"Tell them … tell the team to bear down"

RELATED LINK AT TUCSONCITIZEN.COM: Jack of all trades: Recruit emerges from soccer background to hoops stardom

By Javier Morales

Arizona’s newest recruiting target, Kadeem Jack, an athletic power forward from Rice High School in Harlem by way of Trinidad and Tobago, is one of the freshest faces in the Class of 2010 circuit — or is it the Class of 2011?

Some quick observations after talking to Jack on the phone Monday night (he is scheduled to officially visit the UA on Jan. 26):

• The shot-blocking wonder sounds convinced that attending prep school instead of a Division I institution in 2010-11 will benefit him more as a player and student. He is using upcoming recruiting visits to prove that wrong.
• If North Carolina coach Roy Williams called Jack today to offer a scholarship, Jack would immediately wear a Tarheels cap and ask where he must sign. Jack idolizes the North Carolina program because of its dominance. This should sound familiar to UA fans. Miles Simon, the 1997 Final Four MVP, idolized North Carolina and former coach Dean Smith before he committed to Arizona. Posters of North Carolina players, including Michael Jordan, decorated his bedroom walls. The Tarheels never did recruit Simon, fortunately for Arizona, which defeated the Tarheels twice that 1997 season, including the Final Four.
• The New York connection Arizona has bears no significance to Jack, who was not coached by UA assistant Book Richardson in the New York Gauchos program. Richardson left the Gauchos in 2007 to coach at Xavier with Miller. That’s the same time Jack started playing in that program for new Gauchos director Mo Hicks.
• Similar to the Cats’ recruitment of Rod Odom, the UA must put its best presentation forward concerning its academic benefits for Jack, who is an accomplished student. At the back of Jack’s mind will be the question: Will I develop here more than I would in prep school? Development is the key word. My belief is this: Jack can develop as a player at Arizona next season without any undue pressure. He will have senior Jamelle Horne and talented sophomores Derrick Williams, Solomon Hill and Kevin Parrom playing around him as he develops. And at the same time, he can get plenty of playing time because of his defensive presence and rebounding ability.

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Some UA targeted recruits show their dunking delights

By Javier Morales

Thought you all would like to watch some of the best players out there in the Class of 2010 and 2011 who are jumping through the high school gyms now that the prep hoop season is upon us.

The Class of 2010 players in the video who are linked to UA’s recruitment include Baltimore Lake Clifton point guard Josh Selby and Raleigh (N.C.) Stevens Prep Academy forward Chris Hill. I communicated with Hill on Tuesday night and he said UA assistant coach Book Richardson talked to him in the last couple of days. Hill said Richardson wants to visit the athletically gifted player but he needs to find the time within the UA’s schedule.

One Class of 2010 point guard — a great need for Arizona — who remains unsigned is K.C. Ross-Miller of Dallas God Academy who is also shown in the HoopMixTape.com video.

The Dallas Morning-News listed Ross-Miller as a possibility for the Cats in April when he backed out of his commitment to Kentucky after the Billy Gillispie firing. However, Ross-Miller was never discussed as a possibility for Arizona during the summer evaluation period.

Selby, who will visit the UA on Jan. 9-10, was not mentioned either.

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Talented Class of 2011 big man moved to the U.S. last month

By Javier Morales

When I talked to potential UA recruit Chris Hill of Raleigh (N.C.) Stevens Prep Academy this week he mentioned that UA assistant coach Book Richardson is tentatively scheduled to watch (Class of 2011) 7-2 center Mark Overdevest of Montverde Academy in Orlando, Fla., before he travels up the Atlantic coast to see him later next week.

“I know (Richardson) wants to come out and see the post player from New Zealand and then see me some time by Dec. 4,” Hill said.

That news and other notes, including Daniel Bejarano’s season-opener Monday with Phoenix North being televised by Cox Channel 7 in Arizona, are available for you to read at TucsonCitizen.com.

