About halfway through every fall quarter, there’s an intersection of sports that Duck fans have to love. It’s when basketball meets football, and all of the sudden there are twice as many ways to think about Oregon’s major athletics.
This year’s meeting of the sports should be interesting, and possibly frustrating, to watch for those who are paid to pay attention to Oregon sports, such as myself, and fans alike.
What more could you want than the chance to watch the football team go through its stretch run and both basketball teams start their seasons, all in the same month?
To be honest, it can sometimes be too much at once. For a reporter, covering two sports at the same time can be hectic. When I see No. 24 now, I have to remember if it’s Jeremiah Johnson or LeKendric Longmire.
It reminds me of the first days of the NCAA basketball tournament, when there’s so much going on there’s no way to keep tabs on everything. OK, maybe there’s not that much going on, but it’s exciting.
Everyone should know about football by now. There’s no national championship race, but there’s still very much a chance at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. Without Heisman Trophy contender Dennis Dixon, Oregon has a new star in the backfield – running back LeGarrette Blount, who is so used to the end zone it must feel like his own apartment.
All this season Oregon has been fretting and worrying about football. Now comes another sport to worry about – men’s and women’s basketball.
Last year everyone knew what they were going to get with Maarty Leunen, Malik Hairston, Bryce Taylor, Ray Schafer and Mitch Platt. Part of that was electrifying play on offense, mixed with questions on defense.
Most important for Ernie Kent is that Tajuan Porter, the go-to scorer since Aaron Brooks left, will be back at his old game shooting three-pointers. He and Joevan Catron and Longmire are the keystones to this season in Kent’s and my point of view. How they play in the short term is very important, but it’s their leadership in the long term that will decide whether this team gets an NCAA or NIT Tournament bid, or is left home in March.
For the women, the storyline was written during the offseason, when UO officials declined to extend coach Bev Smith’s contract beyond this year. It’s win or else for the women. The women should put an exciting product on the floor with their guardplay in Taylor Lilley and Micaela Cocks, but could see an emerging frontcourt of Nicole Canepa, Ellyce Ironmonger and Victoria Kenyon. And no one should be more of a question, and thus a player to track, than transfer Rita Kollo, another tall scorer.
Raise your hand if you know what’s going to happen this year.
And that is why we should be so grateful for this time of year.
You want a run for the Pac-10 title? Mike Bellotti’s team is in the thick of it should they win at Cal this year.
If you want to see a new era in Oregon’s men’s basketball, then Ernie Kent’s six freshmen should give you more than enough growing pains to hold you over for the entire year. After watching them in last night’s scrimmage at McArthur Court, they’ll no doubt give more than their share of highlights as well.
Who says Thanksgiving is a month away?
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