When does Senior Night not feel like Senior Night? When the senior class being celebrated and the observing audience outside the program experience disconnect. Such was the case Saturday, as the Oregon women faced USC in the 2008-09 season’s final home game.
Guard Rita Kollo was honored before a crowd of 2,202 people Saturday, but – in a noticeable break from tradition – she would not start the game, even for ceremonial purposes. Kollo did not dress with her teammates. Her right foot, broken after the Ducks’ first exhibition game in November, remained too tender for her to play the game the way she wanted to.
Equally distracting were the Ducks’ struggles, exacerbated by UCLA sophomore guard Darxia Morris’ half-court buzzer-beater on Thursday. With no shot at gaining position within the Pacific-10 Conference standings and nothing threatened by a loss, Oregon was playing for pride and momentum, two things that have seemingly come and gone this season.
Kollo deserved better, but blame needn’t be passed around. As much as she could have been the focus on Saturday, she was out of focus for most Oregon fans.
Arriving in Eugene by way of Colby Community College in Kansas and Oklahoma State, Kollo was forced to sit out the 2007-08 season due to NCAA transfer rules. To date, she has played exactly five games in an Oregon uniform, four of which weren’t even played on American soil. (They came during the women’s basketball exhibition trip to Italy this summer.) Her statistics accrued stateside amount to five points, five rebounds, nine assists, five steals and two blocks in an 87-40 exhibition victory over Northwest Christian University.
Suffice it to say, those don’t count. Meaning that Kollo has never actually registered a statistic – even a game played – as a Duck. And it is unlikely to happen at this weekend’s Pac-10 Tournament. But how much impact has she made on the Ducks’ season?
“Celebrating her tonight was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done,” Oregon head coach Bev Smith said after Saturday’s loss.
How much would Kollo have helped this Ducks team? Given the fluctuations at the guard positions, quite a bit. Kollo is a perimeter player with the size to back down a smaller opponent. Shooting guard was an issue early in the season, with junior Micaela Cocks moving to point guard and junior Taylor Lilley suffering a shin injury. Small forward has been held down by freshman Jasmin Holliday for most of the season, but while Holliday is a good athlete, her still-developing offensive skills have limited her. Sophomores Tatianna Thomas and Victoria Kenyon have not become consistent contributors.
Beyond that, the intangible aspect of senior leadership would have done some good for a team that ended up starting two freshmen. I can extol the virtues of how great a fit Kollo’s game is, and she’s had a lot to offer in terms of advice and encouragement in practice and games. But it’s one thing to explain, and it’s another thing to show. In what many will inevitably call a lost season, that aspect will be sorely missed.
“You have to see how it gets done,” Smith said of Kollo’s potential impact from the young players’ perspective. “Until you see it get done, there’s not an example for you to follow.”
So what should Kollo’s legacy at Oregon entail? It likely won’t mean much to casual fans, but every time I’ve watched a practice or a game, Kollo has been upbeat, smiling and laughing and joking and just having fun. The Ducks’ underclassmen won’t likely forget that smile, nor should they ignore what a little optimism means amidst an atmosphere of pessimism.
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