"Tell them … tell the team to bear down"

Related topic — Nic Wise’s second blog video installment:

HOOPS LINKS

• Is “light bulb” turning on for Jamelle Horne?
• Chase Budinger threw out the first pitch tonight before the San Diego Padres game
• Nic Wise‘s second YouTube blog has been posted (includes Portsmouth Invitational highlights)
• Looks like Terrence Jones of Portland (Ore.) Jefferson will sign with Washington on Wednesday … or will he?

By Javier Morales

UA coach Sean Miller said depth will challenge players next year to improve their game

Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller wrapped up the spring signing period by discussing Tuesday at McKale Center those who have signed with the Wildcats and other topics of the day related to recruiting.

Most noteworthy in Miller’s half-hour meeting with local media:

• His reference to Class of 2010 signees Jordin Mayes and Daniel Bejarano coming from winning high school programs and strong family backgrounds. He mentioned their family backgrounds more than once, calling to mind when Lute Olson and his late wife Bobbi screened players to fit into a family atmosphere.
• His statement that senior Jamelle Horne will be challenged by Arizona’s added depth (namely JUCO recruit Jesse Perry) for playing opportunities.
• His comments about UA assistant coach Book Richardson‘s name popping up to fill vacancies (most recently at Kentucky).
• His amazement that some players — i.e. Kadeem Jack of Manhattan (N.Y.) Rice and Terrence Jones of Portland (Ore.) Jefferson) — have yet to make up their minds.
• His theory to replace three players a year, not “five to seven,” he said, “because in that case, you’re not developing upperclassmen.” This was an indirect reference to a program like Kentucky, which must replace nine scholarship spots, partly because four of its players entered the NBA draft after their freshman season.

Please read the rest of this entry at TucsonCitizen.com

Related link: Is the ‘light bulb’ turning on for Jamelle Horne?

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Average longevity in NFL for UA tight ends is five years

By Javier Morales

Trivia: Despite playing only two years at Arizona, Rob Gronkowski shares a distinction with UA legends Ricky Hunley, Chris McAlister, Mike Dawson, and John Fina — among others. Nope, not first-round selections because Gronkowski slipped to the second round Friday in this year’s NFL draft. No, never losing to ASU is not the answer. The answer: Gronkowski is the highest drafted UA player at his position, tight end, similar to Hunley (linebacker), McAlister (defensive back), Dawson (defensive tackle) and Fina (offensive tackle). In the history of UA football, only six UA tight ends, including Gronkowski, have been selected in the NFL draft. Three of them have been picked by New England. The list of six: Gronkowski (second round, New England), Brandon Manumaleuna (2001, fourth round, St. Louis); Mike Lucky (1999, seventh round, Dallas); Roderick Lewis (1994, fifth round, Houston Oilers); Richard Griffith (1993, fifth round, New England); and Mark Keel (1983, ninth round, New England). …

Thanks mostly to Manumaleuna, who is still in the league after 10 seasons, now with Chicago after signing a five-year deal in March, the average longevity of these former UA tight ends in the NFL stands at five years. Griffith lasted seven years, Lewis four, Lucky three and Keel played only one (in 1987) despite arguably being the most talented of them all. Keel, however, played three seasons in the USFL before splitting 1987 with Kansas and Seattle. … Since the 2000 draft, 31 tight ends have been selected in the first two rounds of the NFL. The Patriots have selected two of them, each first-rounders. They are Ben Watson in 2004 out of Georgia and Dan Graham in 2002 from Colorado. Neither flourished. Watson signed a free-agent deal with Cleveland after six seasons at New England, but he was often criticized for missing practice because of nagging injuries. Graham spent five seasons with the Pats before signing a free-agent deal with Denver in 2007. He caught only two touchdown passes for New England in his last season. Folks in New England have apparently forgotten these two relatively unsuccessful picks and are welcoming Gronkowski with open arms. “Gronkowski is a guy that, in two years, fans are going to wonder why he wasn’t a first round draft pick,” James Christensen of nepatriotsdraft.com writes. “His inline blocking ability combined with his solid receiving skills makes him perfect for the Patriots’ system. Combine the best things about Daniel Graham and Ben Watson, and you have Gronk.” …

(more…)

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UA’s recent performance indicates NBA talent a plus

Read a complete analysis of Arizona’s recruiting classes since Fred Snowden was hired at Arizona in 1972 by visiting TucsonCitizen.com

Jerryd Bayless has emerged as the only NBA-skilled player in the classes of 2007 and 2008 for Arizona, which signed nine players in that stretch

By Javier Morales

The spring signing period starts Wednesday, opening another chapter in the UA’s recruiting effort to become one of the elite programs again.

