Kent’s duck victim of fowl play
Oregon coach Ernie Kent is missing a duck.
And not just any duck. An inflatable, holiday duck.
The duck, which happens to be Oregon’s mascot, adorned Kent’s front yard in Eugene, Ore., along with an inflatable snowman and a similar Santa. All three of the giant inflatables were illuminated at night.
But when Kent returned from Oregon’s game against Illinois last weekend, the duck was gone.
Kent is vowing to keep Santa and the snowman dark at night until the duck is returned.
He describes it as 8-feet tall, green, yellow and white — and wearing a Santa hat.
“You get up for a glass of water, from the bedroom window you look out and there he is,” Kent told The Oregonian. “It’s kind of cool seeing him out there all the time. All of the sudden, he’s no longer there. I mean, that’s a tough adjustment for me.”
RPI calculation changing
The NCAA Division I men’s basketball committee is changing the way it calculates the Ratings Percentage Index, giving more weight to playing and winning games on the road.
The RPI is one of the tools the committee uses to evaluate teams for the NCAA Tournament.
The committee started evaluating the RPI in 2000, and chairman Bob Bowlsby said in a statement that over the past 20 years, home teams have won about two-thirds of all games.
But he also stressed the committee does not rely completely on computer models.
“We want the RPI to be the best tool possible,” said Bowlsby, Iowa’s athletic director. “We believe this adjustment accomplishes that.”
UCLA retiring Goodrich’s jersey
UCLA is honoring Gail Goodrich at Pauley Pavilion this weekend by retiring his No. 25 jersey at halftime of the game against Michigan. The last time Wolverine fans saw Goodrich on a court it wasn’t a pleasant sight.
In the 1965 title game, the Bruins beat Michigan 91-80 and Goodrich scored 42 points, at the time a school and NCAA championship game record. That was the second of UCLA’s 11 national championships and Goodrich was the leading scorer on the first two.
Goodrich’s number will be the seventh retired by UCLA, joining Ed O’Bannon (31); Bill Walton (32); Lew Alcindor — now Kareem Abdul-Jabbar — (33); Sidney Wicks (35); Walt Hazzard (42); and Marques Johnson (54).
Security concerns after NBA brawl
Jim Haney, the executive director of the National Association of Basketball Coaches has sent a letter to about 1,000 college coaches urging them to review security plans at their arenas.
“Coming on the heels of the brawl in Detroit, we have to recognize that we’re nearing the conference season where the intensity and emotions run higher,” Haney said, referring to the in-the-stands melee involving members of the Indiana Pacers and Pistons fans.
“As a visitor, you’ve got to expect that you’re going to be verbally assaulted, possibly have ice or other things thrown on you. How do you handle that? If a fight breaks out on court during a game, what will you do?”
Some situations have more concern around them than others.
“I worry about my dad’s protection more than I do our players,” said Pat Knight, an assistant coach to his father Bob at Texas Tech. “Some of the things the people say who sit behind us are just unbelievable. I worry about him.”