"Tell them … tell the team to bear down"

Williams Pac-10 Frosh of the Year; Wise selected All-Pac-10

By Anthony Gimino

The Sporting News has announced its five-player All-Freshman team, and four of the names make perfect sense.

There’s Kentucky guard John Wall, the No. 1 recruit in the nation last year, according to Rivals.com. There is Kentucky center DeMarcus Cousins, the No. 2 recruit. No. 3 was forward Derrick Favors (Georgia Tech). No. 8 was guard Xavier Henry (Kansas).

Big-time, can’t-miss recruits.

2009-10 All-Pac-10 Selections

And the other very-deserving member of the Sporting News’ All-Freshman team is Arizona post player Derrick Williams, who wasn’t even on Rivals.com list of top 150 recruits. In fact, he wasn’t even on a five-player All-Williams team of prospects.

The Pac-10 released its all-conference teams Monday morning, with Williams earning Freshman of the Year honors, as well as one of 10 slots on the all-conference first team.

Arizona senior point guard Nic Wise was not on the original list released by the Pac-10, but he was indeed selected first-team all-league. (Insert personal gripe here: The league needs to agree to make some tough calls and have just a five-man first team, and then a second team and third team.)

Williams is the example of “you never know” in recruiting. He was the least heralded of Arizona’s five freshmen.

“I really didn’t know what to expect from Derrick,” UA coach Sean Miller said last week.

“It became apparent that he was very talented. He is a really soft-spoken kid. He’s a fantastic kid who wants to do well and do the things you ask him. His talent far exceeded our expectations.”

Williams averaged 15.7 points and 7.0 rebounds in the regular season, shooting 58.8 percent from the field. The honor from the Sporting News is just the beginning.

Jones’ off-balance bank shot thing of beauty for struggling Cats

RELATED LINK: Steve Rivera of TucsonCitizen.com touches on the resiliency of Arizona’s young team when it appeared down and out

By Javier Morales

Khalid Reeves and Sean Rooks — two New York City-born players — move over. The kid from Harlem, Lamont “MoMo” Jones, matched their game-winning shots with another buzzer beater at Stanford’s Maples Pavilion.

Furthermore, somewhere Salim Stoudamire is smiling, and once Mike Bibby learns what Arizona did at Stanford, he likely will think back to his first experience in the Bay area and appreciate what the young Wildcats did at Cal and Stanford this weekend.

Six years ago, it was Stoudamire who turned the ball over at Stanford, leading to Nick Robinson’s miraculous last-second 35-foot shot that ripped the gut out of the Cats and their fans. In Arizona’s NCAA title season of 1996-97, Bibby as a freshman was swept on the road against Cal and Stanford, experiencing one of his worst games against the Cardinal with only six points. He posted only three against the Golden Bears.

This Stanford team is nowhere the same as the Cardinal teams Stoudamire and Bibby played, but then again, Arizona is unlike the Cats of old in this grind-it-out season.

The play of Jones and fellow freshman Derrick Williams added another chapter of storybook endings in this hotly contested rivalry in which 18 of the last 23 meetings have been decided by 10 points or less.

This was Reeves revisited, when he drove the length of the court in 1992 and scored at the buzzer to beat the Cardinal in Maples. Reeves hails from Queens. Jones used that big-city confidence to bank in a jumper from about 16 feet as time expired for the pivotal 71-69 victory Saturday night. Williams set up Jones’ shot by blocking an attempted layup by Jack Trotter with six seconds left.

Read the rest of this entry at TucsonCitizen.com

One-time elite programs in Pac-10 struggling

Analysis by Javier Morales

Where: Maples Pavilion (7,329), Palo Alto, Calif.

When: 5 p.m. (Tucson time)

Who’ll be there: Fox Sports Arizona will televise nationally with Dave Sitton and former UA player Corey Williams calling the action. You can also listen to Brian Jeffries and Matt Muehlebach live on the radio on the IMG College/Wildcat Radio Network (which provides free access on Yahoo! sports).