Recent reports suggest the odds are against Arizona coach Sean Miller and his staff landing Baltimore Lake County point guard Josh Selby, Mouth of Wilson (Va.) Oak Hill combo guard Doron Lamb and Detroit Country Day School point guard Ray McCallum Jr.

The Wildcats, however, stand a good chance of signing Manhattan (N.Y.) Rice power forward Kadeem Jack, who said he will announce his choice between UA, Arkansas, Miami and UConn on April 28.

Miller already has Phoenix North shooting guard Daniel Bejarano in the fold (he signed a national letter of intent last November). Los Angeles Westchester point guard Jordin Mayes and Logan (Ill.) Junior College forward Jesse Perry are expected to sign Wednesday after offering verbal commitments.

A worthy question to ask: Will any of these players become capable of playing at the next level?

The two recruiting classes before Miller’s arrival last April included only one NBA player — Jerryd Bayless in the Class of 2007 who left after only one season — and a fair number of players struggling to find their niche (Jamelle Horne, Brendon Lavender and Alex Jacobson). Four of the nine players signed in 2008 and 2009 have also transferred (Laval Lucas-Perry, Jeff Withey, Zane Johnson and Garland Judkins).

Kyle Fogg, signed in 2008, has started most of his freshman and sophomore seasons. He is the best to emerge in these classes other than Bayless, but he is not considered NBA material at this point.

The sudden retirement of Lute Olson after he missed a year with a leave of absence has a lot to do with the recruiting shortfalls that ultimately kept Arizona out of its first NCAA tournament this season for the first time since 1984.

The 2003-2005 recruiting stretch was also uncommonly difficult for Arizona. Those years did not produce an NBA player of note. The only one two of the 10 signed in this stretch to advance to the next level were Marcus Williams (Class of 2005) and Mustafa Shakur (Class of 2003).

Williams played in only 13 NBA games over two seasons and is currently playing in China. Shakur, after stints in Poland, Spain and Greece, finally hit his stride this season but has yet to play for Oklahoma City despite signing a contract for the remainder of the season.

It is no wonder why in the last five years, Arizona’s overall record is 96-68 (a 58.5 winning percentage) and the Cats have not been ranked in the AP Top 10 since Jan. 8, 2007. Lute Olson’s overall winning percentage at Arizona was 75.9 percent (589-187 in 24 years), which is 17.4 points higher than what the UA has experienced since 2005.

Chase Budinger and Jordan Hill, part of the UA’s Class of 2006 with Nic Wise, were drafted last year, increasing Arizona’s number of active NBA players to 10.

However, Hill and Budinger left after their junior seasons, which added to Miller’s rebuilding project this season. Hill was a late bloomer at Arizona and Budinger never reached his full potential as a Wildcat, mostly because he struggled with the fact that he did not have the opportunity to play for Olson after his freshman season.

Miller stresses attracting players who are team oriented, but history suggests some NBA talent is needed as well for the UA to become prominent once again.

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Cats’ recruit spends free time in the gym gearing for UA experience

The number 2,000 in a day usually correlates to ideal calorie intake. For Daniel Bejarano the number is not what he’s taking in, but what he is putting out, as in unrelenting effort while shooting 2,000 times at the basket daily five days out of the week after school. Bejarano, Arizona’s Class of 2010 recruit from Phoenix North High School has never gone through this kind of regimen before. “It takes me about an hour and a half, and I was used to doing it every other day before now,” Bejarano told us Friday afternoon. “It can be tiring, and sometimes I have to tell myself to take it easy a little bit, but it all comes down to how bad do you want it? I want to be the best that I can be and I feel that can only happen by doing something like this (taking the daily 2,000 shots).”

