"Tell them … tell the team to bear down"

Look Ahead and Back: Cats vs. Cardinal

Compiled by Javier Morales

Arizona 2009-10 schedule
(Full schedule and statistics available at ArizonaWildcats.com)

Sean Elliott led the top-ranked Cats with 22 points in their upset loss at Stanford in 1988, the UA’s lone defeat in the Pac-10 that season

Feb. 3, 1979: Arizona 63, Stanford 62 – Arizona guard Russell Brown hit a 10-foot jumper as time expired to give the Cats the win in the first Pac-10 meeting of the teams at Palo Alto. The Wildcats also won for the first time in Maples Pavilion after four losses dating back to 1954. Brown scored Arizona’s last five points in the last 59 seconds and sparked the Wildcats’ comeback from an 11-point deficit earlier in the second half. Brown and Joe Nehls led Arizona with 15 points. Kimberly Belton led the Cardinal with 25.

Feb. 4, 1988: Stanford 82, Arizona 74 – Todd Lichti scored 23 points and Howard Wright 22 as Stanford scored the final 10 points of the game to upset No. 1-ranked Arizona, ending the Wildcats’ eight-game winning streak. Stanford, which trailed by 9 points in the first half, took control of the backboards in the final five minutes to shut out Arizona. Sean Elliott led the Wildcats with 22 points, but could not score after making a short jumper that put Arizona ahead for the last time at 74-72. Lichti then hit a 15-foot bank shot to start Stanford’s 10-0 streak, and ended it with two free throws. Arizona lost at Stanford five consecutive times including this game: 58-55 in 1985, 62-56 in 1986 and 75-73 in 1987 and 83-78 in 1989. It was Arizona’s only defeat in the Pac-10. The next time the Wildcats lost was two months later in their first Final Four appearance against Oklahoma.

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Cats successful against zone in Tempe but not last week

One example of a fan’s T-shirt creation in regards to Kevin Parrom’s “No Easy Buckets” hard foul against ASU’s Ty Abbott last month in Tempe

By Anthony Gimino and Javier Morales

Why did Arizona do so poorly against Oregon State’s 1-3-1 zone last week when it had done so well against ASU’s matchup zone a few weeks earlier? Let UA coach Sean Miller analyze it. “When we had transition opportunities, we made good plays and took good, quick shots,” he said of the 77-58 victory in Tempe. “When we didn’t have transition opportunities, we showed patience, we moved the ball, and tried to break their defense down, which is much easier said than done. They have a very good defense. But on that day, if you say, ‘Why did we win?’ we had that balance of transition opportunities with a lot of patience and movement.” … The Wildcats didn’t have that patience on offense against Oregon State and lost focus on defense. Miller, without naming names, was talking about sophomore guard Kyle Fogg as one of those whose effort was lacking on defense. Fogg knows it. “I mean, I just let my bad offense get to me on defense and I got unfocused,” he said. “I just had a bad game that night.” Fogg has been a willing defender during his time with the Wildcats, so perhaps it will be just a one-game blip. …

Kevin Parrom’s hard foul against ASU’s Ty Abbott last month has gotten a lot of play from the media then and now, so much so don’t expect fireworks to happen again tomorrow. The Pac-10 officiating crew will call the game closely, which could favor Arizona inasmuch as the game is in Tucson and the Cats can go eight to nine deep in case foul problems arise. A group of UA students have made T-shirts saying, “No Easy Buckets” in response to a Twitter message left by Parrom after the UA beat ASU 77-58 in Tempe. Parrom in part wrote “No Easy Buckets” in response to Abbott’s animated response to the play. If the restraint of Miller’s players this year is any indication, the UA should go without a technical foul. The UA players do not have a technical foul this season after getting three last year. ASU has three this season, including one by Abbott (who has two in his career). Remember J.P. Prince, who transferred from Arizona to Tennessee after his freshman season in 2005-06? He has two technical fouls as a senior with the Vols this season. …

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Telecast begins at 6 p.m. on Fox Sports Arizona

We received word this afternoon from Fox Sports Arizona director of communications and marketing Brett Hansen that FSA will be highlighting former UA center Channing Frye in its Suns: Planet Orange Primetime show tonight.

We have included YouTube previews of the show, which is hosted by FSA announcer Todd Walsh, who was a student manager with Arizona during the early years of Lute Olson’s tenure.

The Suns play Atlanta and former UA guard Mike Bibby at 7 p.m. in Phoenix.

NOTE: Hansen was the UA media relations director for men’s basketball when Bibby and the Wildcats won the NCAA title in 1997

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UA standouts from last season together again with Rockets

RELATED LINK: Don’t write of Jordan Hill yet (Dime magazine)

By Javier Morales

How’s this for irony?

Two of Arizona’s Three Amigos — Chase Budinger and Jordan Hill — from a year ago are reunited in Houston, hometown of the other amigo: UA senior guard Nic Wise.

Hours before the NBA trade deadline Thursday, the Knicks shipped Hill, Kevin Martin and Jared Jeffries to the Rockets in exchange for Tracy McGrady as part of a three-team trade that included Sacramento.

