"Tell them … tell the team to bear down"

Important Developments on July 17

Gilbert Arenas

• ARENAS HAS NEW ATTITUDE AND POSITION IN NBA (Arizona Daily Wildcat, July 17, 2002) — Not since high school has Gilbert Arenas been the go-to guy on the basketball court. The former Arizona Wildcat basketball player was always overshadowed — first by a blue-chip recruit and a high-profile transfer player at UA, and then, in his first season in the NBA by a potential All-Star. Now the court is his. Playing for the Golden State Warriors in the DADA NBA Summer League in Long Beach, Calif., Arenas has become the team’s main attraction. In his first game this summer, Arenas led Golden State with 25 points and 6 assists against the three-time NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers.
• UA BASEBALL TEAM LOSES TO CUBA (Stars & Stripes, July 17, 1974) — Cuba may be known for its excellent cigars, but the talk of the town here are the 22 ball players Cuba sent to the 1974 Haarlem (The Netherlands) International Baseball Tournament. Cuba struck hard, early and
  consistently, and the University of Arizona’s Wildcats’ quietly joined the ranks of those who have fallen victim to the superb abilities of Cuba — the class of this Haarlem tournament — in an 8-3 loss.

Wildcat Birthdays Today

>> Austin Hill, freshman wide receiver Corona (Calif.) Roosevelt, turns 17 today.

E-mail WILDABOUTAZCATS@GMAIL.COM to inquire about placing an ad for thousands of Wildcat fans to read. >>Dish HD for Life: Great specials on HD TV from Dish. >>Arizona Cancer Center: Ways to give. >>St. Baldrick’s Organization: Help children with cancer.

FOLLOW US BY CLICKING ON THE LOGOS:

Bookmark this post

Hide Sites

Believes hard work will improve NBA draft status

By Anthony Gimino and Javier Morales

Since Lute Olson arrived in Tucson, the longest gap for Arizona to go without a first-round selection in the NBA draft is five years, from Olson’s start in the 1983-84 season until 1988-89. That’s when Sean Elliott and Anthony Cook were selected in the first round, the first Wildcats to be picked that high since Larry Demic was the ninth overall selection in the 1979 draft. With Derrick Williams gaining more notoriety nationally as a potential NBA talent, Sean Miller and Arizona are a safe bet to avoid that five-year drought (Jordan Hill was the ninth overall pick last year). The question is whether Williams will try to be a first-rounder next year or the year after following his junior season.

Williams, the Pac-10 Freshman of the Year, has NBA on his mind, especially after Thursday’s draft. “I’m done talking about people in this draft,” Williams’ Facebook status reads. “Just gunna sit back and relax. … 365 days and I could be there … But only hard work will determine that. Let’s get it in.” Williams, who is in Chicago this weekend participating in the NIKE Amar’e Stoudemire Skills Academy for power forwards and centers, must have been itching for a chance to prove himself as being NBA worthy after watching fellow freshmen like John Wall, Derrick Favors and DeMarcus Cousins get selected among the first five picks in the NBA draft. Williams joined those guys and Kansas forward Xavier Henry, also selected in the first round Thursday, on the Sporting News College Basketball All-Freshmen Team. Before last season, Williams talked about extending his game to the perimeter as a wing player, but he was forced to play mostly as a post player because of a lack of talent and experience at that position. The fact that he is participating in the Stoudemire power forward and center camp shows that Miller and his staff want him to further develop his skills around the basket rather than work mostly on his perimeter ball-handing and shooting skills. That could partly be a result of Arizona failing to land power-forward recruits Kadeem Jack or Eloy Vargas. …

(more…)

Bookmark this post

Hide Sites

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…)

Bookmark this post

Hide Sites

FORMER UA PLAYERS IN THE NBA (Thru 4/14/2010)

* -- Rookie season. Bold -- Career highs

By Javier Morales

Thirteen years after leading Arizona to its first NCAA title, NBA veteran guards Mike Bibby and Jason Terry are still enjoying success on the court. Their respective teams — Atlanta and Dallas — are currently the No. 3 team in each conference with one week remaining.