Bejarano, a 6-foot-4 shooting guard who led North to consecutive state championships, is gearing up for his UA experience, beginning June 7 when he starts the first summer school period in Tucson. He believes he is ready on the court and in the classroom to take on the challenge of being a college basketball player. “I’m all about concentrating on what I have to do to become a better player and student,” Bejarano said. “I don’t party. I don’t stay out late. I don’t drink and drive or smoke. I know that for me to be the kind of player the (Arizona) coaches want, I have to be totally focused.” Is it any wonder that UA coach Sean Miller immediately drove to Phoenix from Tucson to meet Bejarano on the day last fall when Bejarano de-committed from Texas and re-opened his recruitment? “There’s a reason why they built the Richard Jefferson practice facility (on the UA campus),” Bejarano continued. “You’re going to find me working out a lot in there on my game. I can’t wait for that opportunity.” Bejarano added that his 2,000-shot regimen includes short-range, mid-range and three-point attempts. … The theme with Bejarano is improvement, which means he is not satisfied with two state titles and all the accolades that go with that (he was selected this week as an honorable mention MaxPreps All-American). At this time last year, Bejarano was rated a 5-star recruit, ranked the 20th-best prospect overall by Scout.com. The recruiting service’s latest rating has Bejarano a 4-star player with a ranking that has slipped to 43rd. Rivals.com also has him as a 4-star player, rated 57th overall. “I have flaws in my game like every player has flaws,” Bejarano said. “I have to stay hungry.” The areas Bejarano works on the most includes driving to his left more, his decision making and his defense. He is also determined to make Arizona a more complete team. “The only way you’re a good team is if you are like family,” Bejarano said. “That’s the way it’s been at North all four of my years. That may have not been the case (at Arizona) this year. We’ll have to be like family to make something good happen.” …

(more…)

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WSU inked Moos this week for $455,000 annually

Washington State’s hiring of former Oregon athletic director Bill Moos this week potentially set the tone in terms of salary structure for Arizona in its athletic director search

By Anthony Gimino and Javier Morales

Some members of the Arizona Board of Regents who publicly balked at the $2 million annual salary of UA basketball coach Sean Miller — that’s called market value, folks — should take heed at what happened at Washington State last week. The Cougars hired former Oregon athletic director Bill Moos to lead its athletic department at a cost of $455,000 a year. Before leaving Arizona earlier this year, Jim Livengood was making $372,000 per year. Bottom line: UA and the board of regents can’t be afraid of taking on more salary when it hires a new athletic director. The market is what the market is.

Washington State president Elson Floyd is staunch in his support of Moos’ salary saying: “It’s over the average. I want it to be over the average. We are not an average institution so we don’t pay at that level.” Money to Moos is important but it might not mean everything. Moos, formerly the athletic director at Oregon, had a non-compete clause in his contract with the Ducks, entitling him to $1.4 million over the next seven years as long as he is not hired by a BCS school west of the Mississippi. … On the other end of the spectrum, Old Dominion hired Wood Selig away from Western Kentucky as its athletic director this week for $250,000 over three years. Jim Sterk, the man Moos replaced at Washington State, signed a deal with a base salary of $225,000 at San Diego State. Sterk will make $70,000 from non-state funds in addition to his base university salary. The finalized deal also includes a $140,000 housing loan and two donated vehicles or a monthly stipend of $750 per vehicle. Sterk also has the ability to earn performance-based incentives. The extreme: Recently hired Michigan athletic director David Brandon is reportedly paid up to $825,000 annually in Ann Arbor. He left his CEO position at Domino’s Pizza with a contract worth $2.6 million to return to his alma mater, where he played football. The new Arizona athletic director could very well ink a contract worth close to $500,000 annually. …

(more…)

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High-profile prep programs came calling but he stayed in Phoenix

By Javier Morales

Potential Class of 2011 recruit Nick Johnson, who is being sought by UA and ASU, left Gilbert Highland High School this season for high-profile Findlay Prep in Henderson, Nevada