The Kings are sending Sergio Rodriguez to the Knicks. Meanwhile, the Rockets are shipping Carl Landry and Joey Dorsey to Sacramento, which also receives the Knicks’ Larry Hughes.

There are many cases in which former Cats have played together in the NBA, most recently last year when Channing Frye and Jerryd Bayless were together in Portland. The reunion of Budinger and Hill is one of a few of its kind involving players who also played together at Arizona.

That list includes:

• Steve Kerr and Jud Buechler with the Bulls from 1994-98.
• Brian Williams, later known as Bison Dele was a teammate of Kerr of Buechler with the Bulls in 1996-97. Williams and Buechler were teammates with the Cats in 1989-90.
• Sean Elliott and Kerr with the Spurs from 1998-2001.
• Mike Bibby and Michael Dickerson with the Vancouver Grizzlies from 1999-2001.

Hill, the No. 8 selection in last year’s draft, becomes the third ex-Wildcat to be selected among the first 10 picks of his respective class by the Knicks only to be released or dealt in three seasons or less. Larry Demic was the ninth pick overall in the 1979 draft but his injury-riddled career ended in 1982 after only 206 games with the Knicks. Frye was traded by New York to Portland two years after the Knicks picked him eighth overall in 2005.

Demic, Hill and Frye were all power forward/centers at Arizona.

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Budinger and Frye pleasant surprises, others not faring well

ALL-STAR LINKS OF INTEREST:

• Chase Budinger rates as the 15th best rookie according to David Thorpe of Scouts, Inc. Jordan Hill ranks 39th.
• Former UA recruit Brandon Jennings talks about his surprising success in his rookie season with the Bucks
• ESPN reporter writes that former UA players Richard Jefferson and Mike Bibby are two of the biggest disappointments of the NBA season
• San Francisco Chronicle: For repentant athletes, Gilbert Arenas sets fine example
• Andre Iguodala “posterizes” LeBron James? Yes, he does in this video.
  

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  Jason Terry: Jim Rome correspondent at Dallas’ All-Star festivities

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  By Javier Morales

  One of the best recruiting pitches going for new UA coach Sean Miller these days are the 10 former Wildcats in the NBA. His message to recruits of the Classes of 2010, 2011 and even 2012: You can get there from here.

  If, for example, the Sixers’ Andre Iguodala makes ESPN’s Top 10 plays of the day — which is the norm more than the exception — chances are Miller or his assistants tell a recruit, “Check out ESPN’s top 10 plays. Did you see what Iguodala did? You know he played at Arizona right?”

  Iguodala, Phoenix free-agent acquisition Channing Frye, Houston rookie forward Chase Budinger and Dallas veteran Jason Terry have played well enough at the All-Star break to be shining examples for the Arizona program. While the season has seen some extraordinary individual performances — including Terry’s 36 points against Golden State on Monday — some of the ex-Wildcats are hoping for a reversal of fortunes.

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Look Ahead and Back: Cats vs. Cougars

Compiled by Javier Morales

Arizona 2009-10 schedule
(Full schedule and statistics available at ArizonaWildcats.com)

Former UA coach Fred Snowden was 1-4 in Pullman, but he managed to win his last game there.

Feb. 4, 1982: Arizona 58, Washington State 56 – Fred Snowden, in lame duck status as the UA coach, won at Friel Court for the first time in five tries. In a pregame ceremony, Cougars coach George Raveling provided a gift to Snowden, who announced a month previously that he was resigning as head coach effective at the end of the season. Greg Cook led the Wildcats with 18 points, including 12 in the first half, against the Craig Ehlo-led Cougars. The game had potential for controversy as two points were deducted from the UA in the first half because the official scorekeeper had the Cats with 30 points, although in reality they had 32. Where was ESPN when they needed it back then?

Jan. 30, 1986: Washington State 65, Arizona 63 (OT) – The Cougars, coached by the unsuccessful Len Stevens knocked off a Sean Elliott led Arizona team behind Brian Wright’s 16 points, all of which were scored in the second half. WSU overcame a 31-23 halftime deficit. The Cougars led 56-54 when Elliott scored two of his game-high 23 at the buzzer to force the extra stanza. In overtime, Arizona’s Anthony Cook hit 1-of-2 free throws to tie the game 63-63 with 41 seconds left. WSU forward Keith Morrison scored the game-winning bucket with one tick on the clock. This would be the last loss for Arizona against WSU until the Cougars won in Tucson in 2005, a span of 38 games.

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Highest drafted UA player (No. 2 in 1998)

[TABLE=32]

CAREER MILESTONES FORTHCOMING

ANDRE IGUODALA:

• 1,974 assists: 26 from 2,000

• 6,985 points: 15 from 7,000

MIKE BIBBY

• 4,988 field goals: 12 from 5,000

JASON TERRY

• 4,984 field goals: 16 from 5,000

CHANNING FRYE

• 1,492 rebounds: 8 from 1,500

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