INDIANAPOLIS -- Sam Schmidt, owner of Sam Schmidt Motorsports, said he respects Buddy Rices decision not to drive his teams third car to try and qualify for the Indianapolis 500. Time is running out to find a replacement. Rice, the 2004 Indy 500 winner, was set to join Simon Pagenaud and Tristan Vautier as Schmidts drivers in qualifying on Saturday, but he chose not to compete. "It was a joint decision," Schmidt said Wednesday in his garage. "I was looking for funding, he was looking for money. If we couldnt give him a proper two or three days of testing, he just didnt want to be involved, which is fine." Schmidt said he would have liked to have Rices experience as part of the team. "The bottom line is, we were doing our best effort to find the funding to get Buddy in a car today to get him an adequate amount of time to practice so he could qualify on Saturday, and at the end of the day, we couldnt find the funding in time." Bryan Clauson, Jay Howard and Katherine Legge are also hoping to land in Schmidts open car. "Theyre usually in here on a revolving door all day long, looking for an update, so weve talked to all of them," Schmidt said. "Were slowly running out of time here, but its not out of the question." An already short amount of prep time is likely to be shorter because of Mother Nature. "With rain looking ominous for the next couple days, best-case scenario is a Saturday-Sunday qualifying thing and go race," Schmidt said. Stan Smith Baratas Online . The Browns coaching search remains incomplete. Stan Smith Baratas . -- Most satisfying to Russ Smith about No. http://www.stansmithbaratas.es/ . The incident occurred at 19:56 of the second period of the Kings 4-2 road win over Edmonton on Sunday. Nolan punched Oilers forward Jesse Joensuu in the jaw in front of the Kings goal during a scrum. Stan Smith Rebajas . Houston won 3-0 to advance to face New York in the Eastern Conference semifinals. Last in the game, Di Vaio and Romero got into a shoving match with several Houston players. Romero appeared to elbow and kick Houston defender Kofi Sarkodie. Stan Smith España . -- The Bishops Gaiters are showing they belong among the countrys top varsity football teams. EUGENE, Ore. -- An embarrassing road loss to Baylor may prove to be a valuable lesson for Oregon.If the fourth-ranked Ducks want to meet their own lofty expectations, theyll have to earn it on the boards.Two days after losing by 17 points to the unranked Bears, Chris Boucher had 25 points and nine rebounds to lead Oregon to its 27th consecutive home victory, 76-54 over Valparaiso on Thursday night.Boucher was coming off a 12-point, two-rebound performance against Baylor.His activity allowed him to him to have the 25 points, Oregon coach Dana Altman said. He had no defensive rebounds the other night and we lost the rebounding battle by 11.Tonight we won it by 13, and that was the difference in the game.Jordan Bell added 15 points and seven rebounds for the Ducks (2-1), who took control early in the second half with an 11-4 run fueled by Bells eight points to open a 52-38 lead. Bell scored 12 points in the second half as Oregon shot 15 of 27 from the field.That was our goal, just to go inside, Bell said. Against Baylor we went 3 for 21 at the 3-point line, so we just wanted to go inside.Alec Peters led the Crusaders (3-1) with 24 points to become the schools second-leading career scorer. Tevonn Walker added 12 points.Valparaiso shot just 23.3 percent in the second half as Peters was its only starter to make more than half of his attempts. The Crusaders finished 4 of 21 from 3-point range.I think its pretty evident that we are not shooting the ball very well, Valparaiso coach Matt Lottich said, and to beat a team like Oregon youre going to have to hit shots from the outside.Backup freshman point guard Payton Pritchard had nine points and five assists for the Ducks, who led by as many as 25 points in the second half.Oregon had a 40-27 rebounding edge and blocked six shots.Altman said his teams size and rebounding ability should be what sets the Ducks apart.If youre not beating people on the boards, youre not taaking advantage of your athleticism, he said.dddddddddddd Our goal should be a plus-eight or -nine on those boards for the season, and if we do that, itll be really positive for our team.The Ducks played again without preseason All-America Dillon Brooks, who continues to recover from offseason foot surgery. Altman was noncommittal about the junior forwards availability for the Maui Jim Maui Invitational when Oregon opens play Monday against Georgetown.I dont know if hell play in Maui, Altman said, and if he does, it wont be very much.BIG PICTUREValparaiso: Coming off a 30-win season and deep run in the NIT, the Crusaders were held 28 points below their season average while shooting just 32.1 percent from the field against the Ducks.Oregon: The Ducks likely will slip in Mondays poll off their 66-49 loss at Baylor, but they may regain Brooks services while in Hawaii.POLL IMPLICATIONSDespite Thursday nights win, Oregons best-ever No. 4 ranking likely will take a hit after its 66-49 road loss to unranked Baylor on Tuesday.STAT OF THE NIGHTBoucher, who has scored in all 38 games hes played at Oregon, had 18 points by halftime and missed his career high by one.HIGHLIGHT REELThough not known for his ball-handling, the 6-foot-10 Boucher flashed some nifty moves when he picked off a cross-court pass, dodged a Crusader at mid-court, dipped inside another off the dribble and smoothly threw down a one-handed dunk in the first half to cap a 9-0 run.UP NEXTValparaiso plays Alabama on Monday in Las Vegas at the four-team MGM Grand Main Event. The Crusaders will face either BYU or Saint Louis on Wednesday before heading home.Oregon heads to Hawaii to play Georgetown on Monday in the first round of the Maui Jim Maui Invitational. The Ducks will face either No. 9 Wisconsin or Tennessee on Tuesday. ' ' '