Thursday, March 31, 2005

New D-line recruit has a past

Football: Arizona lands big lineman to play defense, and let's hope he doesn't bring too much baggage with him. Seems Ricky Parker was kicked off asu's team a couple of years ago for "team rules violations," which hopefull didn't include murder.

Wednesday, March 30, 2005

Future of the Cats team rest in the hands of a Prince

Six-foot seven-inch five-star point guard J.P Prince, that is. Read about Prince and other incoming-freshmen Marcus Williams and Fendi Onobun here.

Wildcat baseball team keeps raking in the honors

Brown third Arizona player to win Pac-10 Player of the Week ::: "Pacific 10 Conference officials should consider renaming their weekly baseball awards the Arizona player of the week awards.
For the third consecutive week, a different Arizona player earned a weekly award from the conference. "

Look for big things out of Sancet/Kindall field for some time to come.

Monday, March 28, 2005

Urban Legend Lebron James

Seen that Powerade commercial with Lebron dropping 80-90 foot shots like they were layups? It happens that those shots were digitally enhanced - Photoshopped! - and not actual events.....I feel so cheated.

Something about the air in Globe

Looks like Mike Sweeney's going to walk away with the pool this year, after Diane did the same last year. This is the way the prize fund breaks down this year:
1st - $150
2nd - $50
3rd - $20
Last - Refund of entry fee ($10)

What's going on up there, Sweeney?

More spring football

I'm starting to think -- that Stoops doesn't like his team getting pushed around so much. Also good to see that Sheldon Watts is back praticing with the team after recovering from a gunshot wound to the chest during his redshirt season last fall.

Sunday, March 27, 2005

Optimistic Stoops set for spring drills

With fifteen starters and three specialists returning next season, Coach Stoops opens Spring ball tomorrow with a few questions, like, "Who's going to QB the team?" Richard Kovalcheck, the starter for most of last season, is out after back surgery, leaving former walk-on Adam (are you shaggin' me?) Austin to call the signals. Look for big improvements on both sides of the line if you attend one of the spring Saturday scrimmages.

Cats Nipped in Regional Final

The Wildcats' run to the Final Four ended with a heartbreaker to Illinois, sending Arizona home after squandering a 15 point lead in just 4 minutes. It was a difficult loss to take, especially for seniors Frye and Stoudamire, the first Wildcat seniors to not make it to a Final Four since 1993. The lllini did not quit, and deserve their number 1 seed and national ranking. What an amazing game to watch, and the team with the most Final Four-titude won it.

Saturday, March 26, 2005

Wade..........I hope he's not related to Bobby

MLive.com: NewsFlash - Arizona State running back held in murder

Like a fine wine

Still going strong...20 minutes to go. I'm not as nervous as usual, And Salim hasn't made a basket

Game 1 just started

Want to know why Lute's a Hall of Fame coach? Check out this gem to Salim on the Wildcat guard's frowns and scowls during games:

"I told him, 'Ninety-nine percent of the people who watch you will never meet you,'" Olson said. "'You're too good a person to let yourself project that image.'"

Salim on free throws:

"I look at free throws," he said, "as the only time I get an open shot."

Salim 2005

Let's hope Salim's in God mode -- "'That dude's like a video game,' (Ill guard Dee) Brown said. 'He shoots from anywhere, any place.'"

Where am I in the pool?

Track it with the Bracket Manager. Looks like Mike's going to run away and hide real soon.

March to the Arch

In these hours leading up to today's game vs. the lllini, seems the smart money is on the home team. All the talk is on lllinois, and for this very reason the edge goes to Arizona. Even though our game is being touted as the best of the Regional Finals the Wildcats are still flying under the national radar, with a laser beam locked on St. Louis.

No surprise here -- Greg Hansen and Corky Simpson both take the Cats in an upset today.

Break it down -- Yoni Cohen does a nice job of analzing today's matchup, along with another game being played today.

More on Salim's 180 -- Cats are peaking, and they need to be in sync to beat the lllini.

More Salim -- I'd have thought you were crazy if you'd told me the Sullen One would be getting this much ink at the beginning of the season. His development has been more of a "blast" than a "blossom."

Whatever happened to -- Kenny Lofton? He's in Chicago today, cheering on his Cats!


Adios, Chicago. Bienvenidos St. Louis!

Friday, March 25, 2005

Duke needs a hug

Duke loses to Michigan State and the cheers can be heard from Tallahassee to Tucson. Now maybe Vitale and American Express can drop all reference to Coach K for the rest of the tournament.
Adios, Dookies.

Where's Dickie?

I can't wait until Saturday

fron ESPN writer Gene Wojciechowski: Salim delivers

Rick Pitino does eat humblepie

Much to like about a humbled Pitino

Today's Sign of the Apocalypse

Bill, Mike, and Chris are 1-2-3 in today's bracket rankings? Will hell freeze over next?

