"Tell them … tell the team to bear down"

Jones’ off-balance bank shot thing of beauty for struggling Cats

RELATED LINK: Steve Rivera of TucsonCitizen.com touches on the resiliency of Arizona’s young team when it appeared down and out

By Javier Morales

Khalid Reeves and Sean Rooks — two New York City-born players — move over. The kid from Harlem, Lamont “MoMo” Jones, matched their game-winning shots with another buzzer beater at Stanford’s Maples Pavilion.

Lamont “MoMo” Jones scored 26 points in the Bay area trip with five assists and only one turnover in 45 minutes

Furthermore, somewhere Salim Stoudamire is smiling, and once Mike Bibby learns what Arizona did at Stanford, he likely will think back to his first experience in the Bay area and appreciate what the young Wildcats did at Cal and Stanford this weekend.

Six years ago, it was Stoudamire who turned the ball over at Stanford, leading to Nick Robinson‘s miraculous last-second 35-foot shot that ripped the gut out of the Cats and their fans. In Arizona’s NCAA title season of 1996-97, Bibby as a freshman was swept on the road against Cal and Stanford, experiencing one of his worst games against the Cardinal with only six points. He posted only three against the Golden Bears.

This Stanford team is nowhere the same as the Cardinal teams Stoudamire and Bibby played, but then again, Arizona is unlike the Cats of old in this grind-it-out season.

The play of Jones and fellow freshman Derrick Williams added another chapter of storybook endings in this hotly contested rivalry in which 18 of the last 23 meetings have been decided by 10 points or less.

This was Reeves revisited, when he drove the length of the court in 1992 and scored at the buzzer to beat the Cardinal in Maples. Reeves hails from Queens. Jones used that big-city confidence to bank in a jumper from about 16 feet as time expired for the pivotal 71-69 victory Saturday night. Williams set up Jones’ shot by blocking an attempted layup by Jack Trotter with six seconds left.

Read the rest of this entry at TucsonCitizen.com

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How Jordin Mayes affects 2010-11 roster

RELATED LINKS AT TUCSONCITIZEN.COM:

• UA coach Sean Miller lands his first targeted West coast recruit
• Anthony Gimino asks is Derrick Williams a top 150 freshman now?
• Jordin Mayes’ father Darryel Mayes was a teammate of Sidney Green at UNLV during the 1979-80 season

By Javier Morales

Los Angeles Westchester guard Jordin Mayes looks back most fondly at his Player of the Game-type performance against the highly-touted John Wall last year as the highlight of his young career.

“It’s all about being confident,” Mayes told me Monday night. “I had one of my better games against John Wall because I believe in my ability.”

Wall, potentially the national freshman of the year at Kentucky, was overshadowed by Mayes in Westchester’s 76-57 win over Raleigh (N.C.) Word of God High School in last year’s City of Palms Classic. In Westchester’s next game — a victory over Lance Stephenson and Lincoln (N.Y.) for fifth place — Mayes produced 31 points.

The 6-2 point guard was selected to the event’s all-tournament team along with Wall and Stephenson and nine others, including Santa Ana (Calif.) Mater Dei’s Gary Franklin (Cal recruit) and Tyler Lamb (UCLA signee).

With a couple of impressive performances against teams led by Wall and Stephenson it’s no wonder UA coach Sean Miller has never wavered in his pursuit of Mayes. The UA officially hosted Mayes and his father Darryel Mayes Saturday and Sunday and Jordin Mayes wasted little time offering his commitment after returning home to the Los Angeles area.

“I guess he just slept on it,” the elder Mayes told me Monday night after watching his son lead Westchester over Los Angeles Fairfax. “He called me in the morning and told me to go ahead and make the call that he wanted to go to Arizona.

“Coach Miller has indicated to us that Jordin would be a major part of his plans at Arizona if Jordan were to play there. Before we took the visit, we had the feeling that Sean was genuinely interested in having Jordin as part of his team.”

Some Arizona followers are asking: What happens now? Did Arizona sacrifice the chance of landing a five-star recruit in Josh Selby or Doron Lamb by accepting Mayes’ commitment?

