Women: Gonzaga's 27-3 record not enough
Continued from page 4B
Tennessee has been a No. 1 seed. The
Lady Vols have won six national
championships, more than any other
program, and have been in the NCAA
tournament every year.
T\vo teams from the same confer
ence have been No. 1 seeds 10 times
previously. Tennessee and LSU also
were the two that year.
LSU and Tennessee both will
start the tournament in Knoxville.
There are eight teams at the first
and second-round sites, twice as
many as before. Each site has four
teams from one regional and four
from another.
Michigan State’s No. 1 seed caps a
resurgence for that program under
McCallie, who's in her fifth season
with the Spartans after a successful
run at Maine.
The Spartans (27-3) shared the Big
Ten regular-season title with Ohio
State, then won the conference tourna
ment and will take a 12-game winning
streak into their first-round NCAA
matchup with Alcorn State in Min
neapolis next Saturday. Their highest
seed previously was No. 4 in 1991.
The Spartans went 10-2 on the road
this year, with victories at Notre Dame
and Connecticut. Their schedule was
also considered stronger than Stan
ford's, with eight victories over teams
now ranked in the Top 25.
Among teams thought to be sitting
on the "bubble" — Virginia Tech,
Purdue, Oklahoma, Mississippi,
Houston, Arizona, Oregon and Rich
mond — all got in. Iowa, Villanova
and Xavier did not.
Three teams with glossy records
that won regular-season conference
titles but lost in their league tourna
ments also weren't among the select
64 — Delaware (25-5), Gonzaga
(27-3) and Chattanooga (24-4).
Forristall: Positive attitude encourages team
Continued from page 9B
the other end of court, Forristall went
back up with ball under her own bas
ket. Halfway up, she got a little assis
tance from a teammate, avoiding
potential embarrassment.
“I was playing in front if my home
town and I was so excited and I
wanted to do so much,” Forristall
said. “Before the free throw, Chelsea
(Wagner) told me to go get the re
bound. So then they shoot it, I get the
rebound, and I’m going up and all I
see is her yelling ‘no.’ And then I
thought ‘why would she be mad at
me for shooting a layin?”’
Then and now
Last Thursday’s practice at South
Eugene High School demonstrated a
Forristall that has come a long way
from her self-professed “deer in the
headlights” phase.
She’s quick to lavish praise on
teammates for a good play. She’s
confident, goofy and always ready to
display her humor wherever needed.
“I have a good time,” Forristall
said. “I think you need to learn how
to be intense and have a good time.
When you have a victory you need to
celebrate it, and when something bad
happens you need to shake it off and
say, ‘you’ve got the next one.’ It’s al
ways being positive, it’s always being
up and keeping your teammates up. ”
Her transition from an inexperi
enced freshman to a confident ball
player was aided by a greater focus
on her own play. “It’s not the fact
that a light bulb went on,” Forristall
said. “I guess I finally saw myself on
film, and how I was acting. I’d catch
the ball, and I’d be on my heels, or
I’d be looking to pass all the time. If
you want to be on the court, you
have to be aggressive. Even when I
was playing (early in the season),
the coaches would put me in for
fresh legs and I’d go in and come
out, and I thought, ‘what are you do
ing for the team?’ I thought that I had
to be a threat.”
Her strong play in practice and on
the court were rewarded when she
started the first seven Pacific-10
Conference games as a true freshman.
“I think she’s played really hard,”
Kraayeveld said. “As a freshman,
sometimes it’s hard to come in and
contribute, and she has that confi
dence in herself. That’s really helped
us this year, and it’s been a big deal
for us.”
After Forristall, the first McDon
ald’s High School All-American to
play for the Ducks, scored a career
high 19 points in place of an injured
Danielle Hickey | Photo editor
Kristen Forristall’s personality has helped get her through the transition from prep
basketball at Oregon City High School to Pac-10 hoops at Oregon.
Kraayeveld in the Ducks’ loss to Wash
ington on Feb. 12, the comparisons
started to hold some weight.
“Kristen is a competitor first and
foremost,” Oregon head coach Bev
Smith said. “Her talent cannot be
denied. She has great potential both
defensively and offensively. Her
height and versatility are ‘Cat’-like.
However, all that she does is en
hanced by her intense desire to win.”
Even Kraayeveld, who has over
1,000 points and 700 rebounds in
her career, agrees their games have
some similarities.
“I think so,” Kraayeveld said. “She
has gotten the opportunity to play
more her freshman year than I did,
and I think that it’s one reason why it
was seen as such a big leap, because
I had a lot more to contribute my
sophomore year, and I was given a
chance to play more. Hers probably
won’t look as big because she’s
played more, but she definitely has a
lot of potential and a lot of room to
grow, and if she wants to, she can
turn herself into a really good player. ”
Even though Forristall has turned
in a solid freshman season, she
already sees opportunities for
improvement in her game.
“Hopefully next year I will be a
better shooter,” Forristall said. “Right
now, I’m not a great shooter, and I’m
not a consistent three-point shooter
for the team, and that's what I’d like
to see happen.”
Forristall knows that she is her
own player, not a reincarnate of a
departing legend.
And her teammates know that.
“They have allowed me to be who
I am,” Forristall said. “They’ve al
most made it so that I have to be
proud of who I am. I still have to be
confident in myself. They’ve taught
me to be very strong.”
briansmith@ dailyemerald, com
Smith: Seniors help lead Oregon to tourney berth
Continued from page 8B
Smith said. “How they worked, how
they committed to the things that
our coaching staff felt was impor
tant. All the hard work was worth it,
and right now, it’s a great moment
for our team.”
For example, how about the
three seniors,, Kra^yeyel^, Mizusawa
and Andrea Bills. Time and time
again, the trio put the season on its
shoulders and continued to
press forward.
Or the midseason play of Brandi
Davis, who provided the Ducks with
a dangerous shooter to compliment
an Oregon offense that started from
the inside?
Or how about the freshmen? How
about Kaela Chapdelaine or Eleanor
Haring or Chelsea Wagner?
So congrats, Smith and Co.
‘Drink’ up this tournament experi
ence and enjoy.
briansmith@ daily ejnerald.^qm
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