Cats to Elite Eight

I had no idea -- this will be UA's third trip to the Elite Eight since 2000. Where did they get that reputation of being chokers?

Salim eats no humblepie

NewsOK.com | Powered by The Oklahoman and NEWS 9

From Dallas for some reason

DallasNews.com | News for Dallas, Texas | Colleges: OSU

Thursday, March 24, 2005

Pre-Game Jitters?

Frye'd up -- look for Channing to bring his A game with him to Chicago and feast in the paint. His progress and development as a player in the past four years has been a sheer pleasure to witness. Get 'R Done, big guy! More on Frye here.

Battle of the Boompas -- Two old friends in Lute Olson and Eddie Sutton meet for the first time in NCAA Tournament play, pretty amazing considering the success of both coaches. Can you spell "Classic?"

I beg your pardon? -- I just hate when this happens; read the article and see what I mean.

Stouda"mired" no more - Salim's recent awakening will serve him well in the Windy City as you can bet there will be more than a few scouts in the crowd.

Lute...Lute... -- a touching look at another side of the NCAA's, and at the true meaning of teammates.

Mustafa musthava goodgame -- time for the kid from Philly to remind the folks that he brings a sweet little touch with him whenever he touches the ball, too.

Cats try "Low Profile" approach -- doubt it will work, though. The team coming out of this bracket deserves to be in St. Louis.

Wednesday, March 23, 2005

Opinion by Greg Hansen

Opinion by Greg Hansen

East coast media blitz for Salim

The New York Times give us some great insight into Salim and his sweet shot. And how does he rate his UA career so far?
"'My freshman year was good, sophomore year bad, junior year worse and now it's good again,' Stoudamire said."
His form may not "be by the book," but he's my first choice for getting the ball in the clutch.

Jessie Evans update

Jessie Evans takes the USF Dons to post-season action in the NIT in his first season as head coach. I'm not sure he should have let it out that he was known as "The Jumping Jack from Pontiac," though. hehe

All Americans!

A couple of Wildcats got some well-deserved recognition as All-Americans, as Salim makes the second team along with asu's Ike and Channing pulls down an Honorable Mention. Well done guys!

Is it Thursday yet?

It was an inside job -- consensus is that the key to UA's matchup with OSU in the Sweet 16 will be the play of the big fellas inside. I'll take Channing against OSU's inconsistent Joey Graham as the Cats march on.

Ladycats close out their season -- Congratulations to Coach B.'s team on a winning season again, but their season ends in an ugly loss to LSU.

Spring means - football! -- a quick look at Stoop's Troops as they lace up for spring football practice. Could WR BJ Vickers really add 100 yards of offense per game? A few reps with Richard Kovalchek would help, but the QB is recovering from back surgery and won't take part in Spring drills.

Salim supplies the fire -- and let's hope he doesn't cool off (or get a haircut) for a couple more weeks. Read more here.

Paying homage to Lute -- The Illini's 3-guard lineup has its roots traced back to UA teams of the 90's, and credit Lute with making the lineup work.

The Sweet 16 from A-Z -- "L" is for LUTE.

UA's odd couple -- Jawann McClellan is passed the mantle of "The Golden Child," and helps keep the team (and Lute) loose and laughing.

And don't forget to check your brackets if you're in our NCAA tourney pool......looks like Mike Sweeney's got the best shot at winning it all.

Sunday, March 20, 2005

Ladycats are winners

Hats off to the Ladycats after their first-round victory over Oklahoma - and to the five PAC-10 women's teams, all winning and advancing to the second round.

I hope this is what happens.........

FOXSports.com - Hoops Hysteria- Why the top four seeds could lose early

Ladycats of the golf world...............

Sorenstam tops Ochoa in playoff

NCAA Basketball Tournament Bracket Manager

Oh....my....gawd. Bill and Dave top the current standings in the bracket pool. Can this last?

Salim and none............I don't think so

Stoudamire is learning how to win with a grin

Saturday, March 19, 2005

Huh?

From an AP story we get this profound quote from a Blazer:
"'If our shots would have been falling, I think the score would have been even and we would have been able to give them a better fight down the stretch,' UAB's Carldell Johnson said."
Hmmm - math major?

Oh Boise, it's on to Chicago!

What's wrong with this story? Nice wrapup of the UA/UAB game but something slipped by the editor.
Corky Simpson praises Lute for his coaching job this season: "Looking back over the season, a long and improbable adventure in which many fans and observers bailed out on them at one time or another, only one person continued to believe in these Wildcats: Their coach."
This Washington Post article gives some great insights into Salim, including this: "I was a little antsy to start the game," he said. "But then I began to get into the flow." Guess so.
Lute calls UA fans spoiled, and he might have a point. Did you know the UA was given 550 tickets to sell to these games in Boise and returned 200 of them, unsold? Maybe we're just holding our breath, hoping it's not another flame-out.

