In the spirit of the holiday, the Pit Crew decided to give a valentine out at tonight’s 71-58 win over Washington – except it wasn’t to one of the Ducks.
Senior Husky guard Ryan Appleby – public enemy No. 1 in the eyes of many Oregon basketball fans – was the subject of the Pit Crew’s adoration for the night.
Appleby scored eight points and had a single rebound in 32 minutes Thursday. The fifth-year senior said after the game he wasn’t fazed by the crowd.
“They were fine,” Appleby said. “I don’t really pay attention to the fans. If they were even harder on me I wouldn’t really care.
“It was Valentine’s Day, so they were probably in the mood to share some love.”
However, besides a few signs and a couple chants, it wasn’t much out of the ordinary for the Pit Crew – or for Appleby in McArthur Court. Appleby is marked out by Oregon fans for refusing to shake Aaron Brooks’ hand before last season’s game at Mac Court, the first meeting after their Pacific-10 Conference Tournament altercation in 2006. It was at that game that physical play between the two guards led to Brooks hitting Appleby in the face with his forearm.
Appleby was loudly booed every time he touched the ball in Thursday’s game, but the Pit Crew withheld chanting the traditional “sucks!” after his name was announced during pre-game introductions.
Some of the special attention for the senior included reminding him of his shooting performance, first chanting “Oh-for-four” before the start of the second half, updating that to “Oh-for-five” during a timeout with more than 15 minutes remaining in the game. Signs in the form of valentines to Appleby spotted in the Pit include “Dear Appleby, Thanks for the memories, Love, Aaron Brooks” and “I Heart Appleby” written on a large heart.
However, after Appleby made two three-pointers in the following minutes, the chants quieted down and the Pit Crew turned their affection to one of its favorite sights – Ray Schafer.
The Pit Crew did add “Ryan loves us” at the end of the game, but by that point the Husky was on the bench as the seconds wound down. Washington coach Lorenzo Romar thought the Pit Crew was worse to Appleby last year, when the guard had 17 points in the first half.
“I think they were on him worse last year,” Romar said. “If it would have thrown him off, it would have thrown him off last year.”
Improved behavior
In the wake of bad press, especially after the UCLA game in which offensive chants were directed at Bruins freshman Kevin Love, the love-fest was a shift in gears for the spirited student section.
“We planned it to be a Valentine’s Day for Ryan Appleby,” Daniel Cogan said. Cogan is the Pit Crew President and was paramount in changing the atmosphere for the Washington game.
“That was really a great effort from the Pit Crew today,” Cogan said. “I’d like to think it affected him, but I don’t know.”
Oregon Athletic Director Pat Kilkenny was pleased with the Pit Crew’s show Thursday night.
“They’re good kids,” Kilkenny said. “They have their moments but I think they’re a great asset and they’re passionate about Duck basketball.”
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