Former UA guard Mustafa Shakur will not be in the NBA playoffs with Oklahoma City (which has signed him for the remainder of the season) but he is an important player for Tulsa in the NBA’s D-League playoffs.

Other former Wildcats assured to be in the NBA postseason include the ailing Luke Walton (out most of the season with a back injury) of the Los Angeles Lakers, Channing Frye with the Suns, Richard Jefferson of the Spurs and Jerryd Bayless of the Blazers.

Rookies Chase Budinger and Jordan Hill will be at home watching the playoffs despite Houston’s 39-38 record.

Also not in the postseason are the two best scorers Arizona has produced who are currently in the NBA — Gilbert Arenas of the Wizards and Andre Iguodala of the Sixers.

Arenas was sentenced last month to 30 days in a halfway house for bringing guns into the Wizards locker room. He avoided extended jail time. However, the three-time NBA All-Star will first serve two days of his sentence at the Montgomery County (Md.) Pre-Release Center, which means he will be behind bars at that time.

Don’t expect Arenas to be Tweeting while in the halfway house. According to a Washington Post report, residents can have visitors, and they are given access to a computer room to hunt for jobs. But Internet surfing, Facebooking and Tweeting are forbidden.

Also according to the Post, residents cannot have cellphones, laptops, video games or portable DVD players in their rooms. They can bring their own TV, no bigger than 13 inches, but they can’t have cable.

Read about career milestones reached by some ex-UA players on the jump

(more…)

Bookmark this post

Hide Sites

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.
  

  ---

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

  ---

  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.

  (more…)

Bookmark this post

Hide Sites

Arizona suffers its worst loss of the year

QUICK HITS

Not a good day to be a Wildcat. First, former UA guard Gilbert Arenas was charged with a felony for his gun possession without a license. The UA then disappeared in the last four minutes against Oregon State, blowing an 11-point lead. This is the third game this season in which the UA blew a lead that seemed good enough for a win. It is the first time the Cats lost in such a circumstance. Colorado rallied back from an 80-72 deficit with 52 seconds left in regulation to force the game to overtime. The UA won 91-87. The Wildcats blew an eight-point lead against N.C. State in the last 37 seconds but won when Nic Wise drove to the hoop for the game-winning layup. The Wildcats were outscored 21-7 in the last nine minutes against Oregon State after taking a 57-46 lead.

---

This was only the fourth win for Oregon State over the Cats in the last 10 years, all coming at Gill Coliseum.

---

The last time the UA had a losing record after 17 games (8-9 overall) was Lute Olson‘s first season of 1983-84, when the UA started 5-12. This is also unchartered waters for UA coach Sean Miller, whose roughest start was his first season as a head coach at Xavier in 2004-05. The Musketeers started 9-8 en route to a 17-12 season.

---

PAC-10 STANDINGS

TEAM	PTS	OVERALL	PAC-10	RPI	SOS
ASU	1	13-5	3-2	88	113
Oregon St.	1	8-8	2-2	206	225
California	0	11-5	3-1	30	3
USC	0	10-5	2-2	54	19
Stanford	0	8-8	2-2	126	67
Oregon	0	10-6	2-2	130	167
UCLA	0	7-9	2-2	168	49
Arizona	0	8-9	2-3	68	2
Washington	-1	11-5	2-3	65	31
Wash. St.	-1	12-5	2-3	82	171

SATURDAY’S GAMES

Arizona at Oregon, 1:30 p.m.
Arizona State at Oregon State, 3:30 p.m.
California at Washington, 11:30 a.m.
Stanford at Washington State, 2 p.m.
USC at UCLA, 4:30 p.m.
Game times local to site.
PTS: Team is awarded a point for a road victory and deducted a point for a home loss

