Oregon Daily Emerald
Thursday, June 2, 2005
“He’s one of the best power forwards
of all time. I take my hands off to him. ”
Retired NBA player Scottie Pippen about Tim Duncan on ESPN
Cattie McCurdy | Oregon media services
Head coach Bev Smith announced Wednesday that Phil Brown, left, and Selena Ho will fill two assistant coaching positions for the Oregon
women’s basketball team. They will fill the positions left after the resignation of Mike and Allison McNeill at the end of the 2004-05 season.
■ Women’s basketball
Duck basketball
instates two new
assistant coaches
Phil Brown from Australia and Selena Ho from
UC Irvine replace Mike and Allison McNeill
BY STEPHEN MILLER
SPORTS REPORTER
Oregon women’s basketball head
coach Bev Smith announced the lur
ing of assistant coaches Phil Brown
and Selena Ho on Wednesday.
The two additions fill holes left
by former assistant coaches
Mike and Allison McNeill, who
resigned at the end of the 2004-05
season after the Ducks were
knocked out in the second round
of the NCAA Tournament.
“Certainly we had two great
coaches in Mike and Allison,” Smith
said, “but I feel these two really
bring a lot of the same qualities and
perhaps have their own unique
additions to where they’re coming
from. What I was looking for I
found in these two, and I couldn’t
be happier with my choice. Not only
are they great people, but they’re
also great coaches.”
Brown leaves a 20-year tenure
with the Australian Institute of
Sport, where he has been the head
coach since 1991. Brown coached
11 of the 12 members of the 2004 sil
ver medalist Australian Olympic
team and currently coaches the
Australian junior national team.
“We’re so excited to have some
one with his teaching ability and his
expertise in technical, tactical and
strategical sides of the basketball
game,” Smith said.
At AIS, Brown also coached two
players on Oregon’s current
roster — junior Eleanor Haring and
sophomore Gabrielle Richards.
“There’s been a number of Aus
tralian players that have gone on to
have successful careers here at
Oregon,” Brown said. “Now we’ve
got a coach out here. I think it re
flects how international the game
of basketball is and how the sport
brings people together. ”
Brown will also add another
element to the recruiting side of
Oregon’s game.
“Not that we’re going to be going
out and recruiting a team of foreign
ers, but I think there’s going to be
some opportunities,” Brown said.
“We’ll certainly be using my con
tacts to explore Asia, Australia and
even Europe. ”
Ho exchanged her three years as
an assistant coach at UC Irvine to
come to Eugene. The two-time
first-team All-Big West Conference
selection played as a point guard for
Pacific from 1998-2002. She finished
her collegiate career as the Big
West’s all-time leader in three
pointers made (271).
“Selena was a top-notch point
guard, and she brings that same
kind of aggressiveness and dynamic
personality to the coaching ranks,”
Smith said.
Ho said she believes her back
ground as a recent Division I basket
ball player will help her relate to the
members of her new team.
“Obviously, I’m pretty close to
their age,” Ho said. “The biggest
COACHES, page 14
■ Men's track and field
Three more Ducks qualify for NCAAs
Ducks now send 15 to Sacramento as Kyle Alcorn,
Eric Logsdon and Galen Rupp earned bids Tuesday
BY BRIAN SMITH
SPORTS REPORTER
The list of Oregon invitees to
next week’s NCAA Champi
onships in Sacramento, Calif.,
was finalized as three more Ducks
received bids Tuesday.
Oregon steeplechase runner Kyle
Alcorn will make his NCAA debut
after finishing eighth at the West
Regional Championships with a
time of 8:45.62. The Sophomore
and distance runner Eric Logsdon
are the two at-large bid winners for
the Ducks.
Freshman Galen Rupp also
earned a bid to compete in the
10,000-meters due to his record vic
tory at the Oregon TWilight in early
May, as the 10,000 was not contest
ed last week.
The three bids brought Oregon’s
total number of participants in next
week’s NCAA championships to
15. They will be competing in
12 different events.
Distance runners make up
nearly a third of the Duck con
tingent headed to Sacramento.
Oregon is also sending two
sprinters, two hurdlers, two relay
squads, a pole vaulter, a long
jumper, a hammer thrower and
a decathlete.
Among the group, seven Ducks
have totaled 12 All-American out
door and indoor honors, and four
of them have competed in previ
ous NCAAs.
The Ducks also have two Pacif
ic-10 Conference winners repre
senting the team: Two-time de
fending conference champion
110-meter hurdler Eric Mitchum
and 400-meter champion Kedar
Inico. In addition, one individual
and two teams hold school
records for their respective events
— Mitchum in the 110, and the
4x100 and 4x400 relay teams.
The 15 Duck competitors
eclipse the size of last year’s
NCAA-bound squad. Oregon sent
13 to Austin, Texas, and came
Zane Rri r | Photographer
Oregon steeplechase runner Kyle Alcorn earned his first NCAA Championship berth
after finishing eighth in the steeplechase at last week’s West Regional Championships.
home with five All-American
honors and a ninth-place finish.
End-of-year honors
presented to Ducks
Several Oregon athletes were
honored at the annual year-end
banquet, held in the Pittman Room
at the Casanova Center on Sunday.
Oregon senior Leonidas Watson
earned the Dow Wilson (Most
Inspirational Athlete) Award after
taking ownership of the school’s
TRACK, page 14
IN BRIEF
LaVoie looks to improve play
in second round of NCAAs
Senior Gregg LaVoie of the Oregon men’s golf
team finished 2-over par Wednesday in the first
round of the 108th annual NCAA Champi
onships in Owings Mills, Md. LaVoie is current
ly tied for 49th place in the field of 150 individ
ual competitors at the par-70, 7,131-yard Caves
Valley Golf Course.
LaVoie had a rough start in the round, record
ing three bogeys in the first five holes. He fin
ished the front nine at 3-over and in desperate
need of improvement. He caught fire on the
10th hole, carding back-to-back birdies going
into hole 12, where his progress was slowed by
another bogey. LaVoie ended the round shoot
ing par on the final holes, including a balancing
birdie and bogey on the 14th and 16th holes,
respectively. He finished 1-under par on the
back nine with a total score of 72.
Georgia’s Kevin Kisner and Augusta State’s
Major Maiming sit atop the field going into
today’s second round. Both players shot 5-un
der and hold a one-stroke lead over Aron Price
of Georgia Southern. Kisner’s Bulldogs hold a
commanding lead in the hunt for the team title.
They are five strokes ahead of Tennessee (279)
with a team score of 274.
LaVoie tees off today in the second round
with East Tennessee State’s Rhys Davies and
Eastern Michigan University’s Korey Mahoney
at 8:48 a.m. EST.
Scott J. Adams