Phoenix North shooting guard Daniel Bejarano, rated the No. 1 Class of 2010 prospect in the state by Rivals.com, Scout.com and Hoopmasters.com, could be playing elsewhere for one of those high-profile college preparatory outfits such as Findlay Prep in Henderson, Nevada, if he so desired. Bejarano, who has signed a national letter of intent with Sean Miller at Arizona, watched ESPN’s coverage Monday of those elite high school programs, including Newark (N.J.) St. Benedict’s Prep, which features his potential future Arizona teammate, Class of 2011 power forward Sidiki Johnson. Bejarano observed former Gilbert Highland player Nick Johnson, who is now a Class of 2011 guard with Findlay, score 16 points in the Pilots’ upset of No. 1 ranked St. Patrick (N.J.), 71-70, at the Hoophall Classic in Springfield, Mass.

Sidiki Johnson also left a traditional high school, transferring out of St. Raymond’s High School in the Bronx to attend St. Benedict’s. “Yeah, I saw of those games on ESPN,” Bejarano told me this week. “I wish some of our games at North were televised like that (nationally). (The coverage) is not fair to some of us who play in high school, but that’s just the way it is. I could get more exposure playing for some of those prep schools, but I didn’t want to hurt my North teammates by leaving them behind. To tell you the truth, when I was in eighth grade, I was not even focused on going to high school. As I’ve grown up, I’ve realized it’s the best thing that could have happened to me. The guys at North are like brothers to me. We grew up together. We’re from the same neighborhood. It would have been very hard to leave those guys and move to one of these prep schools. You know, players one through 12, we’re a close family.” … That bond with his teammates started their freshmen season in 2006-07, when five players (who are now seniors), played significant minutes for North’s team that advanced to the state semifinals. Former UA coach Lute Olson was the first to recruit Bejarano that season after the guard scored 37 points against Phoenix St. Mary’s and former UA guard Jerryd Bayless. “I look at our team at Arizona now and we have a lot of freshmen like we did that year (in 2007),” Bejarano said. “I know our guys (Arizona) can get it done even though they’re freshmen. It’s all about playing as a team and playing with heart because their talent is not developed yet. That’s how we were as freshmen at North. We were like family who really did not care how young we were. We just played ball. That’s all it comes down to. Just play ball. We only lost four games that season.” …

(more…)

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Once projected to be a Sun Devil, he’s not fond of ASU

By Javier Morales

UA’s lone Class of 2010 recruit to date, Daniel Bejarano of Phoenix North, knows what’s in store from ASU fans this week as Arizona prepares for Saturday’s game at Tempe.

“I know I’ll be hearing a bunch of nonsense, but I’m ready for it,” Bejarano said Monday night. “I’m actually going to try to make it. This game is pretty big to me. It’s very big to our team (Arizona) and I think we will come out on top.”

Bejarano, a shooting guard who should enhance Arizona’s three-point production as early as next year, said he does not hate ASU, but he carries hard feelings after the way the Sun Devils’ coaching staff pulled a scholarship offer from him during his recruitment.

ASU coach Herb Sendek and his staff reportedly did not like how Bejarano questioned their style of coaching on offense. They wanted to pull the scholarship before Bejarano had a chance to reject them after officially visiting Arizona that week.

Please read the rest of this blog at TucsonCitizen.com

An add to this: Bejarano was recruited first by ASU before Texas entered the picture. He committed to Texas because of the open-court style of play coached by Rick Barnes. After de-committing from the Longhorns because they continued to recruit players at his position, Bejarano opened the recruitment to ASU and Arizona.

Shortly thereafter, Sendek, who coaches more of a half-court motion offense, pulled the scholarship offer.

In terms of Bejarano’s season, he is averaging 19.7 points, 6.5 rebounds and 4.8 assists per game for North, which is 14-3 heading into tonight’s game with Gilbert. His individual priority this season is to work on his ball-handling skills with the left hand and generate offense on the weak side.

“Things are going great with that,” Bejarano said. “I will continue to work on it but I like how I’ve been able to go to my left more. It’s made me a better player. I am just ready to go the UA and try to help this team.”

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