FOUR-PAGE PULLOUT
B3
S PORTS
THE BULLETIN • FrIday, FEBrUary 12, 2021
MEN’S COLLEGE
BASKETBALL
Beavers fall to
Wildcats 70-61
Oregon State held Ar-
izona to 40% shooting
from the floor, but it was
not enough to overcome
their own cold shooting
as the Beavers lost to the
Wildcats 70-61 on Thurs-
day night in Tucson, Ar-
izona.
Jarod Lucas and Ethan
Thompson led Oregon
State (10-9, 6-7 Pac-12)
with 13 points apiece,
while Gianni Hunt con-
tributed 12 off the bench.
Warith Alatishe had 10
points and six rebounds
for the Beavers.
OSU struggled to score,
making 24 of 64 (37.5%),
and they were just 7-of-23
from 3-point range.
Bennedict Mathurin
and James Akinjo led Ar-
izona (14-6, 8-6) with 14
points each.
The Beavers were able
to keep it close because
they only turned the ball
over five times, but they
also sent the Wildcats to
the free-throw line 34
times. Arizona only made
23 of their 34 attempts,
but OSU was only 6-of-10
from the charity stripe.
OSU faces Arizona State
on Sunday.
— Bulletin staff report
TOKYO GAMES
Mori to step down
as president
TOKYO — The long
saga of Yoshiro Mori ap-
pears to be near the end.
Japan’s Kyodo news
agency and others re-
ported on Thursday —
citing unnamed sources
“familiar with the matter”
— that Yoshiro Mori will
step down on Friday as
the president of the Tokyo
Olympic organizing com-
mittee.
The move follows his
sexist comments about
women more than a week
ago, and an ensuing and
rare public debate in Ja-
pan about gender equal-
ity. They also come just
over five months before
the Olympics are to open.
A decision is expected
to be announced on Fri-
day when the organizing
committee’s executive
board meets. The execu-
tive board is overwhelm-
ing male, as is the day-to-
day leadership.
The 83-year-old Mori,
in a meeting of the Japa-
nese Olympic Committee
more than a week ago,
essentially said women
“talk too much” and are
driven by a “strong sense
of rivalry.” Mori, a former
prime minister, gave a
grudging apology a few
days after his opinions
were reported but de-
clined to resign.
Mori’s remarks have
drawn outrage from
many quarters and have
put the spotlight on how
far Japan lags behind
other prosperous coun-
tries in advancing women
in politics or the board-
rooms. Japan stands 121st
out of 153 in the World
Economic Forum’s gender
equality rankings.
Though some on the
street have called for him
to resign — several hun-
dred Olympic volunteers
say they are withdrawing
— most decision mak-
ers have stopped short
of this and have simply
condemned his remarks.
Japan is a country that
works largely on consen-
sus with politicians — of-
ten elderly and male —
acting behind the scenes
and leaking trial balloons
to sense public sentiment.
His replacement is re-
ported to be 84-year-old
Saburo Kawabuchi, a for-
mer president of the Japa-
nese soccer association.
— Associated Press
bendbulletin.com/sports
MEN’S COLLEGE HOOPS
Head
start
Midyear enrollees seize
opportunity to play with
free eligibility
BY AARON BEARD
AP Basketball Writer
T
he plan was for Carter
Whitt to play a year
at prep school before
suiting up next season at Wake
Forest. Instead, Whitt is already on
the court for the Demon Deacons
Andy Nelson/AP
after graduating early and joining
the program in December.
The 6-foot-4 guard is among a
small group of freshmen nationally
seizing an opportunity as midyear en-
rollees, getting the jump on college ca-
reers with what amounts to free eligi-
bility amid the coronavirus pandemic.
“I just figured it would be a better
way to use a year,” Whitt said. “Rather
than being away at boarding school, I
might as well just be away at college.”
When the NCAA announced ath-
letes in winter sports like basketball
would get an extra year of eligibility
due to the pandemic, it opened the
door for signees to reclassify and join
their college teams instead of facing
the uncertainty of trying to play a final
high school season in a pandemic.
Midyear enrollees have taken the
court at several schools across the
country, including No. 1 Gonzaga, No.
4 Ohio State, No. 20 Southern Cali-
fornia, UCLA, Oregon and Maryland.
Oregon’s Franck Kepnang (22) blocks the shot of Washington’s Nate Roberts (1) as Oregon’s Will Richardson (0) and L.J. Figueroa (12)
defend on Saturday in Eugene. Kepnang is among many midyear enrollees who are taking advantage of the NCAA’s ruling to allow
student-athletes an extra year of eligibility amid the coronavirus pandemic.
“You’ve got to imagine most of these guys that are doing it are probably
college players with a hope to be in the NBA at some point, but aren’t like
lottery guys that we’re talking about naturally. So it would be incredible
to be able to groom them in your system for that long and watch them
flourish and really be some of the best players playing in your program
given the experience.”
— Jordan Cornette, former Notre Dame player and ACC Network analyst
They’ve also shown up on the wom-
en’s side, too, including Saylor Pof-
fenbarger at No. 2 Connecticut and
Dominique Darius at No. 8 UCLA
making their debuts in January.
In most cases, they’re earning spot
minutes as reserves. Some are playing
larger roles like Whitt or Mustapha
Amzil as an every-game starter at Day-
ton. Still others, such as Trey Patterson
at No. 5 Villanova, have enrolled in
school and are practicing but it is un-
clear if they will play this season.
