"Tell them … tell the team to bear down"

Cats have to adjust with Parrom not on trip

Analysis by Javier Morales

RELATED LINK: Anthony Gimino updates Kevin Parrom’s status

Where: Haas Pavilion (11,877)

When: 7 p.m. (Tucson time)

Who’ll be there: ESPN will be televise nationally with Dave O’Brien and former UCLA coach Steve Lavin 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 for undisclosed reasons. The school has yet to release anything, but Parrom attended classes this morning. As far as Cal is concerned, center Max Zhang went down with a collapsed lung Monday and is out indefinitely. Senior forward Patrick Christopher missed practice last week with tendinitis in his knee, but should play. Backup center Markhuri Sanders-Frison is playing with back problems and forward Omondi Amoke has an injured shoulder. They are expected to be available.

Bet you didn’t know …: Cal limited Oregon without a field goal in the last 10:33 of last week’s 64-49 win over the last-place Ducks? The Golden Bears have limited opponents to 60 points or less eight times this season.

They said it: “It’s everything. It’s history. You’d come back to school 10, 20 years from now and you’d be the team, the first one to win the Pac-10 championship.” — Cal senior forward Jamal Boykin in reference to potentially Cal’s first conference title in 50 years.

Arizona Basketball Insider: From The Arizona Daily Star’s Bruce Pascoe

Matchups

BACKCOURT

Three seniors are involved in this scenario — Cal’s Christopher and Jerome Randle and Arizona’s Nic Wise — which is not always the case in a Pac-10 game. The other is sophomore guard Kyle Fogg, who is either bound to shoot his way out of a funk, or has succumbed to a sudden lack of confidence. Fogg has also had unexplained turnovers late in recent losses to Oregon State and ASU. If you recall last year in his freshman season, Fogg was a shoo-in for the Pac-10′s all-freshman team but he practically disappeared in the second half of the conference. The same thing is happening this season. Playing against Randle and Christopher, Wise and Fogg need to set the tone from the beginning that they won’t be timid or frustrated. Easier said than done against a duo that is averaging 35.1 points a game. However, Randle and Christopher are susceptible to shaky play themselves: They have have 175 assists combined but also 140 turnovers. Advantage: Cal, because of the experience factor, playing at Haas as their careers wind down, and because of the pure ability of Randle and Christopher.

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Cats need to develop belief system heading into offseason

The NCAA tournament or NIT are not paramount for UA coach Sean Miller, who is challenged most by getting his players to believe in themselves as a group

By Javier Morales

One of the more telling quotes by UA coach Sean Miller this week was about his former team, Xavier, which appears headed for its fifth consecutive NCAA tournament.

“Our guys don’t respect Xavier,” Miller said.

Miller’s comment was in response to a question about whether he will use videos of his success at Xavier for motivation for the Wildcats.

That whole scenario shows what’s wrong with Arizona in its present state. Baseball players call it “thinking too much” when they are in something like a 3-for-30 slump.

Miller’s point is well taken, although it’s probably more accurate to say Arizona’s players don’t know Xavier. That’s one of the hardships of this year of transition. Besides Kevin Parrom and Kyryl Natyazhko, Arizona’s players did not know much about the 41-year-old coach and his staff heading into the season.

Parrom and Natyazhko were recruited to Xavier by this staff. Parrom took an official visit to Xavier and signed a letter of intent with the Musketeers. Natyazhko attended Xavier’s summer elite camp and committed to Arizona without even visiting Tucson because he felt comfortable with Miller and Co.

Other than that, it’s a safe bet the rest of the Wildcats from Nic Wise to D.J. Shumpert did not watch an Xavier game last season. They likely did not know James Whitford from Emanuel Richardson. Likewise, Miller and his staff probably could not distinguish Kyle Fogg from Brendon Lavender when they first arrived in Tucson.

Please read the rest of this blog at TucsonCitizen.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 successful against zone in Tempe but not last week

One example of a fan’s T-shirt creation in regards to Kevin Parrom‘s “No Easy Buckets” hard foul against ASU’s Ty Abbott last month in Tempe

By Anthony Gimino and Javier Morales

Why did Arizona do so poorly against Oregon State’s 1-3-1 zone last week when it had done so well against ASU’s matchup zone a few weeks earlier? Let UA coach Sean Miller analyze it. “When we had transition opportunities, we made good plays and took good, quick shots,” he said of the 77-58 victory in Tempe. “When we didn’t have transition opportunities, we showed patience, we moved the ball, and tried to break their defense down, which is much easier said than done. They have a very good defense. But on that day, if you say, ‘Why did we win?’ we had that balance of transition opportunities with a lot of patience and movement.” … The Wildcats didn’t have that patience on offense against Oregon State and lost focus on defense. Miller, without naming names, was talking about sophomore guard Kyle Fogg as one of those whose effort was lacking on defense. Fogg knows it. “I mean, I just let my bad offense get to me on defense and I got unfocused,” he said. “I just had a bad game that night.” Fogg has been a willing defender during his time with the Wildcats, so perhaps it will be just a one-game blip. …

