Oregon Daily Emerale
Wednesday, November 30, 2005
“We’re all at fault, but I just feel like Joey
(Harrington)’s been here four years, and being
the No. 3 pick in the draft, he hasn’t given us anything. ”
Detroit Lions comerback Dre’ Bly on why Steve Mariucci was fired as head coach Monday
■ In my opinion
SCOTTJ. ADAMS
INTENTIONAL GROUNDING
Ducks shut
out in AP
polls for the
second time
It appears that voters are costing Oregon
ground in the polls. No, I’m not talking about that
Oregon team, I’m talking about a different one.
I’m talking about the Oregon women’s basketball
team, which despite holding a 5-1 record, still
finds itself scratching at the Associated Press top
25’s front door.
On Monday, Oregon made quick work of
coach Amy Stephens’ Drake squad. The Ducks’
70-40 win over the Bulldogs marked their
fourth straight and made an Oregon believer out
of Stephens.
“I think they’re a good basketball team, and if
they’re not in the top 25 they probably should
be,” Stephens said. “Losing to Temple at home
probably hurt them. They had a great opportuni
ty to pull an upset over a ranked team. They
certainly are very competitive.”
While hosting the championship game of the
Women’s Sports Foundation Classic, Oregon
squandered a three-point lead late in the second
half and fell 51-46 to No. 21 Temple. It marked the
Ducks’ only loss this season amidst lop-sided
wins over St. Francis, Portland, Arkansas and
Drake. Granted, not one of those teams has a
winning record.
Unlike other teams gracing the top 25, Oregon
is yet to be on the losing end of an upset. Take for
instance its conference foe No. 25 USC. The
TTojans traveled down the street last week to face
Long Beach State, which handed the Trojans their
first loss of the season. The 51-46 defeat sent USC
four spots south in the AP Poll where they rest to
day even after dropping another road loss to No.
15 Notre Dame on Nov. 27. As a 2-2 squad with a
three-game stretch against unranked opponents
ahead of them, USC’s schedule is similar to Ore
gon’s but not its record. The result? The .500
Trojans somehow get the nod in the AP rankings.
Texas Tech, ranked 24th, has also tread an in
teresting path into the top 25. The Red Raiders are
dead last in the Big XII Conference standings at
1-4 with only two of those losses coming against
ranked teams. The latest was a three-point nail
biter at the hands of No. 13 Stanford, 66-63. Texas
Tech lost in similar fashion to Rice (73-70) and
Mississippi (72-69) on the road last week. To vin
dicate their ranking, they have an impressive
85-56 win over Ohio Valley Conference power
house Southeast Missouri State. Can you sense
my sarcasm? The only thing keeping the pride of
Lubbock, Texas, in the top 25 is their No. 13
ranking in week one.
Purdue also has an upset loss on their hands.
The No. 23 Boilermakers lost at George Washing
ton Nov. 25, but are blessed with a weak sched
ule heading into December to break their fall.
Fortunately for Oregon, its quest to gain na
tional recognition and a place in the AP Poll gets
easier until their conference opener against UCLA
Dec. 20. The Ducks may have no home games in
December, but they also face zero matchups
against ranked opponents. The top 25 is just
around the corner for Oregon.
sadams@dailyemerald. com
■ Men's basketball
Oregon seeks win at Commodores
The Ducks meet Vanderbilt
in a battle of two undefeated
squads tonight in Nashville
BY SHAWN MILLER
SPORTS EDITOR
The Oregon athletic department swears
that this time the competition is real; they
aren’t over-hyping the game. Undefeated
Vanderbilt hosts undefeated Oregon, both
with 4-0 records, tonight at 6 p.m. in
Nashville, Tenn.
The past two men’s basketball games
were built up to be something they didn’t
come close to living up to. Pacific, which
reached the second round of the NCAA
Tournament last season, was dismantled
early by an energetic Oregon team on
Nov. 22. The end result was a 22-point vic
tory. Four days later it was Rice, which
reached the NIT Tournament last year. The
result was nearly the same, with Oregon
pulling away with a 24-point win. Howev
er, Vanderbilt is a different team, one that
will test the Ducks in an area that Oregon
coach Ernie Kent is looking forward to.
“It’s a game we need to play right now
to get challenged,” Kent said. “They are a
great defensive team. ...They are an
excellent three-point shooting team. It’s a
good challenge.”
The Ducks also know not to read too
much into their blowout wins and to not
be overconfident
“Vanderbilt is good, they are going to be
tough,” Malik Hairston said. “We just need
to continue to work ... and to continue to
grow as a basketball team.”
Oregon has seemed to find its rhythm by
running as often as possible, an area that
the Ducks were unable to do in the two ex
hibition games. A lack of boxing out and
rebounding was the area of emphasis for a
quick fix and that is what has happened.
The Ducks have outrebounded their
opponents by an average of 14.3 boards
per game.
“Our goal is to run and for us to run
we’ve got to get rebounds,” said Maarty
Leunen, who recorded a career-high 13
rebounds during Oregon’s win over Rice.
Meanwhile, Vanderbilt is coming off a
68-61 win over Georgetown (Oregon’s next
home opponent Dec. 3 at noon).
The statistics are nearly the same for
Kate Horton | Photographer
Malik Hairston drives toward the basket during an 84-60 Oregon win over Rice on Saturday. Hairston scored
14 points and leads the Ducks with a 13.3-points-per-game average this season.
both the Ducks and Commodores, as each av
erages within one steal, assist and three-point
field goal made per game of each other. Shoot
ing, the Ducks have the edge in field goal per
centage overall (51.7 percent to 50.2) and at
the free-throw line (73.8 to 72.2), while the
Commodores are slightly better beyond the
arc (39.4 to 38.2).
“That’s going to be a big test,” Oregon
point guard Aaron Brooks said of the game.
“Definitely will be a big step for us if we pull
(a win) off. We are going to have to come out
BASKETBALL, page 10
■ Club hockey
Inconsistent first half plagues Ducks
Courtesy
Oregon senior Ryan Jones takes a shot against UCLA. The Ducks' record is 8-5 this
season as they try to defend their Pac-8 title.
In defense of its first Pac-8 title, Oregon has
fallen flat.lately, losing its last three games
BY WILL SEYMOUR
FREELANCE REPORTER
The University club hockey
team will be looking forward to
the winter break as much as any
one. A rash of injuries to key
players has seen the Ducks skid
to a three-game losing streak,
marring an otherwise strong
Pac-8 title defense. Oregon will
face its final opponents of the fall
schedule this weekend and then
use the break to regain health
and fluidity on the ice.
The Ducks began their regular
season with a rematch of last
year’s championship against
Washington. Oregon came out
swinging as soon as the puck
dropped in the traditional rivalry
game, dominating the Huskies
and coasting to 5-0 and 5-2 victo
ries in the two-game series. How
ever, the Ducks dropped a game
to UCLA 4-1, before managing to
split the weekend.
“We came out a little flat,”
senior defenseman Jordan
Guffin said.
Oregon returned to form in a
pair of away games against Stan
ford, crushing the Cardinal by a
combined score of 25-4 in the
two contests. It appeared that the
torrid scoring pace would
HOCKEY, page 10