Downcast expressions on the faces of Chelsea Wagner, Gabrielle Richards and Eleanor Haring said it all. Upset, they sat and tried to explain how a season that started with promise ended without a postseason appearance in 2005-06.
The press conference following Oregon’s first-round loss in the Pacific-10 Conference Tournament to Arizona in spring 2006 was a low point.
Fast-forward one season and the Oregon women’s basketball team made the postseason, albeit the Women’s National Invitation Tournament, and is now two years removed from its last NCAA Tournament appearance.
Coach Bev Smith is optimistic the recently completed season is a positive sign of things to come. Smith realizes people have high aspirations when it comes to Oregon women’s basketball.
The Eugene community grew accustomed to NCAA Tournament appearances during the eight-year reign of former coach Jody Runge.
“I’m right there with them,” Smith said. “I know there are expectations and there should be expectations on this program, not only for where the team has been in the past during the Jody Runge years, but where we were two years ago, and I know that better than anyone. My pressure is all about doing as much as I can every day to help this program and this team get better.”
Oregon accomplished with its 17-14 record what few might have thought possible at the beginning of the season. Richards, a mainstay in the post and the team’s leading scorer in 2005-06, left the team, citing a need to be closer to her family in Australia. On the night of Oregon’s first exhibition game against the Australian Institute of Sport, guard Kristen Forristall attended the game as a spectator. She quit the team days later, and shortly thereafter joined the volleyball team.
The Ducks then fell to Vanguard, an NAIA team, in an exhibition game at McArthur Court.
Oregon managed a revival shortly thereafter with two road wins at UC-Santa Barbara and Long Beach State and a 7-1 start. When the team slipped up again, falling to 2-7 in Pac-10 play after a home loss to Oregon State, the Ducks managed another revival with a 6-3 record to end the conference portion of the season.
Although Oregon lost in the first round of the Pac-10 Tournament to California, the Ducks had done enough to earn a bid to the WNIT, a first-round bye and a home game against UC-Santa Barbara. It gave Oregon’s five seniors another home game in McArthur Court, and they routed the Gauchos 70-54.
Oregon traveled to Laramie, Wyo. for its third-round meeting with Wyoming. Wyoming escaped when Hanna Zavecz’s fast-break lay-up with 6.6 seconds left gave the Cowgirls a 64-62 victory.
The loss brought an end to a season Smith ultimately calls a success.
“I think that the commitment that our players, or those that were left standing, gave to this program was complete and I think they were rewarded by that with a season that not too many thought that they could accomplish,” Smith said. “In my eyes, I think we were successful because our definition of success is pursuing excellence, and I think this team pursued it as far as they could have.”
“These kids dealt with adversity all year long and for them to compete the way they did night in and night out, I think it’s a true credit to their character and what that did to keep this team together,” assistant coach Willette White said.
Support from above
Smith has met with new athletic director Pat Kilkenny and both Smith and Renee Baumgartner, senior women’s administrator, described the meetings as positive.
“He has been very supportive of our team,” Smith said. “He was obviously at the Pac-10 Tournament for our game against Cal.”
Baumgartner confirmed Smith will be back next season and says she’s positive Smith is the right person to lead the program going forward.
“I think it’s her heart and her determination to make this program as good as it can possibly be,” Baumgartner said. “She’s very focused on that goal. I think that she will be able to continue the success that she had from this last year and we’ll just get better and better and better.”
Smith is reportedly under contract through June 2009. She has a base salary of $150,000 and $50,000 in possible incentives and supplemental income.
An integral part of making Oregon a consistent participant in the NCAA Tournament is talent.
White leads Oregon’s recruiting efforts in Seattle, Wash. and Southern California. She signed Nia Jackson from Sealth High in Washington. Jackson will join Oregon this fall.
“I think that we have a lot of kids that are extremely interested in taking a look at Oregon women’s basketball and that is the first step of anything that you try to do is getting kids excited about the possibilities here, the potential for a new facility, the city of Eugene. You can’t beat having 2,000 to 3,000 people at your games night-in and night-out,” White said.
Smith has recruited internationally and within the United States. Brown has drawn on his expertise with the Australian Institute of Sport to bring post Ellie Manou and Victoria Kenyon to the program. Kenyon joined the program for the winter term and redshirted this season.
Oregon loses seniors Cicely Oaks and Jessie Shetters, the last two in-state players on the Ducks’ roster, and with no incoming players from the state, the team will go without an Oregon native next season.
And for Baumgartner, the importance isn’t so much on where the player comes from, but as to whether or not they can contribute to a successful program.
