"Tell them … tell the team to bear down"

Dean says QB’s quick style in pocket is different

By Anthony Gimino and Javier Morales

Delashaun Dean

Former Arizona quarterback Willie Tuitama was productive in coordinator Sonny Dykes’ spread offense in the past two years, and Tuitama played long enough and well enough to become the career passing leader at Arizona and set various other throwing records. But Tuitama’s background wasn’t in the spread offense. He wasn’t hard-wired to instinctively make the kind of reads that many other quarterbacks — such as UA sophomore Nick Foles — do as a matter of habit because that’s what they did throughout their high school days. With Tuitama, it was a bit of a matter of fitting a square peg into a round hole. Arizona senior receiver Delashaun Dean was asked this week about the differences between Tuitama and Foles, and Dean said that Foles plays with a greater pace. “His style is pretty much get it and go. It’s a lot quicker than Willie was,” Dean said. “They’re both great quarterbacks. They’re both great in the pocket, but I think he gets the ball out a lot quicker than Willie. Willie was more of ‘read down the field.’ Nick is more ‘OK, I’m going to take what I can get, whether it be a shot or it be 5 yards. He just puts more trust in us on the outside because we run a lot of screens. That’s pretty much been our bread and butter all year. For that to be a success, you have to get the ball out quick, and I think that’s what he brings to the table that Willie probably didn’t.” …

Foles does have a knack for saying the right things. Take, for example, his response to the Cats being nationally ranked: “It’s great for our program, but I think we have gone about it really well. We know we have a lot of games ahead of us. We still have a lot of tough games, and we’re haven’t proven anything yet. If we’re still there at the end, we’ll enjoy it then.” …

Arizona’s visitor’s locker room

On a blog on USC’s official athletics site, Ben Malcomson — “with the help of Trojan coaches, players and equipment staff” — ranked the other nine visitor’s locker rooms in the Pac-10. They judged each on functionality, comfort, the journey to the field and space. UCLA was deemed to have the best locker room for visiting teams, while Arizona came in the middle at fifth. Here is what Malcomson wrote about the visitor’s locker room at Arizona Stadium: “Arizona Stadium was built in 1928; its visitor’s locker room seems like it was built in 1927. A low ceiling and concrete floor give this a rustic, archaic feel, and players have to walk up a narrow staircase to reach the field. Its only saving grace is a decent-sized open area in the middle of the room, but otherwise it’s a very dilapidated facility.” … Many of you already know this, but it’s always a treat to check out the blog of Wendell Neal, the Arizona associate athletic director for equipment operations. He always has plenty of behind-the-scenes photos that no one else can get. …

Former UA forward Chase Budinger finally beat James Harden in an official basketball game Friday night after going 0-5 against ASU’s best player the previous two seasons. And not only did Budinger’s Rockets beat Harden’s Oklahoma City team 105-94, Budinger looked more like the lottery pick and Harden the second round pick in the game. According to the Oklahoman, Harden fell for two Budinger pump fakes with 1:44 left in the first quarter, leaving his feet both times. After the second fake, Budinger buried a 20-footer. Then, with about 45 seconds remaining, Harden fell asleep while Budinger made a hard cut to the basket off a screen. Budinger caught the pass on his way to the hoop and got fouled at the rim to get a trip to the line for two free throws. Budinger finished with 16 points while Harden only had four in 10 minutes off the bench. … Through five games, Harden, the Pac-10 Player of the Year last season, is averaging only 5.2 points a game and shooting 34.7 percent from the field. Budinger, meanwhile, is averaging 10.6 points and shooting 52.5 percent from the field. We know it’s early to be making determinations but did ASU coach Herb Sendek’s methodical offense of three-point shooting off screens prepare Harden for the NBA better than the transition style of offense Budinger learned under Lute Olson‘s system? …

Arizona’s representation in the NBA is so strong and valid that the three most unproductive players to date — the Lakers’ Luke Walton, Knicks’ Jordan Hill and the Blazers’ Jerryd Bayless — had relative breakout games Friday night. Walton posted seven rebounds and seven assists in 19 minutes against Memphis. Hill played almost five minutes against Cleveland and made 3 of 5 field goals for the first six points of his NBA career. Bayless also played five minutes and made his only field foal attempt and was 3-for-3 from the free throw line against the Spurs. … Former UA guard Gilbert Arenas surpassed 10,000 points in his career on Friday night. Another milestone to keep track of: Mike Bibby’s career assist total in the NBA. He is currently at 4,885 assists. He has 13,230 career points. … Arizona’s lone Class of 2010 recruit — shooting guard Daniel Bejarano — earned a qualifying score on his SAT and he should have no problem being eligible academically when he reports to the UA next summer for classes. Bejarano had a significant group of family members and friends with him when he watched the Red-Blue scrimmage at McKale Center last Sunday. “There were 19 people with me,” he told us. “All my family … all my aunts, my cousins, my mom and my girlfriend … everybody was here. We’re a pretty close group.” …