Pregame and Postgame Shows: John Schuster, Brad Allis and Rob Lantz break down the game and answer your calls at the KCUB 1290-AM feed.

Injuries/Personnel developments: UA freshman forward Kevin Parrom did not make the trip to the Bay area because of a foot injury and his availability for the last couple of weekends of the season is questionable. Stanford is more healthy when the Cardinal played in Tucson last month, with forward Andrew Zimmerman returning from a stress fracture in his foot — the same injury afflicting Parrom.

Bet you didn’t know …: The Wildcats and Cardinal generally play close games with 17 of the last 22 games decided by 10 points or less, including last month’s eight-point victory by the UA.

They said it: “He’s always there if I need him. If I’m going through something that’s trying, he’s the first one I’m going to call and talk to about it.” — Stanford coach Johnny Dawkins in reference to his mentor, Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski

Arizona Scouting Report: From The Arizona Daily Star’s Bruce Pascoe

Matchups

BACKCOURT

Part of Arizona’s demise recently has been its three-point shooting defense — a strength of the team when it was 6-3 in the Pac-10. In the last two games, ASU and Cal have made 21 of 41 from three-point range (51.2 percent). The Wildcats figure to be tested again from three-point range by Drew Shiller and Jeremy Green on the perimeter. Shiller is making 40.2 percent from beyond the arc while Green is shooting at a 39.4 clip. It does not help that strong perimeter defensive player Kevin Parrom is in Tucson with a foot injury. UA coach Sean Miller said after the 95-71 loss at Cal on Thursday that some of his players “look beaten down.” The lethargic play has accounted for opponents getting open looks from three-point range. A sure sign that Stanford point guard Jarrett Mann has more scoring options than Arizona’s Nic Wise? Mann has 131 assists compared to Wise’s 90. Advantage: Stanford. The scoring potential of Green vs. Kyle Fogg or Solomon Hill is enough of a reason.

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Gimino’s offering and other information

By Anthony Gimino

Now that I’ve had time to digest Arizona’s loss to Arizona State, catch up on my Olympic curling and have a couple of cups of coffee, here are five thoughts on UA basketball:

1. Don’t blame Sean Miller just because he sat at the table when the bill was due.

Players leaving early, lost recruiting classes, two years of interim head coaches, all kinds of off-court drama, four systems in four seasons … none of this is Miller’s fault.

Amid all the uncertainty, Arizona duct-taped together NCAA Tournament seasons in each of the past two years, thanks to NBA talents such as Jerryd Bayless, Jordan Hill and Chase Budinger.

Miller has a down-the-road NBA prospect in freshman Derrick Williams, who has to play out of position right now at center.

Take a look at an 18-year span of Arizona hoops, from 1987-88 to 2004-05. Amazingly, the Wildcats were no worse than a No. 4 seed in the NCAA Tournament in all but two of those seasons.

Could Nic Wise have started for any of those teams? No.

Kyle Fogg? Definitely not.

Kevin Parrom? He’d probably be redshirting.

Jamelle Horne? He’d be a Gumby.

Derrick Williams? Yeah, he might have started for a few of those teams, but he mostly would have had to get behind a veteran in the frontcourt rotation.

Point is, let’s not kid ourselves about the talent Miller inherited.

Please read Gimino’s four other thoughts at TucsonCitizen.com

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In case you missed it, the times have been set for Arizona’s final two home games against UCLA and USC.

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Gimino talks to former UA tight end Rob Gronkowski, who will only do bench presses and interviews at the NFL scouting combine this week.

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Former UA point guard Mustafa Shakur is making a chance to advance to the NBA more realistic with his selection to the D-League All-Star game (DailyThunder.com).

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For USC, the squirming begins as it awaits the NCAA’s rulings on its infractions with the football and men’s basketball programs (New York Times).

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Despite a historic winning season, Cal basketball is pleading for fans (San Jose Mercury News).