Former Notre Dame player and
ACC Network analyst Jordan Cor-
nette compared it to an internship that
benefits players and programs alike,
noting: “There’s nothing going in the
eligibility flames here, so there’s noth-
ing being lost.”
“You’ve got to imagine most of
these guys that are doing it are proba-
NHL
bly college players with a hope to be in
the NBA at some point, but aren’t like
lottery guys that we’re talking about
naturally,” Cornette said. “So it would
be incredible to be able to groom
them in your system for that long
and watch them flourish and really
be some of the best players playing in
your program given the experience.”
For college coaches, the challenge
is figuring out how much those fresh-
men can handle.
Ohio State’s Chris Holtmann signed
Meechie Johnson Jr. in November,
then added the 6-2 guard to the roster
in December after Johnson graduated
early. Johnson made his debut Jan. 9 at
Rutgers and has averaged 7.4 minutes
through his first nine games, though
he played more with senior point
guard C.J. Walker recently sidelined
four games with a hand injury.
See Start / B4
TENNIS COMMENTARY
Multigame series ratchet up animosity
BY STEPHEN WHYNO
AP Hockey Writer
It turns out Saturday night
was all right for fighting be-
tween Arizona and St. Louis.
Monday night, too.
Coyotes and Blues play-
ers dropped the gloves in
both games, which were the
third and fourth consecu-
tive against each other. They
will play three more times in
four days — that’s right, seven
games in a row, like a playoff
series that goes the distance,
and a regular-season first for
the NHL.
Tensions will continue to
rise.
“If you’re going to play a
team seven times in a row,
it’s going to happen,” Coyotes
forward Conor Garland said.
“You’re going to have indi-
vidual battles and then team
battles. It’s hockey. It’s just the
way it goes.”
Especially this season,
when the NHL cooked up
four new divisions and sched-
uled all regular-season games
within those divisions. That
set up miniseries of anywhere
from two to five games, with
the NHL trying to limit travel
in a bid to stem the spread of
the coronavirus. Seven chap-
ters of Coyotes-Blues is an
anomaly caused by sched-
uling changes forced by the
pandemic.
Animosity is clearly up
around the league with play-
ers seeing the same familiar,
aggravating faces over and
over again. There have been
37 fights already this season,
and only two of the league’s 31
teams haven’t had at least one.
Rick Rycroft/AP
Mark Zaleski/AP
Nashville Predators’ Mathieu Olivier (25) fights with Tampa Bay
Lightning’s Luke Schenn (2) Monday in Nashville, Tennessee.
“There’s a little bit of bad
blood that goes on between
games,” Tampa Bay’s An-
thony Cirelli said after a game
against Nashville that fea-
tured 32 penalty minutes.
“The more and more we play
teams, the emotions are high
and these are the fun ones
to play in because it kind of
replicates that playoff kind of
hockey.”
It’s not a perfect compari-
son. As Blues winger David
Perron said, “There’s not a
Cup on the line” and Lord
Stanley’s trophy is far in the
distance with the NHL just a
quarter of the way through a
shortened, 56-game regular
season.
But the divisional schedule
also means each game and
point earned or lost is more
important. It’s direct compe-
tition in the eight-team U.S.
divisions and seven-team Ca-
nadian division for four play-
off spots each, which leads
to what Winnipeg forward
Adam Lowry called “a little
more chippiness.”
“Just the battles I think get a
little more intense, especially
as it goes along,” Lowry said.
“If you can get a couple games
up on the other team, they’re
that much more desperate.”
The Blues know how that
feels. They’ve lost three of the
first four against the Coyotes,
including allowing a tying
goal with 0.7 seconds left in
regulation and getting beat in
a shootout in the most recent
meeting.
Asked if he’s tired of fac-
ing the Coyotes, Blues coach
Craig Berube said, “I’m tired
of losing to them.” Same for
Vancouver, which was swept
in its last two “series” — two
against Montreal and three
against Toronto. Those games
got increasingly heated.
See NHL / B4
Frances Tiafoe reacts to a call during his second-round match against
Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open in Melbourne, Australia, on
Wednesday.
Tennis needs correct
calls, and histrionics, too
BY HOWARD FENDRICH
AP Tennis Writer
Eliminating all line judges
and removing the human el-
ement from officiating at the
Australian Open might have
been a necessary step to reduce
the number of people on court
amid a pandemic.
It also might be good for the
integrity of the game, because
getting every call right — or
as close to that as possible —
matters so much to players and
fans.
What there is no doubt
about, however, is this: The
proliferation of live electronic
line-calling tends to be worse
for the spectacle of the sport,
an element tennis definitely
needs. Players can’t challenge a
call from the machines at Mel-
bourne Park (a replay is shown
in the arena after a ball lands
within 2 inches of a line on a
serve or within 6 inches on
any other shot), so there isn’t
much sense in lodging a com-
plaint during the first Grand
Slam tournament played with
zero line judges. Let’s hope that
doesn’t hasten the disappear-
ance of histrionics.
“That’s the only downside:
There’s no one to argue with,”
Tommy Paul, an American
ranked 53rd, said in a video
interview with The Associated
Press this week. “There’s no
one to blame when you feel like
you might have made a ball but
it was actually out.”
See Tennis / B5