“They like me more when 1 win, and I
don’t want to disappoint them. ’’
Oregon wrestler Scott Barker on his hometown crowd in St. Louis,
where he will compete in the NCAA Championships
■ In my opinion
CLAYTON JONES
SEVENTH INNING STRETCH
Lowly Ducks
don't deserve
an NIT bid,
despite fans
As all you Oregon men’s basketball junkies
know, the Ducks are still eligible for the post
season with a possible berth in the National
Invitational Tournament.
My fellow colleague wrote Thursday that the
team deserves a shot at the NIT because the team
persevered through some adversity (i.e. the Ian
Crosswhite situation), leaned on underclassmen
for their production and hung around in some
tough games.
I have to disagree. The team doesn’t deserve a
berth in the NIT.
While Oregon did deal with all those issues
and had the chance to win some pivotal games,
the key factor is that the Ducks didn’t win those
games. They couldn’t even make the Pacific-10
Tournament and finished in a very disappointing
ninth place in the conference.
The Ducks didn’t earn a postseason.
It’s not that they didn’t work hard or give
the effort, they just couldn’t figure out how to
win the close games during the conference
season. It would have taken just one free
throw against Washington.
The Ducks lost late leads to UCLA, Arizona
State and Stanford this season and were within
striking distance in games against Arizona and
Oregon State.
Arguably the team’s best win of the season
came at McArthur Court against a New Mexico
team that finished 23-6 on the season, but that
was in Oregon’s second game of the season.
Another argument I hear about why Oregon
should get an NIT bid is that Eugene draws well
for the NIT and that the NIT can bring in a big
profit from having Oregon host a game at historic
Mac Court.
Am I the only one that is troubled by
this rationale?
And why is there no talk (other than my col
league’s) about the team actually deserving a bid?
Because they don’t.
Yes, the excuse can be made that the Ducks are
young and inexperienced, but it doesn’t give
them a free pass into the tournament.
The NIT shouldn’t water down its tournament
with teams that barely eclipsed the .500 mark
and finished at the bottom of their conference.
There is also a lesson these young players need
to learn. How much does a team really take away
from a season when they perform below expecta
tions and still get an NIT berth because of where
they play, not for what they did on the court?
This young Duck squad should just pack up its
lockers and have Ernie Kent give the team a nice
inspirational speech about learning from this
year’s experiences and continuing to work hard
on its game.
This team knows it is talented enough to at
least be in the NIT tournament, and Oregon
could probably make a serious run if it does
get in.
But if that opportunity does come, the
Ducks should thank their loyal fan base, be
cause the fans will have earned the bid, not
the team.
claytonjones® dailyemerald, com
Erik R. Bishoff | Photographer
Oregon’s Scott Barker, seen here against Arizona State's Ryan Bader, finished second in his weight division at the 2003 NCAA Championships. After a year away to nurse
a knee injury, Barker came to Oregon for the 2004-05 season and will return to the championships this week.
Matching potential
y
Senior Scott Barker has won a
team-best 31 matches since
coming to wrestle at Oregon
BY SCOTT J. ADAMS
DAILY EMERALD FREELANCE REPORTER
When you’re talented at every sport you
play as a youth, how do you decide which one
to pursue in college?
For Scott Barker, a senior wrestler who has
left the mark of a franchise player on Oregon’s
team in just one season, he addressed the
dilemma before he was 10 years old.
“I was good at everything I did,” Barker re
calls. “When I was four, I started wrestling and
liked it most, so I stuck with it thinking it
would do a lot for me. ”
Barker is now 22 and finishing his senior year
majoring in sociology. Barker’s collegiate career
started at the University of Missouri; while there,
Barker won a Big 12 Conference title and fin
ished second at the 2003 NCAA Championships.
He aims to earn his fourth All-American honor
next weekend at the NCAA Championships in
St. Louis — Barker’s hometown.
“I’ll hopefully have a big crowd on hand
to watch me,” Barker said. “They like
me more when I win, and I don’t want to
disappoint them.”
In 2002, Barker wrestled Cael Sanderson
of Iowa State — one of the biggest names in
the history of college wrestling. Sanderson
never lost a match in his entire collegiate ca
reer and took home four national titles.
When the two wrestled, Sanderson defeated
Barker by way of a 21-4 technical fall at the
Big 12 Championships.
“He (Sanderson) was unbeatable, because he
was so conditioned,” Barker said. “He didn’t
have to deal with knee injuries like I did. If we
wrestled today, I like my chances, honestly.”
Barker was born in 1982 in Cheyenne,
Wyo., but never had the chance to grow ac
customed to it or any other city he lived in
because his father and role model, Mitchell
Barker, was in the Air Force and moved the
family to wherever he was stationed. Barker
BARKER, page 8
■ Women’s basketball
Ducks expect to snatch NCAA bid
BY BRIAN SMITH
SPORTS REPORTER
Oregon senior Cathrine
Kraayeveld said the team’s
preparation this week is no dif
ferent than any other.
“Same stuff,” Kraayeveld said.
“We just need to focus on what
we need to do as a team to con
tinue to get better, so that we are
playing well going into our first
game. We’re excited about it.”
But with a possible bid to the
NCAA tournament to be an
nounced Sunday, the mood of
the Oregon women’s basketball
team couldn’t be calm.
Could it?
“I think there is a certain
amount of anxiety because we’ve
done everything we can do to
make our claim on being a tourna
ment team,” Oregon head coach
Bev Smith said. “But now what
we are trying to do is to avoid all
the speculation and getting back
into our practice gear and getting
back to our fundamentals. ”
Oregon finished the 2004-05
season with a 20-9 overall record
and tied for second in the confer
ence at 12-6. The last time the
Ducks made the tournament was
in 2001.
While receiving the actual tour
nament bid is the most worrisome
element for the Ducks, geography
NCAA, page 9
11_> itET*
Erik R. Bishoff | Photographer
Oregon head coach Bev Smith and the women's basketball team prepare for this week’s
possible bid to the NCAA Women’s Basketball tournament, which begins March 19.