Suddenly, the Oregon men’s basketball team is thinking like television producers: In February, it’s all about sweeps.
With six games remaining, the Ducks (17-6 overall, 7-5 Pacific-10 Conference) are role-playing with the stars of “Malcolm in the Middle” as they sit alone in fifth place in the Pac-10, but are primed to make a leap in the ratings with a road sweep of Washington State and Washington this weekend.
Getting that sweep, though, could be as rare as a compliment from Simon Cowell on “American Idol.” Oregon has swept the Washington road trip just three times since 1975.
“This is a huge week for us,” Oregon point guard Luke Ridnour said.
Saturday’s matchup against Washington should provide all the thrills of “Must See TV” as Oregon looks to avenge a 97-92 loss in Seattle last year. Despite their eighth-place conference standing, the Huskies (8-14, 3-10) pushed No. 1 Arizona to overtime two weeks ago in Seattle, and played Cal and Stanford close on the road last week, but lost all three games.
“If you’re a smart coach, and a smart team, you don’t look at Washington or Washington State’s record because they have played everyone tough,” Oregon head coach Ernie Kent said.

Consistent with their recent struggles in Pullman, Wash., the Ducks are not looking past Thursday’s 7 p.m. bout with the lowly Cougars (5-17, 0-13), who have lost 20 consecutive Pac-10 games. In five trips to the Palouse, Kent is 4-1, but has won those four games by a total margin of 14 points.
“Washington State is a very, very big game for us right now,” Kent said. “Our mindset is just to take it one game at a time.”
The Ducks lost at Washington State, 63-62, in 2001, and needed overtime to pull out a one-point win in 2000 and three overtimes to win in 1999.
“Playing in Pullman is always tough,” Ridnour said. “There’s not a lot of fans there, it’s cold, and it’s a long way up there. The Washington teams always play well against us, so we have to be prepared.”

Jackson: Finger healed
Oregon forward Luke Jackson practiced Tuesday without his right hand wrapped for the first time since injuring his non-shooting hand Jan. 23. Jackson needed 13 stitches to repair a cut to his right ring finger that occurred in Oregon’s win over Washington, but he said Tuesday that the cut is completely healed.
After sitting out one game — against Washington State on Jan. 25 — Jackson returned to the lineup wearing a special-made glove against UCLA the next week and scored a team-high 27 points. Since then, though, Jackson has struggled. In the last two games, he has averaged seven points, while shooting a combined 6-of-22 (27.3 percent).
“He hasn’t gotten back to himself yet, but this week we’ll hopefully bring him along a little further,” Kent said.
Jackson played just 19 minutes Saturday in the Ducks’ 80-63 win at Oregon State. He said he will play this weekend against the Washington schools, and bring the glove just in case.
“It’s really weird — I didn’t think it would be that bad, but it’s tough,” Jackson said. “If I can sit and just get healthy, that’s the main thing I’m concerned with right now. I’m just going to have to play through a little pain.”

Bracketology
In this week’s Bracketology, ESPN.com’s Joe Lunardi kept Oregon as a projected No. 7 seed in the NCAA Tournament, with a first-round matchup against 10th-seeded Michigan State (14-9) in Nashville, Tenn., on March 21.