Portland Catfan presented these stats regarding the use of freshmen in the Pac-10 at Bruce Pascoe’s blog at The Arizona Daily Star, and he was gracious enough to let me show you them here. The minutes are before games played Thursday (and of course Miller played all five of his freshmen against Oregon State, tallying 104 of the team’s 200 minutes):

Arizona, 1,458 Washington State, 908 UCLA, 744 ASU, 676 Oregon, 638 Oregon State, 578 Washington, 524 California, 155 Southern Cal, 148 Stanford, 73

What this should tell us: Arizona’s dependency on youth lends to inconsistent performances, as the Wildcats have shown this season. Derrick Williams is one of five UA freshmen to play 104 of the UA’s 200 minutes in Thursday’s loss to Oregon State But more than that, Miller is put to the test more so than any other Pac-10 coach (and that goes for other coaches nationwide — perhaps somebody at StatSheet.com can put together nationwide freshmen minute totals). Miller would be the last to offer excuses, but consider the hand he was dealt: Miller, his staff and five recruits are new to the program. The existing players are new to him and his philosophy. The bulk of Arizona’s scoring and rebounding (inside presence overall) from Chase Budinger and Jordan Hill are gone to the NBA. Furthermore, no top-flight recruits remained with the program during the two years of interim coaches filling in for Olson. Miller does not want pity, but he should be afforded some understanding. One way to look at The Streak: Let the previous one belong to Olson and his legacy. This is a transition year (with the UA’s only chance at the NCAA tournament being a Pac-10 tourney title). Would it be so bad to have the “Miller Streak” start next year?

---

In terms of the RPI, Thursday’s loss to Oregon State was the first bad defeat of the season. Arizona’s previous eight losses all came against top 100 teams (Oklahoma was the lowest at No. 95). Oregon State’s RPI was 206. The defeat will deal a blow to the UA’s RPI and strength of schedule, which was No. 2 in the nation before the game. It’s one thing to play a team with a lousy RPI, but to lose to that team will prevent an invitation to the Big Dance.

---

Have some good news for you: Michael Dickerson has returned from an injury-plagued career and is doing well playing professionally in Spain.

---

FOLLOW US BY CLICKING ON THE LOGOS:

Please help this site keep going:

Bookmark this post

Hide Sites

Deadline to declare for NFL draft approaches

By Anthony Gimino and Javier Morales

The most important offseason Arizona football news is coming down to the wire. Tight end Rob Gronkowski is set to announce his decision on whether to turn pro or not on Friday — the final day to enter the NFL Draft.

Gronkowski would have a 72-hour grace period after that to withdraw. His father, Gordon Gronkowski, told TucsonCitizen.com that a key factor would be if the family thought Rob could be close to 100 percent for the NFL scouting combine, which is Feb. 24 to March 2 in Indianapolis. If the family thinks Rob’s recovery from back surgery will allow him to show off his strength and speed … well, he’s gone. No doubt, Gronk will knock the socks off NFL scouts because he has all the measurables. But if he’s not able to show his stuff at the combine, then he’s much better served by coming back to Arizona for another season, where he could be an All-American and (likely) alleviate any injury concerns that scouts might have. “It’s stressful,” Gordon said of the decision. “It’s very stressful.” …

Gordon said he has been running interference with agents who are trying to get in contact with his son. “It’s crazy, especially with the agents,” he said. “There are a million of them out there, and you get pounded. It’s like, ‘Leave us alone.’” … Rob’s older brother, Chris, who just completed his eligibility, is on the NFL radar, according to Gordon. That might sound like just fatherly pride, but Gordon knows plenty of NFL people and knows the landscape. His son Dan just spent most of his rookie season as a tight end on the Detroit Lions’ practice squad. As for Chris, his value is in his versatility as a fullback/H-Back/tight end with good hands. Gordon said he is hearing fourth-to-sixth round for Chris. …

(more…)

Bookmark this post

Hide Sites