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New UA coach will rely on his lieutenants

STREAK FACT: When Arizona’s consecutive NCAA tournament appearances started March 15, 1985, former UA forward Luke Walton was only 4 and was living with his father Bill in Boston. The elder Walton, who announced his retirement from ESPN last week, was still two years away from his NBA career ending with the Celtics at the time.

By Javier Morales

Lute Olson had firm control of the Arizona program but he was not a micro-manager.

He hired his assistants with the confidence they can scout opponents, relate to the players more on a personal level than he could and deal with the media so he would not have to do that all the time. In all three phases, Olson was mostly impeccable with his choices.

Jim Rosborough, for example, was his right-hand man for almost two decades and he could scout with the best of them, as evidenced by Olson allowing him to scout Kentucky for the 1997 NCAA title game. A half-hour before Arizona took the floor in Olson’s most important game to date, Rosborough stood before the team in the locker room and talked about the objectives at hand.

Olson, trying to finally win his first NCAA title, was totally at ease with that.

He was comfortable with the way Rodney Tention, Jessie Evans, Josh Pastner and the late Ricky Byrdsong — to name a few — related to their players. These coaches also served as scouts and strategists similar to Phil Johnson, Kevin O’Neill, Scott Thompson, Ken Burmeister and Jay John.

Olson had control of the game management: substitutions, diagramming specific plays, explaining the many situations in a timeout. He was as good as anybody in the business in X’s and O’s, whether it was the first 10 minutes of the game, the first five minutes of the second half or crunch time.

He is a Hall of Fame coach for a reason. All of his assistants at Arizona share in that honor. Without them, Arizona would not be in search of its 26th consecutive NCAA tournament appearance. The list includes Russ Pennell and Mike Dunlap, who Olson hired before last season. They were instrumental along with Reggie Geary in getting the Cats back to March Madness.

So what does this have to do with Sean Miller and his staff in relation to the UA’s NCAA tournament streak?

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UA has three components from the mean streets of Gotham

STREAK FACT: When the UA's NCAA tournament streak started March 15, 1985, 12-year NBA veteran Kobe Bryant was only 6 and in his first year of seven overall living in Italy because his father played professionally there.

“Some folks like to get away, take a holiday from the neighborhood
Hop a flight to Miami Beach or Hollywood.
I’m taking a Greyhound on the Hudson River line
I’m in a New York state of mind.” — Billy Joel, “New York State of Mind”

By Javier Morales

What Billy Joel is getting at is that certain toughness that comes from living in the New York metropolitan area. The basketball playgrounds in the inner-city there are like havens to youngsters to get away from the harsh realities of life.

UA freshman guard Lamont “MoMo” Jones, who grew up in Harlem, has been lauded in preseason workouts with the UA as being one of the more intensely competitive players. He got that way from playing against top AAU competition in New York City and elsewhere, but it also is derived from his upbringing.

UA freshman point guard Lamont “MoMo” Jones figures to play extensive minutes for the Cats

Stoneface of Bounce magazine was descriptive of Jones’ demeanor when Jones played in a youth league game in New York City five years ago.

Jones scored 25 points in a game, all after showing up in the second half.

“The kid had a swagger that set him apart from most of 8th graders playing that day,” Stoneface wrote in July 2008. “Not only did he show up late, but he took his time. I heard kids whispering, ‘Damn, he only 13 and got a tattoo?’ He took off several rosaries and handed them to his jewelry holder … ‘Hold my jewelry,’ (Jones said) and the kid stood there the whole game holding it. He checked into the game and went to work. He played hard on D and dominated on offense.”

“I’ve seen all the movie stars in their fancy cars and their limousines,
Been high in the Rockies under the evergreens,
But I know what I’m needing and I don’t want to waste more time
I’m in a New York state of mind.”

