The birthday party for McArthur Court has come and gone.
After having Wednesday off to regroup from the festivities, the Oregon men’s basketball team returns to practice today and shifts its attention back to the Pacific-10 Conference.
And tonight, with eight Pac-10 teams in action, the Ducks will be keen
observers while they await Saturday’s Civil War in Corvallis.
Oregon (12-4) is currently in second place in the Pac-10 with a 5-1 league record, trailing only the 5-0 USC Trojans. Behind the Ducks are 4-1 UCLA and 4-2 Arizona.
This promises two big games down in the desert tonight as the Trojans visit the Wildcats, and the Bruins tangle with the Sun Devils.
“Certainly we’ll have an eyeball on who wins those games, because depending on who wins or loses, Saturday’s game (against the Beavers) could even get bigger with what’s on the line,” Oregon head coach Ernie Kent said. “Potentially, it could be a share of first, first place all by yourself or maintaining second place.”
Usually during Civil War week, the Ducks have plenty of time to rest with only the one game on Saturday. But this week was different with Oregon celebrating the 75th anniversary of Mac Court in its 71-48 victory Tuesday over Willamette, a Division III school from Salem.
“I would have liked to have taken a couple of days off, but we wanted to play this game,” Kent said. “I didn’t think it was right to pass up on this opportunity to play Willamette.”
And even though the Ducks weren’t pleased with their effort against the Bearcats, they did appreciate the reason for the game and being in the presence of all the former players who are a part of the Oregon basketball family.
“It’s good for the former Ducks to see us play and see us carry on the tradition,” point guard Luke Ridnour said. “Now we’re excited to get back into the Pac-10.”

Polls and “Bracketology”
For the first time since Feb. 13, 1995, the Pac-10 has five representatives in the Associated Press top-25 poll.
The No. 23 Ducks cracked the rankings for the first time this season after their sweep at home over the Bay Area schools.
UCLA leads the league at No. 9, Arizona is No. 15, USC is No. 18 and Stanford dropped to No. 19 after its loss in Eugene. The Bruins reached the top-10 after upsetting then-top-ranked Kansas, 87-77, on Saturday.
“UCLA’s win over Kansas is a great win for our league,” Arizona head coach Lute Olson said. “The Pac-10 is ranked right now one or two in the nation in terms of strength of conference. That helps. Maybe it will make a difference for selection of the NCAA Tournament.”
Speaking of March Madness, ESPN.com is wasting no time in putting on its dancing shoes. Each week, Joe Lunardi is coming out with his “Bracketology,” which projects the fields of teams in the Big Dance.
This week, he has six Pac-10 teams in the mix: UCLA, USC, Arizona, Stanford, California and Oregon.
The Ducks are a projected fifth seed and would play 12th seeded St. John’s on March 15 at the United Center in Chicago.
In its weekly power rankings, CNNSI.com has Oregon listed at No. 14 this week, ahead of Arizona and Stanford.