"Tell them … tell the team to bear down"

Lavin recruits Polee Jr. to St. John’s

Dwayne Polee Jr.

• Dwayne Polee Jr., the Los Angeles City Section player of the year from Westchester High, said Thursday he has accepted a scholarship to St. John’s and will sign a letter of intent on Friday. Polee, who is excited to play for former UCLA coach Steve Lavin, was a teammate of UA signee Jordin Mayes. FYI, St. John’s visits UCLA next Feb. 5 in a made-for-TV event. Polee’s signing is like Arizona in reverse — a West coast prospect heads to New York.
• Remember how Robert Morris almost upset Villanova in the first round of the NCAA Tournament? Their coach, Mike Rice, was hired at Rutgers and is reportedly going after UA assistant Book Richardson. They say coaching is all about relationships; Sean Miller has one with Richardson, while it appears Rice is tapping into Richardson’s recruiting ability in the New York area. Richardson is at a more traditionally strong program where the name helps its recruiting, while Rutgers is closer to his Queens, N.Y., home.
• Lavin likely sought the input of former UA coach Lute Olson for the reported hiring of assistant Mike Dunlap. New Iowa coach Fran McCaffrey also called upon Olson last month to get his thoughts on one of his former Hawkeye players before adding him to his staff.
• Seth Davis of SI.com offers his viewpoint of the coaching carousel this offseason, including Oregon’s hire of Dana Altman, which could have (should have?) happened six weeks ago.
• Danny Ainge‘s towel-throwing into the air to distract Cleveland’s J.J. Hickson at the free-throw calls to mind a similar maneuver performed this year by Mike Bibby when the Hawks played Toronto.
• The Wears twins — Travis and David — are in the news because of their transfer out of the North Carolina program, and UCLA is a good bet to sign them although this L.A. Times reporter brings up Arizona.

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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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• Michael Dunigan’s mother gave Oregon more than a diamond in the rough
• Oregon coach Ernie Kent is contemplating a change to his starting lineup
• More possibilities on the best Arizona-Oregon games played at Mac Court

Analysis by Javier Morales

Where: McArthur Court, Eugene, Ore. (9,087)

When: 2:30 p.m. (Tucson time)

Who’ll be there: Fox Sports Network will be there with Rod Thulin former UA standout Miles Simon 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: UA center Alex Jacobson is questionable with back spasms.

Common non-conference opponents: The Ducks and Wildcats did not share a common opponent.

Bet you didn’t know …: If you are bored — extremely bored — you can view a live Web cam of the construction of the Matthew Knight Arena by clicking on this link: MactoMatt.net

They said it …: “Somewhere between Seattle and Eugene we lost our grit.” — Oregon coach Ernie Kent commenting about Oregon’s sweep of the Washington schools on the road followed by two losses at Mac Court against Oregon State and ASU.

Matchups

Oregon senior Tajuan Porter is the Pac-10’s active scoring leader with 1,491 career points

BACKCOURT
Malcolm Armstead and Tajuan Porter are similar in size and potential as their Arizona counterpart of Nic Wise and Kyle Fogg. Another comparison: Neither duo has played with the consistency necessary to succeed. The centerpieces are Porter and Wise. Porter gains the freedom to shoot because Armstead is the playmaker. Wise does not have that luxury. Porter, however, has not shot at a tremendous clip, only 38.8 percent from the field and 37.4 from three-point range. Porter also has 23 turnovers with only 27 assists. Which duo will make the least amount of mistakes? Armstead has a 2-to-1 ratio in assists-to-turnovers. Wise and Fogg have combined for 98 assists and 65 turnovers. Advantage: These guys will dictate whether the game is sloppy or not. Hard to say which duo is better than the other.

(more…)

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Decade marked with triumphs and tribulations for program

By Javier Morales

If only the worst news involving the Arizona men’s hoops program in the last decade was the Cats not having a Pac-10 Player of the Year after achieving four in the 1990s.

Bobbi Olson

Heck, not winning a national title after capturing one last decade would have been just fine, all things considered.

However, the decade started and ended with both dubious and glorious news that rocked the program and made it one of the elite at the same time.

The 2000-01 season was the UA’s decade in microcosm: The Cats reached the depths, losing one of the most important members of the program when Lute Olson’s wife, Bobbi Olson succumbed to ovarian cancer. Almost four months later, the UA was in the national title game, playing Duke. The UA lost but it captured the admiration of college basketball fans for its fortitude.

The Cats won their third Pac-10 title of the decade in 2004-05 and appeared headed for Olson’s fifth Final Four at Arizona, but Illinois had that gut-wrenching comeback win after trailing by 15 points with four minutes remaining. The pain from that loss was at the opposite end of the spectrum from the euphoria of defeating Gonzaga in double-overtime in a second-round classic game two years previously.

Then came the Olson leave of absence and retirement saga, which adversely affected the program’s recruiting and also led to two interim coaching staffs in 2007-08 and 2008-09. Kevin O’Neill returned to Arizona and was promised by UA athletic director Jim Livengood to be Olson’s permanent replacement after taking over on an interim basis. O’Neill fell out of favor with Olson, who vowed to return in 2008-09. He tried to come back but deteriorating health forced Olson to retire. Russ Pennell took over as the new interim coach with Mike Dunlap providing valuable assistance. The Wildcats barely got in the tournament as a No. 12 seed, but they advanced to the Sweet 16, where they were routed by Louisville.

The hiring search followed, including the failed courting of former USC coach Tim Floyd, who later resigned amid alleged NCAA violations. Livengood rebounded by hiring the young and accomplished Sean Miller.

Through it all The Streak lived, reaching 25 years.

A decade in UA hoops history has never been so high and so low with emotions. What do you think is the defining moment?

DECADE NUMBERS (1999-2009): >>Overall record: 237-99 >>Pac-10 record: 118-62 (third behind Stanford & UCLA) >>Pac-10 titles: 3 (one shared with Stanford 1999-2000) >>Final Fours: 1 (2001, national runner-up) >>Record vs. ASU: 16-6 >>NBA picks: 14 >>First-round picks: 5 >>All-Pac-10 player selections: 17 Lute Olson Kevin O’Neill Sean Miller

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