This past weekend saw all sorts of activity for a number of Oregon athletes.
You had Onterrio Smith, George Wrighster and Keenan Howry learn where they were going in the NFL. There was also Shaquala Williams getting the nod from Cleveland in the WNBA Draft, and unfortunately for the volleyball team, Dariam Acevedo had to announce she was leaving the team for financial reasons.
The situations of the latter two deserve some sort of discussion on the state of Oregon athletics.
First, there’s Williams, the former star point guard for Oregon women’s basketball. Who knows what she did that warranted a suspension, and ultimately, a dismissal from the team?
Of course, she does and so does head coach Bev Smith. But neither has publicly disclosed what the circumstances were, so everyone out there is left to rely on their own imaginations.
Had Williams not been kicked off the team, or had the two maybe said what was happening, the Portland native’s selection could have added to the hype the Duck programs received over the weekend.
Instead, it was just another Friday at the Casanova Center. Williams had a small press conference, attended by a half-dozen members of the Eugene media.
In other words, it seemed to be a non-descript day for one of Oregon’s best players in recent memory. It shouldn’t have been that way.
If either of the two had told of Williams’ negative actions at the start of the year, or whatever it was, there could have been a peace surrounding the program. Smith and Williams would have gone their separate ways — which they did — but instead it followed the team the rest of the season.
Now, Williams is forced to show that what she did or didn’t do doesn’t make her a bad person or a bad player. She has to win back her detractors and prove she can become Oregon’s greatest woman athlete.
Next, you have Acevedo and a situation that rivals some of the worst in Oregon history.
The offensive star for the volleyball team was a key component in a season that ended 1-17 in Pacific-10 Conference play. The scary thing is that was an improvement from the year before, a season in which the Ducks finished 0-18 in conference play.
Now, obviously, there is a trend shaping up for the Ducks, especially after five players defected from the team in January. Acevedo said that had nothing to do with her decision, and that’s believable, given that she is from Puerto Rico.
But her loss leaves the Ducks with just five returning players next season. Six have left since last year. The Ducks have lost more players than they have retained.
Nobody has really said why they left, so pinpointing the problem is a hard thing to do. It could have been with the players themselves, the coaching or the fact that Oregon hasn’t had a winning season since 1990.
I don’t think it matters who’s on the bench or on the McArthur Court floor. If you haven’t been able to exceed your loss column with wins, then it’s really hard to cultivate a winning attitude. That’s especially true when the Pac-10 is annually the best collegiate volleyball conference in the country and some teams, like Stanford and Arizona, could sleepwalk their trip through Eugene.
The volleyball program at Lane Community College is in danger of being cut because of budget problems. Duck volleyball doesn’t deserve the same fate right now, but if seasons like the last decade or so keep on occurring, then it might be the time to discuss some changes.
And if a change for the better is desired, than the deletion of the volleyball team may be the best way to go.