SOUND OFF.

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MVP deserved his honor

In response to last week's Sound Off, I am very offended by the remarks made regarding the Midwestern League coaches' selection of Jason Bell as MVP of the league. As one of the so-called `Good Ol' Boys,' I am also offended that I would be stereotyped and slandered as someone who is acting against one deserving athlete to promote another.

The first remark that I would like to address is how a player from a 7-9 team could be selected as the league MVP. To finish with that record and still have been voted MVP is a huge tribute and accomplishment to Jason. He has obviously earned the respect of the league's coaches.

There were few games where he was not the focal point of the opposing team's defensive game plan, and he often faced double and triple teams. You take any one person off of South's team and I believe they still win the league. If you take Jason off of our team, how many games do we win?

The next comment was about the importance of statistics. All Jason did was win the league scoring title, averaging 16.3 points, 12.5 rebounds, 2.7 blocks and 2.4 steals per game while shooting 52 percent from the field and 43 percent from the three-point line.

He had five games with more than 15 rebounds. He had 16 double-double games and scored over 20 several times. These numbers are certainly enough to be the MVP of any league ... especially getting those numbers while other teams continually made him the focus of their defensive game plan.

Another statement was that the MVP should come from the best team. This, to me, is what is wrong with athletes and parents ... the emphasis is put on individual awards rather than team success.

It doesn't seem to be enough that they are on the best team. I believe not having the MVP is a tribute to Dave Hancock and the South Eugene players that they are the best and most unselfish team. What makes me so proud of Jason is that he would trade any individual honor for his team to play in the playoffs.

The MVP award means different things to different coaches. If you asked 10 coaches what they feel the criteria for the MVP award should be, I believe you would get many answers.

Some believe sportsmanship should play a role. Some think it should be solely on athletic ability and skill. Some believe where your team places should have a lot to do with it. My point is you cannot make coaches vote on things they do not believe in by selecting specific criteria of what the MVP is.

JR Morgan is a fine player and led his team to back-to-back district titles and a state trophy last season. That is very impressive, and he could very easily been the MVP of the MWL.

But to say coaches did not vote for him because they like Jason better or because the `Good Ol' Boys' did a number on the league is very offensive.

For someone to suggest that any one of our MWL coaches would vote for someone, or not vote for someone, they felt deserved top honors is completely wrong and out of line for making such an outlandish accusation and forming an obvious uneducated opinion.

I am the longest-tenured coach in the league and have never approached or been approached by another coach to trade votes or to blackball any player or school.

It is too bad adults have resorted to bashing a deserving young man who did not ask for this award to promote someone else.

DOUG PIQUETTE

Thurston High School 

boys basketball coach

Not meeting expectations

Last football season was beyond painful to watch the Ducks sink below mediocrity. Now the men's basketball team follows the same path after being highly rated in the preseason. Like Mike Bellotti, Ernie Kent seems without a clue about the reasons, based in part on his statement after the loss to UCLA. He claimed his "young basketball team ... has made a lot of growth through the course of the year."

In the same article, one of the Duck freshmen said, "They (UCLA) weren't hard to guard." Lord love a Duck, are they serious? Apparently, to this bewildered young man, guarding someone and keeping them from scoring are two different things. How else can you explain UCLA shooting .540 for the game?

Does coach Kent really believe that starting 9-1 and then finishing 14-13 shows "a lot of growth" through the course of the year? How about being picked to finish third in the Pac-10 and ending up ninth? I wonder where he sees "a lot of growth" when the Ducks made the same mistakes during their last game as they did all season - poor defense, getting killed on the boards, turnovers at crucial times, poor shot selection, second-half swoons and on and on, ad nauseum.

So long as Bellotti and Kent remain head coaches, there will be no joy in Duckville, just hollow excuses that don't hold water. Oregon fans deserve more.

STEVE THORWALD

La Verne, Calif.

Advantage goes to visitors

It was almost three decades ago. But Oregon's unexpected NIT victory over Oral Roberts in Tulsa in 1976 came to mind when little Oakland of Michigan (12-18) beat Oral Roberts in Tulsa, 6l-60, to get the Mid-Continent Conference NCAA Tournament slot last week.

The Ducks hung on to beat ORU by a point the night Greg Ballard scored 42 points to set the school record. The game was held in Tulsa because the NIT wanted the home team to advance to New York for the finals.

The Roberts scoring machine, Anthony Roberts, scored 63 points against the hard-nosed Kamikaze defense of coach Dick Harter, and still the hometowners lost.

Could not help but be reminded of the irony of this season's Mac Court billboard that touted: "Home Court Advantage." It was failure to win at home that cost the men their postseason NCAA chances.

GEORGE BERES

Eugene

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