Rooting against Luke Ridnour in Washington is like rooting against the Space Needle.
Washingtonians love their Blaine boy. Even when he beats the pants off Washington and Washington State. Even when the Ridnour fans outnumber the Cougar fans in Pullman.
“Probably not, but we’ll have a good crew,” Ridnour said when asked if that latter feat might happen.
Ridnour has a large family contingent in Spokane and a bigger fan base in his northern home town of Blaine. Both contingents will be there as Oregon faces the Cougars tonight in Pullman and squares off with the Huskies in Seattle on Saturday.
For Ridnour and the Ducks, both games are must-win. Oregon is 2-3 on the Pacific-10 Conference road, and this weekend presents an opportunity as golden as a goblet to prove to the NCAA Tournament committee that the Ducks can win on the road.
Washington State is 0-13 in Pac-10 play. Washington is 3-10.
“A smart coach or a smart team, you don’t look at Washington State or Washington’s record,” Oregon head coach Ernie Kent said. “They’ve played everybody tough as of late. They’re both very, very tough on their home floors.”
First up are the Cougars at 7 p.m. (the game will not be televised). Washington State hasn’t won since a Dec. 23 victory over Fresno State. Only two of their 13-straight losses have been by less than 10 points.

But the Ducks talked about that very failure as being the Cougars’ biggest tool against them. Oregon will play in front of a Friel Court crowd that has averaged 2,259 fans in six Pac-10 games this season, 1,827 fans if you discount the record-setting game against Arizona, which 4,419 fans attended.
“Pullman, not that many fans and everything, we’ve just got to go up there and play within ourselves,” Oregon guard James Davis said. “I’ve got much respect for Washington State, they played us tough down here.”
Ahh, the infamous 76-66 “tough” game that the Ducks and Cougars played in Eugene on Jan. 25. The Oregon players agreed that if they had played better in that game, it wouldn’t have been nearly so tough.
“We need to go up there and give them our best effort because I don’t think we gave them that when they came down here,” Kent said.
On Saturday, Oregon heads to Seattle to continue the blooming rivalry that sometimes tastes like onion to the Oregon team (the game will be televised at 4 p.m. on Fox Sports). The Ducks blew out the Huskies by 25 points in January at Mac Court, but the teams have split the last 12 games in the rivalry in half, six apiece. Oregon lost a close one in Seattle last year, 97-92.
“Definitely it’s a rivalry,” Davis said. “They’re athletic, talented always. We’re going to expect their best game.”
As Doug Wrenn goes, so go the Huskies against the Ducks. The talented forward scored only 10 points against Oregon in Eugene, but scored 32 points in 36 minutes of Washington’s win last year.
When the Huskies played in Eugene, Wrenn was the focus of many of the Pit Crew’s chants, including “U-Conn re-ject,” a reference to Wrenn getting kicked off the Connecticut team two years ago.
You can bet that when the Ducks play at Washington on Saturday, the home crowd won’t be cheering against Wrenn.
But they won’t be cheering against Luke Ridnour either. And that may be just what the Ducks need to go two-for-Washington.