No matter what happens when Oregon plays Missouri State tomorrow in Manhattan, Kan., the Ducks know with certainty that a dripping plate of ribs can be theirs afterward.
“We know for sure we are going to Famous Dave’s Barbecue for dinner on Friday,” assistant coach Tina Johnson-Lockhart said with a laugh, adding that she feels pretty good about Oregon’s chances of advancing past the Bears in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
No. 13 Oregon (20-10 overall, 9-9 Pacific-10 Conference) earned a spot in the field of 64 for a second straight year. The squad plays the Bears (25-7 overall, 14-4 Missouri Valley Conference) at 3:30 p.m.
Last season, the Ducks traveled to Long Beach, Calif., where they lost to Hawaii.
It wasn’t much of a consolation, but the women did get to go to Disneyland while they were in California.
As usual, Johnson-Lockhart made the arrangements.
“We also try to have a little fun on road trips,” said Johnson-Lockhart, who’s been at Oregon for three years.
She may be a coach, but Johnson-Lockhart is also the Ducks’ unofficial director of operations.
“I basically make sure we have everything we need for the trip,” said Johnson-Lockhart, who coached at Texas from 1990-01.
She was behind the scenes last year, making phone calls, taking care of NCAA compliance paperwork, even booking restaurant reservations.
Johnson-Lockhart just wants to make sure things go smoothly.
“We do whatever it takes so (coach) Jim (Moore) doesn’t have to worry about the little details,” Johnson-Lockhart said.
Now that Oregon’s back in the Big Dance, Johnson-Lockhart is at it again, running the unglamorous show that the public rarely sees.
Take Sunday, when she spent all of Selection Day filling balloons with helium, tying string, setting up flowers and putting up equipment inside the Stadium Club at the Casanova Center.
She’s also been key in the maturation of Oregon’s hitters.
Johnson-Lockhart felt confident that the Ducks would be selected, so during a layover after the squad’s match against Washington, she jumped online and updated the team’s NCAA manifest. She e-mailed all the names, birth dates and weights of the 22 people who would be traveling. She also submitted the names of everyone else in the party – a total of 28 people – that includes coaches, a senior associate athletic director, an administrator, a sports information director, a team physician and a strength and conditioning coach.
The team was bused to Portland on Wednesday and spent the night at an airport hotel. They flew out today at 12:30 p.m. on a direct flight to Kansas City with hopes of arriving around 3:35 p.m. The Ducks couldn’t get a charter flight, so they’ll have to take a two-hour bus ride to get to Manhattan.
Johnson-Lockhart is making sure everything goes off without a hitch by talking with travel agents and keeping track of flight times.
“For me, traveling is pretty easy because I have done it for so long,” Johnson-Lockhart said.
To ensure the team has fun off the court, Johnson-Lockhart hopes the women can make it today’s Oregon-Kansas State men’s basketball game at Bramlage Coliseum.
The Logistics
Once a team makes the tournament, its three potential opponents must mail game tape of their most recent match to them. If the Ducks beat the Bears, they’ll face the winner of the Kansas State-Tulsa match. Once Moore gets the footage, he and a student statistician edit it digitally and make individual DVDs for players.
Today, the whole team will review the Bears’ match against Illinois State, which they lost in three games.
The footage should look familiar.
“We give the tape to them earlier, they watch it during their own time, we come back as a team and discuss it and bring up some points,” Johnson-Lockhart said. “We’ll ask, ‘What did you see?’ When you’ve got 21 eyes looking at a video, somebody might see something different.”
The stuff in the women’s rolling gear bags should all be about the same though: shoes, ankle braces, socks, uniforms, sweats and warm-up shirts. Johnson-Lockhart said the players will bring both home and away jerseys with them – four in total – to Manhattan. They’ll also carry on a water bottle and a book bag.
On Friday morning, the Ducks will get up whenever they feel like it and get a continental breakfast at their hotel, The Clarion. On the menu will be eggs, bacon, sausage and do-it-yourself waffles and juices, among other morning food items. Many players will eat as a group, Johnson-Lockhart said.
Surprisingly, Johnson-Lockhart wasn’t yet sure where the team would eat lunch on Tuesday morning.
But wherever it ends up being, the women’s plates will likely all look different. The coaching staff leaves it up to the player’s discretion to pick meals that won’t later haunt them on the court.
“Some do salads, some have to have sandwiches, some eat chicken,” Johnson-Lockhart said. “Some go back and forth. Some can eat heavy and some can’t.”
Johnson-Lockhart’s plate may be the fullest, but that’s OK with her. She likes being swamped.
“I am a control person and I want to know exactly what’s going on and when it’s going on,” she said.
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