Of course, here are the current standings for the BBall Pool.

I thought we were Wildcat fans

According to our brackets, Josh and Kevin were the only 2 to take AZ all the way. What a switch from our first tourney pool.

Fizzle? Fashizzle!

Who'll be the next to fall? Much to my relief, AZ is still in the tourney, with a good-looking shot at the Sweet 16 against a talented UAB team that dispatched LSU (who we never really play very well against, anyway). That said, I'd like to introduce the following teams to their own Bracket Bastards:
Hawk Shock - Kansas loses its first round game for the first time in 27 years
Catawhat? - Vermont squeezes Syracuse. Vermont coach Tom Brennan has to postpone his retirement
Crimson Tired - 'Bama gets sobered up by Wisconsin/Milwaukee's finest
LSU Declawed - UAB mocks seeding, on a mission

All will be duly recognized on the List of First Round Fizzles.

Check our league standing here. #488

Friday, March 18, 2005

And speaking of mascots...........

The Greater Bucky Open........what's a game without a little excitement!!

Feel....the....Madness

Bracket standings can be found here - we're league #488. Looks like we're in for a Wildcat ride again.

I'll bet Bill's kicking himself for not having entered before!

Wilbur, got to love him

from playboy....... mascots talk back

NCAAs - day 2

-- The Cats dispatched Utah State back to Logan, but not before the obligatory scare.
-- Steve Rivera also writes that AZ basketball is "Over the Hurdle." Hope we decide to sprint out one of these games.
-- The Republic plays the race card. Howard Cosell's rolling over in his grave.

Thursday, March 17, 2005

We shouldn't forget Utah State guard's violent crime

I didn't hear anything about Pak in our paper or on the radio or tv.............I don't know how I feel about a rapist being allowed to play..........because it is such a violent crime. But, I guess he served his time and has been a stand-up guy since. What say you??

What I meant was...

"Arizona State University has reassigned a spokesman for statements he made about why campus police shocked football fans with Tasers after the Fiesta Bowl. "

At least he and his family didn't have a crime ring working inside the stadium.

The 'Cats Are Sharpening Their Claws

This from the Washington Post (of all places):

Do not mistake this Arizona team for last year's, which lost to Seton Hall in the opening round of the tournament....the team is playing a different brand of basketball.
Sounds like a Cat Fan in the Beltway!

Wednesday, March 16, 2005

"POP"

This from Jay Hinton:

"Arizona's legendary coach is 42-25 in 25 tournament appearances (five at the University of Iowa).
Olson, however, has lost 13 games to lower seeds, second only to Texas Tech's Bobby Knight, who has 14."

Thanks for reminding us.....

Up here, coach

Utah State head coach Stew Morrill sums up what it's like going up against larger-than-life Arizona:

"I've seen them (Stoudamire and Frye) a ton on tape and on TV through the year. To see them up close and personal, I'm not sure how excited I am about that,' Utah State coach Stew Morrill said."

washington's Conroy reaches out to Salim

Someone forgot to tell that Husky that Salim's not all that much of a talker. This from scout.com
"Disconnected: Conroy called Arizona guard Salim Stoudamire Tuesday in a show of conference support and solidarity, but Salim wasn't answering the phone and didn't return Will's call. 'I guess he's still angry at us,' said Conroy. Both Conroy, Romar and Nate Robinson talked about how they will unabashedly support the Wildcats while they are in Boise. UA plays Utah State Thursday evening. 'I asked coach if we got our business done if we could watch them (Arizona) play,' added Conroy. 'I'm a U-Dub fan and a Pac-10 fan 'til the day I die,' added Robinson. 'I'm rooting for the Pac-10 hands down.'"

It's almost here!

One day left to finalize your picks in the office pool and all other brackets.
-- A Yale prof. has come up with odds of getting all your picks correct - 9.22 quintillion. It boggles the mind.
-- This year's tourney from A to Z.
-- Today's "Fox Guarding the Henhouse" story brought to you by McKale's Parking and Transportation Administer - and his whole family.
-- FYI - the venue for this weekend's First Round games in Boise are being played at Taco Bell Arena. Yo quiero Wildcat wins.
-- "Kings of the first-day fizzle?" So says Kevin Hench of Foxsports when talking about AZ in his column about stunning first-round upsets. It doesn't help that the Wildcats pulled down numbers 10 and 2 on his all-time list of upsets.
-- Stoops talks with some old troops - the Oklahoma Sooners are in Tucson for the first round games at McKale.
-- Matt Doherty picks the Cats to win the Illinois bracket, with good reason.
-- Corky Simpson sheds some light on Lute - the myth and the man.
-- Utah State just happy to be there? Don't get caught up in that thinking, or it's a quick flight back home.

