Ben Voogd was walking to class last week at his new school when a friend from Siuslaw High School spotted him.
Voogd – the subject of an online game at www.benvoogd.com who dished assists to current Celtics rookie Glen “Big Baby” Davis at Louisiana State University – was excited not only to be recognized, but also to recognize.
“When I was in Louisiana, I was a freshman and it was the first time I was ever away from home and I was a hundred thousand miles away,” said Voogd, a 6-foot-1 point guard who’s transferred to Oregon after two years at LSU as its primary backup guard. “I go to class now and I see a buddy I went to school with in high school. It’s just nice.”
Voogd, who played 11 minutes in an NCAA Final Four game at LSU and who’s heard his name chanted at Pete Maravich Assembly Center, is getting a kick out of being back in “his backyard.”
“It is just nice to see my buddies from Florence who ended up going to Oregon,” Voogd said. “Guys I played basketball with in high school go here. Guys I played AAU with go here. It is just fun going to the Rec (Center) or class and seeing someone you haven’t seen in a year or two.”
Voogd, who’ll redshirt this season, averaged 26.3 points as a junior and 18 points, 8.5 assists and 7.3 rebounds as a senior at Siuslaw High in Florence.
Included in his 63 games with the Tigers was a 59-45 loss to UCLA in the 2006 Final Four, where Voogd turned the ball over three times in 11 minutes as a freshman.

Voogd averaged 1.4 points and 1.7 assists in just more than 10 minutes per game last season. LSU’s logjam at guard (the Tigers have six other guards) and Voogd’s itch to get closer to home got him thinking about Oregon.
Now, Voogd is just 60 miles from his parents’ house, which he plans to visit some weekends. Family surrounds him, including a sister and cousin who attend Lane Community College.
The reasons Voogd said he transferred were that he liked Oregon’s up-tempo style of play and the coaching staff welcomed him with open arms.
“The style of basketball that Oregon offered was something that I was looking into,” Voogd said. “The fast paced, up-and-down style is something I can excel in, I think.
“I fell in love with (the coaching staff) from the get go, just awesome guys who took me in really well along with the players.”
Of course, Voogd will only be involved in fast breaks during scrimmages at practice this year. He will, however, be eligible to play in the 2008-09 and 2009-10 seasons. Until then, he said it will be “fun” to help his teammates improve.
“My role will be to go out there everyday in practice, work hard and push Tajuan (Porter) or whoever I got to guard, just to make them better,” Voogd said. “And get ready next year when I can play.”
Voogd is also eager to share the lessons he learned during two seasons in the Southeastern Conference to his younger teammates.
“I was thrown in the fire my freshman year, put to the test right away and had to learn how to deal with that,” Voogd said. “I just want to let the freshmen know that it’s gonna be a whole new thing for them. It’s gonna be fun to see how they adjust to that and how well they do this year.”
And now, Voogd’s got a chance to contribute to the team he hoped to play for when he graduated from high school.
“It would have been ideal to go to Oregon,” Voogd said. “But it didn’t work out that way. I went to LSU for two years and had a great experience. Now I’m back home again and it’s meant to be. Where I’m at now, I couldn’t be happier.”
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