The influx of talent from Brooklyn (forward Kevin Parrom), Harlem (Jones) and Queens (UA assistant coach Book Richardson) into the UA basketball program can only mean positive results for the UA in its pursuit for a 26th consecutive NCAA tournament appearance.

Somehow I get the feeling that Jones, although he will be a freshman, will not hesitate to speak his mind if the UA needs a firm kick in the you-know-what midway through the Pac-10 season.

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He is only non-Big East coach at Brooklyn coaching clinic

I've been in this city a long, long time and I don't remember Arizona being this visible for New York City talent. Book has a lot of good relationships out here and Sean Miller has built a solid reputation on the East coast.
                -- Kimani Young
                        NYC youth
               basketball coach

New York City youth basketball coach Kimani Young is a man whose connections can pay dividends for UA coach Sean Miller and assistant Book Richardson when it comes to the landscape of recruiting talent in the Big Apple. However, a lot more substance is involved concerning the relationship between Young, Miller and Richardson. Young and Richardson both hail from Queens — “Book and I have been good friends the last 20 years,” Young told WILDABOUTAZCATS.com Friday afternoon — and Miller has been involved in coaching clinics in the New York area since he accompanied his father there in years past.

Young, also a former basketball administrator with the St. John’s program, does not want to take full credit, but he was instrumental in organizing Saturday’s New Heights Coaches Academy, of which Miller will speak for an hour about zone offense. The coaches clinic, to be held in Brooklyn, also features Big East coaches such as Jay Wright of Villanova and Buzz Williams of Marquette. Miller is the only one out of six coaches at the event who is not from the Big East. That alone shows the kind of impact Miller and Richardson have made for Arizona in the New York City area. Florida’s Billy Donovan was slated to speak but can’t because of recruiting obligations.

Miller’s presence at the clinic speaks volumes to Young, who has devoted most of this decade to coaching and guiding inner-city youths as director of the New Heights AAU organization, NYC Police Athletic League’s Wynn Center and NYC PAL’s Miccio Center. “Coach Miller is one of the first guys who reached out to us to let us know he would take part,” said Young, who played for Don Haskins at UTEP. “I think Coach Miller coming here, and Book still being very visible here, means a lot in terms of how people around here look at Arizona. New York City was never a hotbed of talent for Arizona, other than Khalid Reeves. I mean, I’ve been in this city a long, long time and I don’t remember Arizona being this visible for New York City talent. Book has a lot of good relationships out here and Sean Miller has built a solid reputation on the East coast. There is a lot of talent here for them to recruit. This city is a real hotbed for talent.” …

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NOTE: THIS IS VIDEO FROM LAST WEEKEND’S NIKE TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS IN NEW YORK, IN WHICH UA RECRUIT SIDIKI JOHNSON WAS SELECTED THE MVP. JOHNSON IS NO. 14 FOR THE RED. ANGEL NUNEZ IS NO. 3 FOR THE BLACK TEAM. JUDGING FROM THIS VIDEO, JOHNSON LOOKS LIKE A VERY GOOD GET FOR UA COACH SEAN MILLER AND STAFF.

By Javier Morales

Perhaps the most surprised person to hear that he committed to Arizona is Angel Nunez himself.

“Nah, I didn’t commit,” Nunez, a 6-foot-7, 190-pound, Class of 2011 shooting guard told me Tuesday morning. “I’m not sure where that came from. I don’t understand why nobody talked to me first before that came out.”

Nunez is referring to a New York Daily News blog column written by long-time writer Dick Weiss. Weiss’ column was published Saturday and it detailed New York City talent leaving the area for prep schools elsewhere.

Weiss referenced Nunez leaving Bronx (N.Y.) Cardinal Hayes High School for the Winchendon School in Massachusetts for his junior school year, which starts Sept. 5. Weiss wrote that Nunez committed to Arizona, but he probably mistook Nunez for good friend Sidiki Johnson, a Class of 2011 recruit also from the Bronx, who has already committed to Arizona.

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