed by fellow Big XII Confer
ence foe Oklahoma at 623.
Pepperdine trailed Oregon by
one stroke to finish ninth with
627, followed by Stanford at 628,
Brigham Young at 629 and Notre
Dame at 633.
Scott J. Adams is a freelance sports
reporter for the Daily Emerald