Once again it was proven the basketball talent that comes off the floor of The Oregonian Northwest Shootout is national caliber quality, able to play with anyone in the country. The biggest story was that for the second year in a row, past Shootout stars played in the final game for the national NCAA championship. This year, Utah featuring Central Catholic's Michael Doleac (1994 Oregon) and Wilson's David Jackson (1996 Oregon) battled Kentucky, the same team that lost to Arizona in the finals the year before.
Pegged by four NBA general managers as the first round draft pick in the 1998 NBA draft, Doleac has had quite a ride since he went to Utah after leading Central Catholic to the 1994 Class 4A state title. In the weeks leading up to the title game, he was on ESPN, in the New York Times, in USA Today, and featured on the front page of The Oregonian. "He became the best-known player on the highest profile team of the biggest university in Utah," says Oregonian reporter Rachel Bachman.
But national attention was not given only to Doleac. According to The Sporting News, defending national champions Arizona, featuring Federal Way's Michael Dickerson (1994 Washington) and Franklin's Jason Terry (1995 Washington) were "the team to beat in the NCAA Tournament." Michael and Jason were cover boys in the March issue of The Sporting News. Some observations by writer Anthony Gimino were that "great guard play will key Arizona's run to a second consecutive NCAA title... that guard Dickerson project as an NBA draft first rounder and that... junior guard Jason Terry is the best sixth man in the nation."
With those kind of press clippings, the anticipation was great for Northwest Shootout fans when Utah played Arizona in the quarterfinals because it featured a repeat showdown of the 1994 classic game that pitted dickerson against Dolaec. Even though Dickerson proved to be the best player on the court that day, Doleac's Oregon team was able to nip Washington at the buzzer 105-104. This re-match of Doleac and Dickerson didn't have quite the same excitement however. Dolaec and the Utes were able to move on to the Final Four as they thoroughly dominated a surprized Arizona team.
Another team that burst on to the scene this year in the NCAA's thanks to its Northwest Shootout players was Washington. Featuring Lake Washington's Donald Watts (1995 Washington), Prarie's Dan Dickau (1997 Washington) and South Salem's Thalo Green (1996 Oregon), the 11th seed Huskies fought their way through Xavier and Richmond before being edged in the regionals 75-74 by #2 seed Connecticut. Donald, the son of former SuperSonics guard Slick Watts, had a breakthrough season. Labeled an inconsistent, underachieving junior, he just kept getting better every game throughout the season after he visited a naturopathis physician who told him to lay off sugar. Another Shootout vetran to feel the UCon Huskey bite was Gresham's Jermaine Slider (1994 Oregon). His Fairleigh Dickerson team got bumped in the first round.
The women were also very well represented in the NCAA this year. Going the farthest into the tournament was Arizona who lost in the regionals to perenial powerhouse Connecticut. Led by St. Mary's Lisa Griffith (1995 Oregon), Arizona finished the year 23-7 with Lisa taking the reins and the starting point guard.
Two other standout point guards from past shootouts, Mead's Stacy Clinesmith (1996 Washington) and Oregon City's Ashley Smith (1997 Oregon) battled each other in the first round matchup. Stacy, The Oregonian's MVP of the 1996 Shootout and Ashley, The Oregonian's Player of the Year in 1997 went head to head before Stacy's UC Santa Barbara team prevailed in overtime over Ashley's Vanderbilt squad. Stacy put on a long-range shooting exhibition as she nailed 5 three-pointers in their upset win over the sixth seeded Commodores.
Despite getting knocked out in the first round Ashley's season had a number of high points to it including the honor of being named to the All-American freshman team by Women's Basketball News Service. As the starting point guard she led the Southeastern Conference, which is generally regarded as the toughest women's basketball conference in the nation, with 6.9 assists per game.
Ashley's teammate at Oregon City, Branne Meharry (1997 Oregon) bolted out of the blocks her freshman year at Oregon. Brainne, The Oregonian's MVP of the 1997 Shootout, was leading the team in both scoring and rebounding when she suffered a season-ending knee injury in January. But despite her loss, the Ducks rallied to make the NCAA thanks in part to the impressive efforts of Mountain View's Angelina Wolvert (1997 Washington). As a freshman, Angelina led Oregon with 23 points and 10 rebounds in their 79-76 loss to Rutgers in the first round. With Brianne and Angelina coming back next season, everything is looking up.
