Phil Knight offered a kind word after the game. Joey Harrington passed a note expressing his support. Athletic Director Bill Moos patted him on the back.
An Oregon player? Nope. All this was heaped on Mal Williams, also known as The Duck.
In one of the most bizarre events on a bizarre afternoon in Nashville, Williams — who has been the main man in the Duck suit for four years — got in a mini-fight with Swoop, the Utah mascot, at halftime of Oregon’s first-round loss March 21. CBS replayed the incident over and over, and of course it made Sportscenter the night of the game.
Williams said he was just trying to protect the Duck cheerleaders.
“My main concern was that (the cheerleaders) had worked so hard on this dance, and it turned out to be, because we lost, the last game for a lot of those girls,” Williams said. “I thought that was totally disrespectful. Everything is scripted, and so there was a scripted halftime, and he did not stay off the floor, so I had to react to that.”
Oregon was scheduled to take the floor first for their halftime routine. But when the dancers started, Swoop, on stilts for his halftime performance, came out of a tunnel on the other end of the floor. Williams got up from where he was laying on the court, walked over to Swoop and motioned to the Utah mascot to get off the floor. When Swoop continued forward, Williams moved closer and got more emphatic.
That’s when Swoop took a swing from his great height, knocking Williams’ Duck head off. Williams started throwing punches at Swoop’s stilts, as a Utah male cheerleader came over to break up the mascots.
“I’m glad I didn’t knock (Swoop) over, because that would’ve hurt him,” Williams said. “They pulled us off the floor, and right away he was all over me apologizing.”
But Williams said he was hesitant to accept the Utah mascot’s apology.
“Here’s the thing,” Williams said. “The girls, before they went out for their dance, were in the tunnel, and so was he in the same tunnel, and he was getting on these stilts. He said, ‘So you guys are doing halftime, right?’ And they said ‘Yeah.’ And he’s like ‘I’m going to come on after you guys.’ But he didn’t wait to do it after. He came out during it, and totally distracted the fans.”
Whether or not Williams wanted to, NCAA officials asked the mascots to make up during the first time out of the second half, which they did. After the game, CBS’ Bonnie Bernstein “talked” to both mascots in an odd, mute interview that was televised nationally.
“She was not happy she had to interview two mascots,” Williams said. “I told her, ‘I can tell you don’t want to do this, and as much as you don’t want to do this, I don’t want to do this.’”
Whatever the result, Williams said he received the support of some big-name Oregon fans.
“Joey Harrington wrote a note to my mom to give to me, saying ‘Way to protect your girls and your university,’” Williams said. “Phil Knight came up to me after the game and said ‘Way to protect your university.’”
And on an afternoon where nothing went right for Oregon, Williams said he was disappointed with how much attention the fight got in the media. In Nashville’s newspaper, The Tennessean, the only picture from the Oregon-Utah game in its coverage the next day was of Williams, head off, swinging at Swoop. It was a lasting, bizarre image from a lasting, bizarre weekend.

Mop-topping the awards floor
Luke Ridnour wasn’t named the MVP of the Midwest regional, ending his awards streak after he won the Pacific-10 Conference Player of the Year award and MVP honors at the Pac-10 Tournament.
Or did it end the streak?

Ridnour was named to the NCAA Tournament’s “All-Hair” second team by ESPN.com. He joined the likes of Utah’s Tim Frost and Indiana’s Tom Coverdale on the second team, while the first team was highlighted by Stanford’s Josh Childress and Texas’ James Thomas.
Luke Jackson was named among the tournament’s top ‘dos last year, but didn’t make the cut (pun intended) this season. Ridnour didn’t receive the honor last year.

Pac-king up,

Pac-king out
The Final Four includes a team from Texas, a team from Kansas, a team from Wisconsin and a team from New York.
Not much love for the West Coast.
The Pac-10 had one of the worst showings of any power conference at this year’s NCAA Tournament, going 6-5. The Big XII is, so far, the best with a 15-4 record.