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Another take on Cal’s home attendance woes, which should be interesting to take note of when Arizona visits on Thursday (CaliforniaGoldenBlogs.com)

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A look back in the past week of quotes (Oregonian).

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Former UA forward Chase Budinger — strange to see him wear ASU-type colors for Houston — wins the T-Mobile NBA player of the week award (TheDreamShake.com).

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Forget about NCAAs and NIT: Focus on ASU

Analysis by Javier Morales

Where: McKale Center

When: 3:30 p.m. (Tucson time)

Who’ll be there: Fox Sports Network will be there with Steve Physioc and former UCLA player Don MacLean calling the action. You can also listen to Brian Jeffries and Matt Muehlebach live on the radio on the IMG College/Wildcat Radio Network (which provides free access on Yahoo! sports).

Pregame and Postgame Shows: John Schuster, Brad Allis and Rob Lantz break down the game and answer your calls at the KCUB 1290-AM feed.

Bet you didn’t know …: ASU has the second-best record in the Pac-10 over the last three seasons (28-21), trailing only UCLA (35-13). Arizona is tied for sixth with a 24-25 record.

They said it: “If you win on the road, you feel like you went at it with 12 guys against 15,000 and came out on top” — ASU junior guard Ty Abbott, in an interview with the East Valley Tribune.

ARIZONA BASKETBALL INSIDER: From The Arizona Daily Star’s Bruce Pascoe

Matchups

BACKCOURT

ASU’s motion offense is predicated on taking care of the ball. If Arizona had trouble against an Oregon State team with a propensity for turnovers, it will find things much more difficult with the Sun Devils because of senior point guard Derek Glasser. He has a better than 2-to-1 assists-to-turnovers ratio with 130 assists and only 59 turnovers. Nic Wise also has 59 turnovers but he only has 86 assists. Advantage: Given the way Kyle Fogg has played his last four games, I can’t take Arizona over ASU (with a very capable shooting guard in Ty Abbott in this category). Ever since scoring a game-high 21 points against ASU last month, Fogg has shot 31.6 percent (18 of 57) from the field including a horrendous 25 percent from three-point range (7 of 28). He has only made 2 of his last 11 tries from beyond the arc.

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Cats look to avenge last-second loss to Beavers at Corvallis

Analysis by Javier Morales

Where: McKale Center

When: 6 p.m. (Tucson time)

Who’ll be there: Fox College Sports Pacific will be there with Thad Anderson and former UA player Corey Williams calling the action. You can also listen to Brian Jeffries and Matt Muehlebach live on the radio on the IMG College/Wildcat Radio Network (which provides free access on Yahoo! sports).

Pregame and Postgame Shows: John Schuster, Brad Allis and Rob Lantz break down the game and answer your calls at the KCUB 1290-AM feed.

Injuries: None reported by either school.

Bet you didn’t know …: Oregon State freshman center Joe Burton is the first Native American offered a basketball scholarship in the Pac-10, according to the school’s media relations department. Arizona once had Cliff Johns, of the Navajo Nation, on its roster from 1992-93 but Johns was a walk-on. Johns is now in his third year as head coach of the Shiprock High School Chieftains.

They said it: “All you have to do is look at the record here (10-13) … I’m not going to be going anywhere.” — Oregon State coach Craig Robinson, a Chicago native, said this week among reports that one or his “representatives” contacted DePaul about the Blue Demons’ head coaching vacancy.

