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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 10, 2005)
Oregon Daily Emerald Thursday, November 10, 2005 “I think our defensive accountability. We’ve got to be more accountable. ” Oregon point guard Aaron Brooks on what the Ducks need to work on the most following a 75-58 win over Southern Oregon Wednesday. ■ In my opinion JEFFREY DRANSFELDT THREE TO WIN T.O. needs to go away (or get a reality show) Terrell Owens: Please go away. I’m almost to the point of begging. The Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver has hogged headlines for weeks with his cries for a new contract. Thankfully, the Eagles have suspended T.O. because of several factors, according to head coach Andy Reid. Owens is suspended for the next four games and then will be deactivated for the rest of the season pending a grievance filed by Owens seeking to overturn the suspension. It’s about time. I’ll admit, I’m guilty of writing about Owens in a story about sports attorney Leigh Steinberg’s visit to the University last week. But enough is enough. It seems as though no player like Owens has ever grabbed this many headlines. It’s al most as if there are no other newsworthy players on the Eagles roster or there are no other newsworthy happenings. Last time I checked college basketball was starting and college football was in full swing, and we’re talking about Owens? It’s time to focus on more newsworthy events. Owens is one person — one player — on a team. Every night on ESPN or any sports show, it seems, is headlined by the latest tidbit of Owens criticizing team management or quar terback Donovan McNabb or Team President Joe Banner; the list goes on and on. Reportedly, Owens is dating model Felisha Terrell. One professional sportswriter creative ly suggested Owens marry Terrell and adopt her last name to become Terrell Terrell. I’m waiting for the announcement of his re ality show on a major television network. The sports nation can watch spellbound as his girlfriend caters to his every whim. Think “Newlyweds” with Nick Lachey and Jessica Simpson with a more lopsided relationship — Terrell, Terrell and more Terrell for viewers’ pleasure. Forget the question of tuna or chick en, try “How do I treat a teammate correctly?” Philadelphia isn’t Owens first burned bridge. He heavily criticized ex-teammate Jeff Garcia in an interview in Playboy magazine. Owens now joins a league of other troubled athletes whose names have grabbed head lines including Dennis Rodman, Mike Tyson and Philadelphia 76ers guard Allen Iverson (notorious for his comments: “I'm supposed to be the franchise player, and we’re in here talking about practice. Not a game, we’re talk ing about practice. How silly is that?”). Now is the time to move on and find some thing else to discuss. Phil Jackson will lead the Los Angeles Lakers to another champi onship before he retires. How’s that? Maybe now we can have something legitimate for this devoted Lakers fan to debate. jdransfeldt@ daily emerald, com ■ Men's basketball Ducks open play with 75-58 win Junior college transfer Ivan Johnson led all Ducks with 14 points and nine rebounds BY SHAWN MILLER SPORTS EDITOR An emphatic alley-oop from Aaron Brooks to Bryce Taylor with one minute four seconds remaining was the first time Duck fans could breathe out Wednesday as Oregon escaped with a 75-58 exhibition win over Southern Oregon in front of 8,696 at McArthur Court. Southern Oregon kept the score within single digits, even grabbing the lead twice, for much of the game until the Ducks used a 19-4 run over a five minute 17 second span late in the second half to open up a game tied at 50 with just more than eight minutes remaining. Brooks and Maarty Le unen each scored six points during that run, while Taylor scored five. “We gelled together, we picked up our intensity, it could have been their fatigue,” Brooks said of the run. “It’s a lot of things that settled in. I think we got more com fortable playing out there and just playing together, running against a different team.” Thurston High product Shea Washing ton hit two free throws with 8:16 remain ing to tie the game at 50. Leunen was fouled on the ensuing possession and knocked the down the second of two free throws. On the Ducks’ next possession, it was Leunen dialing up a three-pointer and Taylor followed with a bucket on a back door cut and later a three-pointer of his own to push the lead to nine, Oregon’s biggest of the game at the time. It wasn’t just offense that ignited the run as Oregon head coach Ernie Kent credited stops on the defensive end of the floor. “At the end of the game, I thought that unit on the floor with about eight or nine minutes to go really did a nice job defen sively of getting stops,” Kent said. Southern Oregon scored and rebounded an Oregon miss on the ensuing possession, but Brooks’ quickness halted any momen tum change. Brooks stole the ball near midcourt, raced toward the basket and made the layup while having his legs taken out from under him. He hit the free throw and a three-pointer less than 30 seconds later. Leunen followed with a layup on the following possession. “We knew we were going to have a stretch where we were just going to score a lot of points; we just didn’t know when it was coming,” Leunen said. “We’re going to have our little runs where we score a lot Tim Bobosky | Photo Editor Oregon point guard Aaron Brooks (0) steals the ball from Southern Oregon’s Steve Farley. Brooks converted the steal into a layup for two of his 12 points. of points at times. It all starts with defense and getting rebounds.” Junior college transfer Ivan Johnson led five Ducks that scored in double-digits with 14 points in his Oregon debut. Johnson also added nine rebounds and a key block late in the game. BASKETBALL page 14 ■ Club men’s water polo Ducks down Huskies for regional title Courtesy Oregon men’s club water polo captain Ross Bowman prepares to shoot during a recent game against Western Washington. The team now heads to Massachusetts for the national tournament starting November 18 BY WILL SEYMOUR FREELANCE REPORTER The Oregon men’s club water polo team punched its ticket to the national tournament for the sec ond consecutive year after a clean sweep of the Northwest Regional Nov. 5-6. lire team outscored its opponents 75-26 and avenged its only league loss of the season by defeating Washington in the championship match. The Ducks are seeded in the middle of the pack at nationals, but are confident they can make some noise with their high powered offense and tough nosed defense. Only one berth in the national tournament was at stake at the Willamalane Pool in Springfield, and with a league record of 11-1, the Ducks entered regionals as the No. 2 seed. Oregon’s first match came against the Univer sity of Portland, but the Pilots were swamped in short order. Oregon tallied seven unanswered goals in the first quarter on the WATER POLO, page 14
