"Tell them … tell the team to bear down"

Most ADs want to continue division affiliation with L.A. schools

Larry Scott

Utah and Colorado are officially part of the Pac-10 — soon to be Pac-12 — and now comes the debate over the league’s division format.

“There’s a process we’ll now go through, working closely with our athletic directors, to dig into those questions — whether to have a championship football game and whether to have divisions,” Pac-10 commissioner Larry Scott said during today’s press conference at Utah’s Rice-Eccles Stadium.

Colorado has maintained all along, according to the Denver Post, that the Buffaloes have been told they will be in the South Division with Utah and the Arizona and the L.A. schools (which makes the most geographic sense).

However, some league athletic directors — perhaps those from the Bay area — are not OK with being in a division without California counterparts USC and UCLA.

“I am getting all kinds of proposals,” Scott is quoted as saying. “I don’t think we need to look at a lot of models, and I don’t think we’ve given our members a chance to express all the considerations they have. This is all, especially lately — things happened quickly, in a very tight way, without a lot of consultation from a lot of people.”

According to Jon Wilner of the San Jose Mercury News, the Pacific northwest schools don’t want to be separated from USC and UCLA for reasons of ticket sales and recruiting exposure. Also, L.A. is a major area for alumni of all conference schools.

Read about other matters discussed at today’s press conference in Salt Lake City at TucsonCitizen.com

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Formidable programs competing for Class of 2011 prospect

LITANY ‘O LINKS

• Bruce Pascoe of The Arizona Daily Star reports that former UA guard Nic Wise has more NBA workouts upcoming
• Arizona is not only recruiting Las Vegas Bishop Gorman standout Shabazz Muhammad (featured in the accompanying YouTube video) but it is also heavily involved with Muhammad’s Gorman teammate Rosco Allen, also a Class of 2012 forward recruit
• Expansion will dominate Pac-10 meetings in San Francisco this weekend, reports Jon Wilner of the San Jose Mercury News
• Ted Miller of ESPN.com starts his list of the Top 25 football players for the upcoming Pac-10 season. Who on Arizona’s roster belongs on this list?

The secret is out and the recruiting aura of Trinidad and Tobago native Kadeem Jack is developing from one top program to another.

The Class of 2011 recruit who graduated and played at Manhattan (N.Y) Rice High School, is now heavily involved with Kansas and West Virginia. Jack, a 6-8, 215-pound forward who will attend South Kent (Conn.) Prep next year, is contemplating a visit to Kansas or West Virginia to take part in their elite camps this month.

“Kansas is definitely one of the schools that I’m interested in,” Jack is quoted as saying by JayhawkSlant.com, a Kansas Rivals.com site. “Kansas is definitely a program I’m going to seriously consider – most definitely. I’ve talked to Coach (Bill) Self … I’ve been able to talk to a couple of members of the coaching staff from Kansas.

“Kansas got involved with my recruitment when they found out I was going to attend South Kent next year. The coaching staff at Kansas is interested in me and I’m interested in Kansas. I like the style of play and I like the coaching staff. Kansas is definitely an option I’m going to consider.”

Please read the rest of this entry at TucsonCitzen.com

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Latest TucsonCitizen.com Link: Former Florida power forward apparently on Arizona’s recruiting radar

• Arizona’s official release on the signing of Jordin Mayes and Jesse Perry
  
  Mike Dunlap headed to Colorado?
• New Wildcats could shake up UA coach Sean Miller‘s roster
• Oregon is in no rush to hire its coach, believe it or not, and former UA and Oregon assistant Mike Dunlap is rumored as a candidate at Colorado
• USC’s Kevin O’Neill inks a 7-foot transfer from a JC whose three years of eligibility starts in 2011-12
• Washington coach Lorenzo Romar also signs a 7-footer out of a JC
• Adam Zagoria reports that tampering claims against O’Neill and USC concerning Rutgers transfer Mike Rosario are not confirmed by Rutgers officials
• Rosario, a 2008 McDonald’s All-American shooting guard from Jersey City (N.J.) St. Anthony, reportedly has Kansas, Kentucky, USC and Florida on his wish list
• Currently, the number of players leaving Pac-10 schools is 13. Jon Wilner of the San Jose Mercury News thinks that number will increase because he believes Cal’s suspended forward Omondi Amoke will not return