SCOUTING REPORT OF OSU-ARIZONA: From The Arizona Daily Star’s Bruce Pascoe

Matchups

BACKCOURT

Oregon State junior guard Calvin Haynes has the kind of toughness about him any coach would like, but unfortunately for him, he has felt the pressure to carry the Beavers’ perimeter game while coach Craig Robinson grooms freshman point guard Jared Cunningham. Cunningham, who is listed as a starter by Oregon State for tonight’s game, has 30 turnovers and 12 assists (a dismal reverse 3-to-1 ratio) in Pac-10 games. More problematic: Cunningham leads the Beavers with 31 personal fouls in conference play, 12 more than the burly, physical Daniel Deane. All this means the Rivals.com Top 100 guard out of Oakland is getting lost in the transition to Division I hoops. Look for Robinson to rotate Cunninghman in and out but when the freshman is in the lineup, Nic Wise must maintain his aggressiveness and teach the youngster a thing or two. Advantage: Arizona. Wise and Kyle Fogg have developed nicely enough together this season that some UA followers look forward to a Lamont “MoMo” Jones-Fogg combination next season.

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New Pac-10 commissioner looking into conference expansion

RELATED LINK: Former Big 12 Commissioner, Big Ten Television Network Executive joins new leadership team with the Pac-10 conference

By Javier Morales News Flash: Ray Ratto of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote a column Tuesday mentioning that new Pac-10 commissioner Larry Scott is seriously looking into expanding the conference. Here we go again with the BYU and Utah talk. You might recall that news of a potential expansion of the Pac-10 first occurred 20 years ago, when many of today’s athletes were not born yet. The schools mentioned the most as possible additions in 1990 were BYU, Utah, Texas and Texas A&M. That’s correct: The Longhorns and Aggies were a strong possibility to make it the Pac-12 after Arkansas bolted that year from the Southwest Conference for the SEC. Texas athletic director DeLoss Dodds met with former Pac-10 commissioner Tom Hansen that year to discuss the possible marriage. Can you imagine if Texas and USC were in the same conference in football? One thing’s for sure: Pete Carroll would not have gained that sense of invincibility with Mack Brown around. How about BYU joining the Pac-10? Could you imagine a double-dose of Jimmer Fredette? If the Pac-10 is indeed looking to expand, BYU and Utah are the most logical choices. Colorado at one time was also mentioned as a possibility, but the Buffaloes seem entrenched in the big money of the Big 12. The football programs at BYU and Utah would enhance the Pac-10’s already respectable image. In terms of basketball, what makes the addition of BYU and Utah to the Pac-10 enticing? Both have a tradition of winning basketball. For Arizona and ASU fans, it would mark the return to those intense rivalry games of the WAC. The schools are easily accessible from every Pac-10 locale (Flights usually connect out of Salt Lake City). Am I missing something?

ALL-PAC-10 IF THE SEASON ENDED NOW PLAYER TEAM POS YR PPG Patrick Christopher Cal G Sr. 16.4 Landry Fields Stan F Sr. 23.0 Reggie Moore WSU G Fr. 14.3 Quincy Pondexter Wash F Sr. 20.6 Jerome Randle Cal G Sr. 19.1 Isaiah Thomas Wash G Soph. 17.1 Klay Thompson WSU F Soph. 21.2 Nikola Vucevic USC F Soph. 9.8* Derrick Williams UA F Fr. 15.3 Nic Wise UA G Sr. 15.5 * – Rebounds per game (PPG = points per game) PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Landry Fields, Stanford COACH OF THE YEAR: Sean Miller, Arizona FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR: Derrick Williams, Arizona

If you think attendance figures at BYU’s Marriott Center and Utah’s Huntsman Center make it a no-brainer to add the Cougars and Utes to the Pac-10, think again. Does the conference really need more basketball arenas filled to half-capacity? Aren’t those empty seats at USC’s Galen Center, ASU’s Wells Fargo Arena and Oregon State’s Gill Coliseum enough of a eyesore?

Despite BYU’s highly successful season thus far, the Cougars (21-2) are averaging only 12,883 fans in 12 home games at the 22,700-seat Marriott Center. That’s 56.8 percent capacity. That would be the equivalent of the 12-11 Wildcats averaging only 8,262 in their 14,545-seat McKale Center. The Cats, however, lead the Pac-10 averaging 13,487 fans a game (92.7 percent capacity).

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