Brooks, Porter honored by Pac-10.

Byline: Bob Clark The Register-Guard

Oregon's Aaron Brooks became the first Duck named to the Pac-10's all-league team since 2004, but the Duck senior lost out as player of the year to Arron Afflalo of UCLA in the announcement of league honors Monday.

`I'm pretty sure my name was thrown out there a little bit, and just to be talked about as (the possible) player of the year in this great conference, I'm OK with that,' Brooks said. `A great player won it. All credit to Arron, he had a great season and (UCLA) had a great year.'

UO coach Ernie Kent also had praise for the selection of Afflalo, though he was obviously disappointed for his own player.

`We've had a very good year and Aaron had a superb year,' Kent said. `The votes are in, and all we can do is move on.'

The 23-7 Ducks, ranked 16th in the latest poll by The Associated Press, meet Arizona on Thursday at 12:20 p.m. in the quarterfinals of the Pac-10 tournament at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

Oregon's last previous all-league selection was Luke Jackson in 2004. Brooks, the lone senior on this all-league unit, leads the Pac-10 in scoring (18.0) and is fourth in assists (4.4) and seventh in steals (1.4). He also ranks third in free-throw percentage (.849) and led the league in minutes played (37.1).

Brooks called his all-league berth `definitely a great accomplishment to add to my career. Mostly, I'm just happy with where the team is at right now.'

Oregon's Tajuan Porter, named to the league's all-freshman team, expressed similar sentiments about his selection.

`That's an individual thing, and I'm not out for individual attention,' Porter said. `I'm just trying to win games.'

Porter was one of six freshmen honored, with a league spokesman explaining `we felt this was a year' to expand the team from its usual five. Arizona's Chase Budinger was voted the league's outstanding freshman.

Porter leads the conference in free-throw percentage (.925) and three-pointers made (2.93). He has already tied the Pac-10 record for three-pointers made by a freshman (82) with at least two more games to play in the league and NCAA tournaments. He is also Oregon's third-leading scorer (13.8), and ranks 13th in the league and fourth among freshman in that latter category.

While the freshman unit was expanded this season, the opposite was true of the all-league first team as Brooks was one of only nine players named, one fewer than the usual minimum. The explanation given by the Pac-10 office was that a player must receive votes from at least five of the other nine coaches - a coach can't vote for his own player - to be on the first team.

The last time the Pac-10 had only nine players on its first team was in 1985. Among the 12 players accorded honorable mention this season was Oregon junior Maarty Leunen.

On the all-freshman team, Porter is Oregon's sixth selection in the last seven seasons. The previous choices during that time span were Luke Jackson and Luke Ridnour in 2001, Brooks in 2004, and Malik Hairston and Bryce Taylor in 2005.

Washington State's Tony Bennett was voted coach of the year. The complete team is listed on Page E6.

UO recruit injured

Kamyron Brown, one of two high school seniors signed by the Ducks for next season, suffered a dislocated pinkie finger on his shooting hand in the first quarter of the Southern Section championship game and was held to nine points as his Mater Dei team suffered a 77-68 loss to Lakewood Artesia.

`I think I hurt the team more trying to play through the injury,' Brown told the Los Angeles Times after the game.

Mater Dei (29-4) will now enter the California state tournament seeded as the top team in its region for Division II.

Playing on

Two Ducks who left Oregon after last season, Ivan Johnson and Kenny Love, are playing for teams that were among the 64 included in the NCAA Division II national tournament.

Johnson, a 6-8 senior, ended up leading his Cal State-San Bernardino team in scoring (14.1) and rebounding (4.4) despite averaging only 22 minutes per game. Johnson's team is seeded second in the West Regional that will begin Friday at Humboldt State, the top seed in the West.

Cal State-San Bernardino goes against BYU-Hawaii (20-7) in its first NCAA game. The Coyotes finished the regular season 22-5 as Johnson scored a season-high 27 points in a win over Cal State-Los Angeles.

Love, a junior in eligibility, has averaged 7.8 points and 2.2 assists for Southern Indiana (28-5), which is also a No. 2 seed in its region, the Great Lakes. The Eagles will play Rockhurst on Saturday in Findlay, Ohio, with host University of Findlay as the top seed in that regional.

In Division II, there are eight regionals, with eight teams at each site.

The winners of those regionals, each to be played in three rounds over four days through next Tuesday, then advance to an Elite Eight at Springfield, Mass., beginning March 21. The Division II title game is March 24.

OREGON MEN VS. ARIZONA

12:20 p.m. Thursday at Staples Center, Los Angeles. TV: FSN. Radio: KUGN-AM (590).