Two days have passed and the silence surrounding Kristen Forristall’s decision Monday to leave the women’s basketball program is overwhelming.
Forristall practiced with the basketball team through last Friday’s shoot-around. She left suddenly, skipping Oregon’s exhibition game against the Australian Institute of Sport that night and watched the Oregon volleyball team afterwards. Forristall declined comment Monday and has remained quiet since.
Her decision comes less than two weeks before the season starts, and with an exhibition game Monday night against Vanguard.
“It’s unusual timing, but it’s something that’s happened and we’re going to have to go forward with the players that we have and see what we need to do and step up in areas where everyone can contribute and add some more,” said coach Bev Smith by cell phone from San Jose, Calif., where she and forward Eleanor Haring attended Pac-10 media day.
Smith declined to discuss any specifics of Forristall’s decision, instead referring to the press release issued by Oregon media relations. In the release, Forristall said she is “choosing to leave the Oregon women’s basketball program at this time due to irreconcilable differences between myself and the head coach.”
“We’re disappointed with the decision that Kristen has made, particularly with the timing of this decision,” Smith said in the release. “As far as myself and my coaching staff are concerned, we felt that any perceived differences were resolvable.”
Oregon must now look toward the rapidly approaching season opener on Nov. 17 at UC Santa Barbara.
“There’s no point in looking at what could have been,” forward Carolyn Ganes said. “All we know is that she made a decision that she had to make and so now we have to carry on and try to make adjustments.”
Already, forward Gabrielle Richards left the program at the beginning of September to return home to Australia. Forristall’s departure gives Oregon 10 scholarship players, of which nine can reasonably contribute. Mary Sbrissa is not ready to help, Smith said.
To fully utilize Oregon’s roster, Smith is switching to a quicker style of play.
“I don’t think things will change,” Smith said. “I think we’re going to just have to have quicker rotations and have more people contribute in that way. We will not change how we want to play and how we’re going to do things.”
Forward Eleanor Haring, who scored 22 points from the power forward position Friday, can expect to play more at small forward, along with Cicely Oaks, Smith said, to give Oregon more depth.
“That’s always an exciting thing because (Haring) does good things in that position and I think she’s looking forward to being on the perimeter a little bit more,” Smith said.
The biggest difference between shooting guard and small forward is a bigger emphasis on rebounding, the 5-foot-7 Oaks said.
“I like rebounding and I think people underestimate my abilities to rebound because I’m so small but I think it will be fun,” Oaks said. “It will be a new challenge for me.”
Micaela Cocks, who spent time at shooting guard Friday, scored 17 points and can expect more time there, Smith says. Cocks can also look to play alongside guard Taylor Lilley.
Ganes still feels that the team can survive without Forristall.
“It’s disappointing, but as a team we need to go with what we got and kind of carry on,” Ganes said. “As long as she’s happy, then as a friend, that’s all you can hope for.”
Forristall’s stay at Oregon never caught up with the expectations preceding her arrival. The Oregon City product was the first McDonald’s All-American to play for Oregon.
Forristall made an immediate impact her freshman year with averages of 5.5 points and 3.2 rebounds and a spot on the Pac-10 All-Freshman Team.
Her promising start gave way to a disappointing sophomore season, when Forristall started the first five games and fell out of coach Smith’s rotation. Forristall earned more minutes near the end of the season, scoring five points and grabbing seven rebounds against USC in 25 minutes. Forristall followed that effort with four rebounds versus UCLA in 14 minutes and played only four minutes in the first round of the Pac-10 Tournament.
Forristall’s season statistics read: 2.7 points and 2.1 rebounds per game.
Already picked by the media to finish eighth in the conference, Oregon faces a more difficult challenge without Forristall.
“It’s going to be tough, and I think we just roll up our sleeves and we keep going,” Smith said.
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