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