"Tell them … tell the team to bear down"

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.

  (more…)

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Arizona suffers its worst loss of the year

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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.

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

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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.

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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?

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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.

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

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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…)

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John Feinstein: Arenas has worn out his welcome

RELATED LINK: Gilbert Arenas’ Twitter page

Here’s a list commentary from heavy hitters such as John Feinstein, Jay Mariotti and Peter Vecsey regarding the federal investigation of former UA guard Gilbert Arenas’ gun possession at the Wizards’ home arena, the Verizon Center:

• John Feinstein on WashingtonPost.com argues that Arenas has worn out his welcome in Washington.
• Jimele Hill of ESPN.com says that Arenas and teammate Javaris Crittenton should be suspended the rest of the season.
• George Dohrmann of Sports Illustrated writes that Arenas has learned nothing from what happened to Plaxico Burress.
• Mariotti is not amused by Arenas’ sense of humor and believes the former UA guard should be banned the rest of the season.
• Vescey writes that Arenas is a “wangster” who must be ejected from David Stern’s game.

Over at TucsonCitizen.com, I posted a blog that Arenas should be suspended the rest of the season based on the fact that he has violated a serious NBA policy. Mostly, I believe a ban on Arenas is necessary to set him straight. He must rediscover himself and there’s no better time to do that than now, while this mess legally runs its course.

Purely by coincidence, news in recent years involving gun possession of professional athletes and their legal ramifications have involved players with Arizona ties.

Former UA forward Chris Mills received a three-game suspension while at Golden State in 2002 for allegedly possessing a gun in a post-game incident involving the Portland Trail Blazers and then-Blazer Bonzi Wells. That incident sparked NBA commissioner David Stern’s determination to push for more rigid anti-gun language in the last collective bargaining agreement, according to ESPN.com.

Stephen Jackson, a former UA recruit who never qualified academically to play at the school, was suspended for seven games in 2007 for firing a gun outside an Indianapolis strip club. Jackson pled guilty to one count of felony criminal recklessness after firing five shots into the air in a dispute involving then-teammate Jamaal Tinsley. Jackson was hit by a car in the incident.

Former Arizona linebacker Antonio Pierce was with Burress when the Giants receiver shot himself in the leg at a New York City nightclub in 2008. Pierce was cleared of any wrongdoing after he told police that he did not know that Burress had a gun.

– Javier Morales

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Played at Arizona from 1999-2001

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Ex-UA guard reportedly stored them unloaded

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READ MORE LINKS AFTER THE JUMP

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Ex-Cats look to be healthy and playoff-bound

FEATURED EX-CAT LINKS:
>>Slumping Terry plans to stay aggressive (ESPN.com)
>>It took a few years but Channing Frye is back (Dime magazine)
>>NBA & ABA players who attended the University of Arizona (Basketball-Reference.com)

At Christmas time, almost three months into the season, Arizona’s NBA contingent should have asked Santa for these gifts of hope: Gilbert Arenas: A continuation of recent play for the Wizards — two straight wins — and continuing the Agent Zero theme instead of the failed quiet Gilbert experiment. Andre Iguodala: Some patience. It will be another long season for the Sixers. Jason Terry: As the link above suggests, Terry wants his shooting touch back. Terry’s shooting percentages (.428 on field goals and .338 on 3-point shots) are by far the worst of his six-season stint in Dallas. He’s averaging 16.4 points per game, a drop of more than three points from last season, when he earned the league’s Sixth Man of the Year honor.

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