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RELATED LINK AT TUCSONCITIZEN.COM: Jack of all trades: Recruit emerges from soccer background to hoops stardom

By Javier Morales

Arizona’s newest recruiting target, Kadeem Jack, an athletic power forward from Rice High School in Harlem by way of Trinidad and Tobago, is one of the freshest faces in the Class of 2010 circuit — or is it the Class of 2011?

Some quick observations after talking to Jack on the phone Monday night (he is scheduled to officially visit the UA on Jan. 26):

• The shot-blocking wonder sounds convinced that attending prep school instead of a Division I institution in 2010-11 will benefit him more as a player and student. He is using upcoming recruiting visits to prove that wrong.
• If North Carolina coach Roy Williams called Jack today to offer a scholarship, Jack would immediately wear a Tarheels cap and ask where he must sign. Jack idolizes the North Carolina program because of its dominance. This should sound familiar to UA fans. Miles Simon, the 1997 Final Four MVP, idolized North Carolina and former coach Dean Smith before he committed to Arizona. Posters of North Carolina players, including Michael Jordan, decorated his bedroom walls. The Tarheels never did recruit Simon, fortunately for Arizona, which defeated the Tarheels twice that 1997 season, including the Final Four.
• The New York connection Arizona has bears no significance to Jack, who was not coached by UA assistant Book Richardson in the New York Gauchos program. Richardson left the Gauchos in 2007 to coach at Xavier with Miller. That’s the same time Jack started playing in that program for new Gauchos director Mo Hicks.
• Similar to the Cats’ recruitment of Rod Odom, the UA must put its best presentation forward concerning its academic benefits for Jack, who is an accomplished student. At the back of Jack’s mind will be the question: Will I develop here more than I would in prep school? Development is the key word. My belief is this: Jack can develop as a player at Arizona next season without any undue pressure. He will have senior Jamelle Horne and talented sophomores Derrick Williams, Solomon Hill and Kevin Parrom playing around him as he develops. And at the same time, he can get plenty of playing time because of his defensive presence and rebounding ability.

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Fredette scorches the Cats for record-setting 49 points

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>>UA outclassed again; Miller worries about team’s confidence (By Steve Rivera/TucsonCitizen.com)

Arizona 2009-10 schedule
(Full schedule and statistics available at ArizonaWildcats.com)

Optimism vs. Opportunities

Analysis by Javier Morales
OPTIMISM

Derrick Williams had another solid outing with 17 points and seven rebounds, but he had five turnovers and only one assist
• Freshmen forwards Derrick Williams, Solomon Hill and Kevin Parrom provided some hope for the future in an otherwise dreadful night for the Wildcats. With the UA 6-6 overall and limping into the Pac-10 conference, when will it become appropriate to ask UA coach Sean Miller: When will you start coaching with 2010-11 and beyond in mind rather than this season? Williams, Hill and Parrom need as many minutes as possible together, it seems, to gain some momentum for next season and beyond. The trio shot 13 of 22 from the field for 32 points and 13 rebounds. The optimism presented by Arizona in this game starts and ends with these three guys. Kyle Fogg had 16 points, which is admirable, but he was 1 for 4 from three-point range, posted only one rebound and no steals.

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Arizona 2009-10 schedule

(Full schedule and statistics available at ArizonaWildcats.com)

Optimism vs. Opportunities

Analysis by Javier Morales
OPTIMISM

In his first start of the season, Kyle Fogg contributed 11 points, six rebounds and a steal
• Normally, weighted scoring by the starting lineup is cause for concern, but all things considered, it was encouraging to see every Arizona starter score in double figures in this game. On three occasions, Arizona starters have been shut out: Twice by Brendon Lavender (Wisconsin and Oklahoma) and once by Solomon Hill (UNLV). Arizona’s starters a year ago were shutout only seven times, five by then freshman Kyle Fogg, over the course of 35 games (a ratio of one shut out for every seven games). This year’s rate was too high in the young season.

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Arizona’s freshman class will grow up

STREAK FACT: When the UA’s streak began on March 15, 1985, fittingly, Phil Collins‘ hit “One More Night” was climbing the charts to a No. 1 spot two weeks later.

