UO to be tested in Kent?s return
Oregon (4-0) Starters
Maarty Leunen, 6-9, Sr. (15.3 ppg, 10.5 rpg)
Joevan Catron, 6-6, So. (9.3 ppg, 8.5 rpg)
Malik Hairston, 6-6, Sr. (22.5 ppg, 4.3 rpg)
Tajuan Porter, 5-6, So. (16.5 ppg, 3.8 apg)
Kamyron Brown, 6-2, Fr. (5.5 ppg, 5.5 apg)
Saint Mary?s (3-0) Starters
Todd Golden, 6-3, Sr. (8.3 ppg, 2.3 apg)
Patrick Mills, 6-0, Fr. (10.3 ppg, 5.0 apg)
Ian O?Leary, 6-7, Jr. (10.7 ppg, 3.7 rpg)
Omar Samhan, 6-11, So. (16.3 ppg, 8.0 rpg)
Diamon Simpson, 6-7, Jr. (10.0 ppg, 8.7 rpg)
Time: 7 p.m.
Radio/TV: KUGN-AM (590)/ESPNU.MORAGA, Calif. ? What has Oregon gotten itself into?
Oh, just a sold-out arena, an amped-up crowd and a Saint Mary?s basketball team that can earn itself some instant national attention if it can upset the 12th-ranked Ducks here tonight.
?Most coaches would not go play the game,? UO coach Ernie Kent said. ?It?s a tough environment, it?s a no-win situation for us and they?re a very good team; they?ve got skill all over the floor.?
So why are the Ducks doing this?
Kent couldn?t say no to his previous employer or ignore his former players, the latter being reunited on the 10th anniversary of Saint Mary?s winning the West Coast Conference regular-season and tournament titles, making it one of only four times that the Gaels have played in the NCAA Tournament.
?For everything those kids, that school and that administration did for me in my coaching career, I need to play the game,? Kent said. ?It means a lot to me.?
That Saint Mary?s team of 10 years ago helped propel Kent into becoming the head coach at his alma mater less than a month after that 1996-97 season ended.
Though Kent initially rebuffed Saint Mary?s attempts at setting up this game, he relented when his former players began calling to ask him to reconsider.
?It means so much to that group of guys for them to get back together. It means so much to me for them to get honored,? Kent said. ?Yes it?s a tough game for us, but my guys need to see those guys.
?None of them are NBA players, but they?re all successful in their lives,? Kent said of the Gaels who will gather for the reunion. ?My guys need to understand there?s another part to all this other than playing at that next level.?
Kent?s final team at Saint Mary?s went 23-7 in the regular season. It?s likely that a player or two off that team will earn a berth on the 25-member all-century team that has been selected by Saint Mary?s and is being announced one at a time.
?They were one of the hardest-working teams that I?ve ever coached and one of the best chemistry-teams that I?ve ever coached because of who they were,? Kent said. ?That?s why they?re all such good friends now.
?They were a team where they would have games where they would go on 25-5 or 24-8 runs. You would just sit there and watch because they were in such great rhythm, and that had to do with where they were off the floor, they were so close.?
The former players, Kent and UO assistant Mark Hudson, who was on the Saint Mary?s staff, attended a dinner Monday. The celebration will continue with introductions tonight at the game, which was announced as sold out last week.
Fans are being urged to ?Paint the Gym Red? by wearing red attire to the game. Students won?t be allowed to sit in the lower section unless they are wearing ?Gael Force? shirts.
It should be a heated atmosphere in the 3,500-seat gym for the two unbeaten teams.
Saint Mary?s was 17-15 last year, and has added lightning-quick freshman point guard Patrick Mills to four veteran starters for a 3-0 start to this season. The Gaels are generally considered the top threat to Gonzaga in the West Coast Conference.
One Internet site rates tonight as Oregon?s most difficult nonconference game, though it might be a stretch to rate this as tougher than what the Ducks will face Nov. 29, when they play at 18th-ranked Kansas State.
Kent looks at this portion of the schedule as a staircase of increasing difficulty, with three home games, a trip to Portland and now this before the trek to the Midwest.
?It doesn?t say Syracuse on the uniform or some other national power, but the games are still just as tough because of the environments,? Kent said. ?It?s not taking us across the country, but it?s going to be a tough game ... they?re going to give us a tough battle.
?This is going to test this team.?
The Ducks might again be without senior Bryce Taylor, who missed the win over Portland due to a sore right shoulder. Kent listed Taylor as ?questionable.?