Mike Bell fumbles occasionally — a problem he had at the UA — including late in the game last week against Atlanta. It was not scrutinized because New Orleans was well ahead at the time. The fumbling problems are causing Saints fans to encourage more ball-security drills in practice. Bell has fumbled four times in 265 career carries, which is not bad (averages out to about one fumble every three or four games depending on his workload). … It appears that former UA linebacker Antonio Pierce has himself in a tough spot. Raiders defensive end Richard Seymour responded to Pierce’s comment that playing Oakland was like going trough a scrimmage. When the Giants lost big to New Orleans, Seymour told reporters: “They got what they deserve.” Pierce is also taking responsibility for the Giants’ recent losing streak. “I’ve probably been the biggest culprit of everything,” Pierce said after Wednesday’s practice. “If I’m the guy they call the leader of the defense or the captain of the defense, which I am, I need to do a better job. And I plan on doing it this week.” Pierce and Bears linebacker Lance Briggs now identify themselves as being from Arizona on NFL telecasts. Shortly after the John Mackovic fiasco, they were listing their high schools instead of Arizona. …

One quick observation of the Matt Muehlebach-Brian Jeffries announcing team — heard for the first time Wednesday during the Webcast of the UA’s exhibition with Augustana (S.D.): What took Muehlebach so long to get into broadcasting? He was straightforward in his approach and talked about execution in coach lingo, but it was understandable. It was a good debut, especially for an exhibition. One of the better qualities that Jeffries has is that he does not step on the toes of his broadcasting partner. Some play-by-play announcers try to give more color commentary than play-by-play. Not so with Jeffries and it’s refreshing to hear. … The Pac-10 finalized its bowl situation this week for the 2010-2013 seasons, and it is an improvement, with the Alamo Bowl joining the mix as the No. 2 bowl, making the Holiday Bowl a very worthy No. 3 bowl. So, congratulations to new Pac-10 commissioner Larry Scott for getting it done. The new configuration looks like this: Rose (BCS), Alamo (vs. Big 12), Holiday (vs. Big 12), Sun (vs. ACC — which is a new league opponent), Las Vegas (vs. Mountain West champ), Emerald (vs. WAC/Army/Navy). … One of the big off-field topics among the softball community is the trend in recent seasons for recruits to commit earlier and earlier. The elite schools, such as Arizona, have to spend more time scouting at the 16-and-under championships in the summer, whereas before the coaches could recruit off the 18-and-under tournament. That trend was seen again recently as the Wildcats received its second known commitment for the Class of 2011 — junior catcher. Chelsea Goodacre of Temecula Valley (Calif.) High School. In an e-mail, her father wrote, “Being recruited by UA has been a dream come true for her, but she also knows the hard work is just beginning.” …

Friday Night Lights. Arizona is hosting Josh Shirley on an official visit this weekend. Shirley, from Fontana (Calif.) Kaiser High School, is rated the 117th-best prospect in the nation, and the seventh-best outside linebacker, as rated by Rivals.com. He has offers from a slew of schools, including USC, Tennessee, Notre Dame and Miami and Washington (which he visited in September). Another key recruit visiting this weekend is running back Jordon James of Corona, Calif. He is rated the 19th-best recruit in the country by ESPN.com, although he’s “only” No. 91 on the Rivals.com list. The Wildcats could end up being a finalist for James, who still has to visit UCLA but has said he could decide by the end of the month. … UA’s quarterback commit for next season — Matt Brown of Allen (Texas) High — is expected to be in town. In a 52-28 win over Plano East on Oct. 30, he threw for 260 yards and ran for 148. … Oceanside (Calif.) multi-purpose athlete Jerry Whittaker caught a 27-yard touchdown pass and ran for 85 yards on eight carries in the Pirates’ 45-7 victory over Valley Center on Friday night. Whittaker also plays in the defensive secondary. … Las Vegas Valley High school athlete Garic Wharton had his worst showing to date with minus-4 yards on seven carries in a 24-12 loss to Liberty. Wharton, who is still mostly playing out of position at quarterback, completed only five of 24 passes for 84 yards. He did catch one pass for 30 yards.

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Tags: Antonio Pierce, Chase Budinger, Daniel Bejarano, Delashaun Dean, Lance Briggs, Mike Bell, Nick Foles

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