By Javier Morales

Too many games remain, including an entire Pac-10 season and the subsequent conference tournament, to give up hope.

The Wildcats play four of their next five games at home before traveling to L.A. to open the conference season against USC on New Year’s Eve. By then, UA coach Sean Miller will probably feel like he has coached an entire season. What’s life without challenges?

As we learned last year, the Cats can fight their way back. They went 4-6 in one stretch before putting together a seven-game winning streak. Of course, that was with Chase Budinger and Jordan Hill, who are far removed from Arizona in the NBA. Nic Wise and Jamelle Horne remain with a lot of freshmen and returning players who are still developing.

Essentially, the UA has traded the firepower and scoring of Hill and Budinger for an unpredictable group of freshmen. Being the optimist that I am, I believe by season’s end, the freshman class Miller recruited in a short period of time will make a positive impact. Players like Derrick Williams, Solomon Hill, Lamont “MoMo” Jones and Kevin Parrom come from winning backgrounds and they have too much pride to let this season slip away.

Kyryl Natyazhko worked so hard on his game in his native Ukraine that he moved to the United States to further his career.

Other than these guys being young, they have something else in common: Pride, and a lot of it.

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Analysis by Javier Morales

Where: McKale Center

When: 7 p.m. (Tucson time)

Who’ll be there: Fox Sports Arizona. The announcing crew will be Dave Sitton and Corey Williams. 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).

Injuries: Freshman forward Kevin Parrom is out at least two-three more weeks with a stress fracture in his left foot.

RPI implications: Huge. UNLV is rated No. 4 in the latest RPI standings, according to CBSSportsline.com. Arizona is at No. 52. Obviously, an Arizona victory will boost its RPI a great deal and be very important come March when the NCAA Tournament selection committee convenes. The Rebels rank No. 23 in strength of schedule. They have started 4-0 against Division I opponents, with three of the wins coming against traditionally good programs — Louisville, Southern Illinois and Nevada.

Common opponents: UNLV will at least twice play Mountain West Conference rivals San Diego State and BYU. The Cats play at San Diego State on Dec. 12 and BYU travels to Tucson on Dec. 28. The Rebels are also part of the Diamond Head Classic field in Honolulu Dec. 23-25 that includes USC and former UA interim coach Kevin O’Neill.

Gauge games: You can compare how the Cats fared against UNLV in relation to the Rebels’ 76-71 victory over Louisville last weekend at Thomas and Mack and a game against Kansas State in Las Vegas on Dec. 12. K-State is ranked No. 8 in the RPI with a 5-1 record vs. Division I opponents.

Matchups

BACKCOURT

UNLV junior guard Tre’Von Willis, formerly of Memphis with John Calipari, leads the Rebels with 16 points a game

The good news is Arizona won’t have to contend with Wink Adams, who exhausted his eligibility and perhaps had the best game an opponent played against the Wildcats last season. Adams nailed seven three-pointers in UNLV’s sound beating of Arizona 79-64 in Las Vegas. The bad news for Arizona is UNLV coach Lon Kruger has replaced the departed Adams and Rene Rougeau in the backcourt with two more-than-capable players in Memphis transfer Tre’Von Willis and former Los Angeles Westchester High School standout Oscar Bellfield. Does Westchester ring a bell? That’s the school Dwayne Polee Jr. attends. He is a Class of 2010 recruit being pursued by Arizona and UNLV, among other West coast schools, and he shares a good friendship with Bellfield. Willis, a junior, and Bellfield, a sophomore, have emerged as the clear top two players for Kruger, combining for 27 points, 8 assists and 8 rebounds per game. Their rebounding is most impressive and that helps them engineer transition baskets. Willis leads the Rebels with 5.2 boards a game. Arizona counters with the experienced Nic Wise and the improving Brendon Lavender, a sophomore. Those two combine for 22.6 points, 5.1 assists and 5.8 rebounds. Advantage: I like UNLV’s combination of Willis and Bellfield, but Wise at home is the great equalizer. I’ll call this one even.

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