“I’d like to have just the best athletes possible so we can compete for championships. I think Bev’s philosophy’s the same, so that’s the goal – find the best athletes you can,” Baumgartner said. “It doesn’t matter where they’re from, but make sure that they can gel together as team and accomplish the goals and objectives that Bev has set for the program.”
The question remains whether Oregon can draw in-state talent to Eugene. Forristall was the last, a product of Oregon City’s program. Just last season three players from Southridge made an impact at other Pac-10 schools in Aarika Hughes, J.J. Hones and Stacey Nichols. Lauren Greif out of Lincoln High in Portland made an immediate impact at California.
“Obviously, we’ve been out working hard and we have recruited the best Oregon players,” Smith said. “We’ve been, a lot of times, second to their decisions to go to Stanford and to go to USC and to go to those two schools, and I think that’s tough, but I think at the same time, you need to find people who are going to help Oregon, who want to be at Oregon, and who want to take this program to where it’s capable of going.”
Smith has been in contact with Michael Meek, Southridge’s coach, who has another two players for the class of 2008 listed on Scout.com in 6-foot-3-inch center Michelle Jenkins and guard Alex Earl listed as likely Division I recruits. Aubrey Miller of Central Catholic is another.
“I think it’s definitely a school that should be a school that would be a place that kids would want to go to,” Meek said of Oregon. “Why they don’t necessarily have a lot of Oregon kids, I don’t think it has anything thing to do with them not working at it, I think the coaches there are working towards trying to get Oregon kids to stay home.”
Forristall, who nearly went to Vanderbilt, made a big statement by staying close to home, Oregon City coach Kurt Guelsdorf said. Oregon, though, has to compete with schools that have that name recognition.
“I think there are really some powerhouse programs that have drawn kids out of the state, and I don’t know if that’s so much anything that Oregon and Oregon State are doing, but more that those are just some powerhouse programs. When Stanford comes calling, it’s probably hard for kids to say no, like in the case of J.J. Hones. That’s a name. Especially in the girl’s game, even if you do play professionally, you’re not going to make 10 million dollars like a mal
e pro might make, and so you’re looking at education first and foremost.”
Arizona State and Stanford have also been known to make long runs in the NCAA Tournament, as shown by the Sun Devils’ run to the Elite Eight this season. Stanford’s second-round exit notwithstanding, the Cardinal is usually a Sweet 16 participant.
“There’s certain programs that have an allure to it … that when they try to recruit you, I think there’s probably a little bit more pull to get those kids out of state,” he said. “That doesn’t mean it can’t be done. I think it obviously takes a hard-working group.”
Oregon’s current recruiting class is ranked No. 31 by Blue Star, a national recruiting organization. More ranked recruiting classes are necessary for Oregon to become a perennial NCAA Tournament contender, White says.
“We need another solid recruiting class and probably the one after that,” White said. “So two to three solid recruiting classes is really going to get you to turn the corner.”
New place to play
Kilkenny has made the arena project an emphasis. An important part of the future of the men’s basketball program, it’s an equally important part for the women.
“Mac Court is a great place to play,” Smith said. “There’s no doubt about it, and I have bittersweet feelings about not playing there. Our facility and our locker room situation … we just need to upgrade because if you look at every other school in the Pac-10 since 2000, they have all upgraded locker room facilities, academic facilities and we really need some help in that area, and I think everyone understands that and as important as it is for the men, it’s equally if not more so important for us.”
Meek has seen one of his former pupils in Hughes who went to USC, which used it’s brand new arena, the Galen Center, for the first time last season.
“I definitely think that having a brand new basketball facility is going to greatly enhance (Smith’s) recruitment of players … I think they have a lot of tradition there at Oregon,” Meek said. “It’s a great place to play, and they have that feeling of tradition there that maybe other schools don’t have.”
Drawing fans
The Oregon women’s soccer and volleyball teams have shown an increase in student fans as the teams have become more successful.
At the WNIT second round game, Smith paid for pizza for students who attended and the athletic department paid for student’s tickets. Smith and Baumgartner say they will be doing more in the future to entice more students to attend women’s games.
“(Students) do such a good job with the men’s program that traditionally the women’s side hasn’t had a lot of students, and I think it’s just our ability to go out and make them feel welcome and comfortable and let them know when basketball games are being played,” Smith said.
The Stanford game drew the most fans at McArthur Court this season with 3,734, while the UCSB game, on a day between the Oregon men’s NCAA Tournament games in Spokane, drew just 1,533 fans.
“I think putting a great product on the court has been key to bringing in fans to Mac Court, and I think that more than anyone, Bev would like to have Mac Court filled,” Baumgartner said. “But remember, we are one of the few programs … in the top half of the Pac-10 leading in attendance.”
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