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Former UA guard Nic Wise overcame knee soreness to play 25 minutes in his first Portsmouth (Va.) Invitational game Wednesday night

• The Pac-10 transfer list is now up to 13 scholarship players as two more ASU players jump ship
• Former UA guard Nic Wise was concerned about being cleared to play because of a sore knee, but he wound up playing 25 minutes in the first round of the Portsmouth (Va.) Invitational on Wednesday night. Wise tallied nine points with four assists and only one turnover. His next game is Thursday at 12:15 p.m.
• Former Arizona Daily Star reporter Jon Wilner, now with the San Jose Mercury News, offers his assessment of the 2010-11 Pac-10 hoops season and he rates the Cats No. 2 in the Pac-10 behind Washington. His opinion of Arizona: “The loss of point guard Nic Wise is a blow, but not a major one – not with the Wildcats’ core of young talent (Derrick Williams, Kyle Fogg, Jamelle Horne, Solomon Hill, Kevin Parrom, MoMo Jones and touted frosh Daniel Bejarano, to name seven). The Cats finished fourth in 2009-10 and should be the most improved team in the league — improved enough, it seems, to start a new NCAA streak.”
• HoopsWorld.com suggests that Wise should update his passport because that’s the only way he will play professionally next season.
• Kentucky coach John Calipari struggled to free up scholarships last year before his first season in Lexington. Now, he must fill nine scholarships with players exhausting their eligibility and five underclassmen declaring for the NBA. Calipari will not have trouble selling playing time with players such as Baltimore Lake County point guard Josh Selby and Mouth of Wilson (Va.) Oak Hill Academy combo guard Doron Lamb.
• Memphis coach Josh Pastner, formerly of the UA as a player and coach, is one year younger than Butler coach Brad Stevens and just as confident about a national title run.
• One blogger takes a look at Jim Nantz‘s puns, including his line: “A milestone victory for Arizona” after the Wildcats won the 1997 NCAA title.
• Brad Allis of WildcatSportsReport.com writes a blog for TucsonCitizen.com that describes the UA basketball recruiting class that wasn’t
• Former Gilbert Highlands guard Matt Carlino, who transferred to Bloomington, Ind., for his junior season, is seriously considering UCLA, according to Scout.com. Carlino was offered a scholarship to the UA by former coach Lute Olson when he was a freshman.
• Stevens reportedly turns down the Oregon coaching opportunity, and is now listed as a candidate at Clemson and Wake Forest.

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UCLA helps set NCAA tournament standard for Pac-10

By Javier Morales The numbers bear it out: Generally when UCLA goes, so goes the Pac-10. It’s a no-brainer to suggest the conference can survive when Oregon State is in a down year. However, when the Bruins are in ruins, the Pac-10 more often than not follows suit. UCLA coach Ben Howland could miss the NCAA tournament for the first time in six years Since the NCAA tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1984-85, the Bruins have failed to qualify five times. In those five years, the average number of Pac-10 teams that advanced to the NCAA tournament is 3.2, the lowest figure among conference teams. Stanford is the next barometer team. The Cardinal have missed out on March Madness 10 times in this span. When they are not around, an average of 3.5 Pac-10 teams make the field. The programs that do not matter as much in the grand scheme: Oregon State, and believe it or not, Washington. When those teams did not make the field, an average of 4.3 Pac-10 teams have qualified since the tournament expanded to 64 teams. Read the rest of this blog at TucsonCitizen.com and continue reading here for the rest of our Pac-10 Primer. Steel City Rematch. Tomorrow’s game matches again a former Pitt coach (Ben Howland of UCLA) against an ex-Panther (Sean Miller of Arizona). Pitt continues to have Howland protege Jamie Dixon as its head coach. Howland and Miller coached against each other in January with Arizona winning 77-63 at Pauley Pavilion. This is the second time they will face each other in the state of Arizona. Their previous meeting was in Phoenix in the Elite Eight of the NCAA tournament in 2008, when UCLA defeated Xavier 76-57 to advance to its third consecutive Final Four.