Kevin Parrom’s hard foul against ASU’s Ty Abbott last month has gotten a lot of play from the media then and now, so much so don’t expect fireworks to happen again tomorrow. The Pac-10 officiating crew will call the game closely, which could favor Arizona inasmuch as the game is in Tucson and the Cats can go eight to nine deep in case foul problems arise. A group of UA students have made T-shirts saying, “No Easy Buckets” in response to a Twitter message left by Parrom after the UA beat ASU 77-58 in Tempe. Parrom in part wrote “No Easy Buckets” in response to Abbott’s animated response to the play. If the restraint of Miller’s players this year is any indication, the UA should go without a technical foul. The UA players do not have a technical foul this season after getting three last year. ASU has three this season, including one by Abbott (who has two in his career). Remember J.P. Prince, who transferred from Arizona to Tennessee after his freshman season in 2005-06? He has two technical fouls as a senior with the Vols this season. …

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Lower-rated Mayes played well against 5-star Lamb

By Javier Morales and Anthony Gimino

If basketball was played in accordance to Rivals.com ratings, Arizona commit Jordin Mayes of Los Angeles Westchester would have struggled mightily a couple of months ago against another recruiting target for UA coach Sean Miller and his staff. Mayes, a combo guard, was matched against Doron Lamb of Mouth of Wilson (Va.) Oak Hill Academy in the Les Schwab Invitational in Hillsboro, Ore., and the Rivals.com three-star player held his own against the five-star Lamb. Westchester defeated Oak Hill 52-47 and Mayes equaled Lamb with 16 points. Mayes also had three rebounds, two assists and one turnover in 30 minutes. Lamb fouled out and had four turnovers with one assist in 32 minutes. “I really don’t pay attention to anything else except what I have to do on the court for my team,” Mayes told us this week when asked about being rated No. 106 by Rivals.com. “My game speaks for itself. I know I can go in there and help Arizona in a lot of ways as a point guard and shooting guard.”

Mayes, credited for his basketball IQ by recruiting experts, grew up playing basketball under the guidance of his father Darryel Mayes, who played under Jerry Tarkanian at UNLV in 1979-80. The younger Mayes, who was raised in Portland in the same neighborhood of Damon and Salim Stoudamire, has watched plenty of video of his close family friends. “I didn’t get to really see Damon play when he was at Arizona because he’s a little older than me, but I remember seeing Salim play,” Jordin Mayes said. “I have a lot of respect for them and how they played the game.” When Damon Stoudamire led the UA to the Final Four in 1994, Jordin Mayes was almost 1. … Despite Rivals.com’s rankings, Jordin Mayes’ harshest critic is probably his father. “Jordin has to learn more about managing the game and getting better at that,” the elder Mayes said unprovoked. “He has the skills to score big points when he needs to. As a point guard, he has to get others involved. But as he matures, he will understand more that he must keep the defense on its heels. Sean and his staff can see the ability of Jordin scoring when the opportunity presents itself. When the play calls for a bucket, get that bucket. Don’t pass up that shot. That’s called playing too nice.”…

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Huskies 4-1 at home in Pac-10, 0-4 on road

Analysis by Javier Morales

Where: Bank of America Arena at Hec Edmundson Pavilion, Seattle (10,000)

When: 8:30 p.m. (Tucson time)

Who’ll be there: Fox Sports Net will be there with Steve Physioc and Marques Johnson 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.

Common non-conference opponents: None.

Bet you didn’t know …: Arizona is one of only four teams Washington has played three or
more times at home and has a losing record against? The Huskies are 15-16 all-time in Seattle against the
Wildcats. The other teams are Kansas (0-3), UTEP (1-2) and UCLA (29-31).

They said it …: “Me and Nic (Wise), we’re definitely the old guys of the league. We’ve been to the (NCAA) tournament. We’ve been in the doghouse. We’ve been through everything.” — Washington senior forward Quincy Pondexter, as quoted by the Seattle Times.

Isaiah Thomas is also good on defense, helping to limit Stanford’s Jeremy Green to seven points and Cal’s Jerome Randle to five earlier this year.

Matchups

BACKCOURT

Is it any coincidence that UA senior guard Nic Wise has played his best basketball in the last couple of weeks and Arizona accordingly has a four-game winning streak? Wise has played like a leader should, averaging 19.5 points and hitting clutch shots in the UA’s season-changing four-game winning streak. He averaged 15.8 points in the season’s previous games. This is the Wise who was a John Wooden Award candidate. He and Kyle Fogg will be put to the test against Washington’s Isaiah Thomas and Abdul Gaddy, the former Arizona commit who scored a season-high 13 against the Cats last month in Tucson. The Wildcats know how Thomas can heat up (he scored all 18 of his points at McKale Center in the second half). Advantage: Wise-Fogg vs. Thomas-Gaddy is worth the price of admission. If Wise continues his improved play this category is even.

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Streak mirrors NYC forward’s insertion into starting five

His hard foul on ASU’s Ty Abbott is just a small part of his story. His demeanor and confident attitude — something you would expect from a player groomed on the asphalt courts of the Bronx — is positively rubbing off on the other Cats.

I remember when I was writing recruiting stories on Parrom, he told me, “I’ll bring some East Coast style out there.”

So far, so good for him (and his teammates).

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