STANDARD BEARERS A look at how many Pac-10 teams make the NCAA tournament when one fails to be in the field since the tourney expanded to 64 teams in 1984-85: TEAM YRS OUT AVG TEAMS IN Arizona 0 N/A UCLA 5 3.2 Stanford 10 3.5 Southern Cal 16 3.6 Oregon 19 3.8 California 15 3.9 Arizona St. 21 4.0 Washington St. 21 4.0 Washington 17 4.3 Oregon St. 21 4.3 ALL-PAC-10 IF THE SEASON ENDED NOW PLAYER TEAM POS YR PPG Patrick Christopher Cal G Sr. 15.7 Landry Fields Stan F Sr. 22.1 Reggie Moore WSU G Fr. 13.2 Quincy Pondexter Wash F Sr. 19.8 Jerome Randle Cal G Sr. 18.9 Theo Robertson Cal G Sr. 14.0 Isaiah Thomas Wash G Soph. 17.2 Klay Thompson WSU F Soph. 19.6 Nikola Vucevic USC F Soph. 9.8* Derrick Williams UA F Fr. 15.8 * – Rebounds per game PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Landry Fields, Stanford COACH OF THE YEAR: Herb Sendek, ASU FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR: Derrick Williams, Arizona

Before the Elite Eight encounter, Miller was asked during a press conference about what he thought when it was announced his alma mater hired Howland from little-known Big Sky school Northern Arizona.

“I thought the people at Pitt were confused,” Miller recalled. “I wondered what they were thinking and how in the world that choice could be made.”

(more…)

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Outcome of Civil War and UA-USC games deciding factors

By Javier Morales

Two Pac-10 region journalists Tucson knows something about — Anthony Gimino of TucsonCitizen.com (and a contributor to this site) and Jon Wilner of the San Jose Mercury News — each offered their analysis Sunday of where the Pac-10 teams will be playing this bowl season.

After reading their analysis, it is becoming more obvious that an Arizona win over USC will enhance the Cats’ chances to play in the Holiday Bowl against most likely Nebraska (provided Oregon beats Oregon State in Eugene). If the Ducks lose and Arizona beats USC, the possibility exists that the Wildcats will play in the Sun Bowl.

A loss to the Trojans will mean the Cats will likely wind up in the Poinsettia Bowl against most likely Utah.

Click on the following links to read the viewpoints of Gimino and Wilner (who at one time was the UA basketball beat reporter for The Arizona Daily Star):

>>Anthony Gimino’s AG Wildcat Report (TucsonCitizen.com)

>>Jon Wilner’s College Hotline blog (San Jose Mercury News)

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By Anthony Gimino

Jon Wilner of the San Jose Mercury News posted his all-decade teams for Pac-10 basketball today — 15 players divided into three squads.

Here are his first team selections (comments are from Wilner). Follow the link to see the second and third teams … which include Jason Gardner and Channing Frye.

FIRST TEAM
G Luke Ridnour, Oregon:
There have been a handful of terrific point guards — it was probably the strongest position over the course of the decade — but Ridnour was the best of the bunch.

G Brandon Roy, Washington:
Probably had the best all-around year (2005-06) of any perimeter player in the league over the past 10 seasons, ranking in the top 10 in 13 statistical categories.

F Jason Kapono, UCLA:
One of just four players, and the only one in the past two decades, to be named all-conference four times. (The others, according to the league’s media guide: Cal’s Bob McKeen, Oregon’s Ron Lee and Stanford’s Todd Lichti.)

F Ike Diogu, ASU:
Double-double machine who didn’t have much of a supporting cast. First player in more than 30 years to lead the conference in scoring back-to-back seasons.

C Kevin Love, UCLA:
Even though he only played one year, Love was so ridiculously good that he’s a no-brainer first-team pick. In fact, he’d be my first pick of all the players to come through the league this decade.

Wilner emphasized career performance over a single-season excellence, which hurts some of the league’s super one-and-done players. (Gilbert Arenas played only one full season in the decade; should that matter? He wasn’t on the second or third teams.)

Anyway, who would you have on your all-decade teams?

Edit: One more thing. Wilner’s all-decade teams considered only college performances. But what if you switched it around, and made an All-Pac-10 decade team based on NBA prowess. I think it would then look like this — although, given its lack of big men, it’s not a team you could really play with:

Gilbert Arenas, Arizona
Nate Robinson, Washington
Andre Iguodala, Arizona
Brandon Roy, Washington
Richard Jefferson, Arizona

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