NCAA Bracket Tourney here

It's not too late to get your picks into our Tourney Bracket Pool - just go to the Quark Bracket Manager, select your picks, and enter your bracket into League #488, password Emma. I'll post updates here on Wilbur's Home Page. Once again, the top 3 winners will be paid, along with a total refund of the $10 fee for the last-place entry.
Good Luck, everyone - and if you have any problems getting your picks in, let us know.

Tuesday, March 15, 2005

Pre-tourney warmup

--Greg Hansen says beating UA would make the Aggies season....at the very least.
--According to Ivan Radenovic, the Cats will need to play their 6 best games of the year now.
--If you haven't picked your brackets yet, Anthony Gimino offers you a little help here.
--"Hot Sauce" needs to pour it on if the Cats hope to advance deep into the tourney. His disappearing act in the PAC10 finals against washington rivals Copperfield.
--Coach Jay John addresses the Beaver Nation. Nuff said.
--Utah State's deliberate style of play, which has bamboozled the Cats more than once this year (see wsu/stanford), will give AZ a test right away.
--It's Kruger vs. Kruger in asu's first-round NIT game against UNLV in Vegas. Do you care?
--$3.5 billion bet on the NCAA tourney? Greatgooglymoogly.

Go Beavers

Congrats to Jay John and the job he's doing at oregon state. Now comes word that the Beav will host CalStateFullerton in a first-round NIT game. The value and experience of playing in this post season bodes well for JJ and his beavs

Monday, March 14, 2005

The Little Dance

Maryland, Notre Dame settle for NIT - and the Sun Devils get to go to the Jr. Prom, too - facing off against UNLV in a first-round game in Vegas. (Why did I suddenly flash on Hedake Smith?) Expect the Devils to have lots of change in their pockets when the get to the airport - hey, somebody's got hit the jackpot, right?

These guys sound like Washington State

from the Salt Lake Tribune ......yuck

Here is the scoop from Logan Utah

.......from The Herald Journal They beat up on Utah during the preseason.....................

Sunday, March 13, 2005

2004 NCAA Basketball Men's Viewable Brackets

Here are your brackets for March Madness 2005. Lots of interesting matchups, including a matchup here in Tucson between a couple Arizona's old WAC foes, Utah and UTEP. Toss in Bobby Knight vs. ucla and you've got a nice afternoon of bball.

Washington gets surprise No. 1 seed

They deserve it.

Saturday, March 12, 2005

PAC10 Tourney - Cats 'n' Dawgs

I always was a Cat person

Hats off to Yoni Cohen for his "Bubble Watch" column at FoxSportsNet. Check out Yoni's College Basketball Blog for all the latest news.
Corky Simpson had a some nice things to say about AZ's newest rising star, Jawaan McClellan. With more playing time next year, JMac will introduce himself formally to the league, and remind them why he should have at least gotten one vote for the All-Freshman team this year.

Friday, March 11, 2005

Arizona Continues Pursuit of No. 1 Seed

"LOS ANGELES - Arizona practically owns the Pac-10 tournament. This year, the No. 8 Wildcats want to take away more than a trophy...,"
says this wire report, and I'm guessing some washington Huskies are reading this, too. If the Cats can take care of osu tonight and uw gets past stanford, it sets up one helluva rubber game.

Their best shot was the 29 year old who made a shot from half-court and won the car

Not Quite Ready for Prime Time.from the L.A.Times

The Year of the Cat

Nice way to kick off the post-season, whomping up on Cal yesterday. It was particularly nice to see Lute get the whole bench into the game, with quality minutes for Jesus Verdejo, Jawann McClellan, and Kirk Walters. The deeper this team goes into the NCAA tourney the more it's going to need the bench to step up just like it did yesterday. Next up today - osu, after they knocked off the "hometeam" bruins.

More articles: San Francisco Chronicle LA Times more LA Times

btw - I'm firing up the Bracket Challenge, so any reader with $10 and the winning brackets just let me know and I'll get you in the running.

Tuesday, March 08, 2005

Congrats to Ike

Lute managed to bite his tongue when the all-league teams were announced, or at least he was more diplomatic than he has been in the past. Hey....Salim got Player of the Week this week.

Neuheisel's New Hustle

HeraldNet: Neuheisel leaves with $4.5 million after settling his wrongful termination suit against the NCAA and the u of washington. Just like toast, he lands butter-side up again.

Monday, March 07, 2005

Monday morning point guard

Basket is half-empty or half-full for Cats, reports the AZ Daily Star today, kind of an odd headline I thought about a team that just won the PAC10 regular season title outright just 2 days ago. Sure, Saturday's game against asu was close, but it was played in Tempe with Rob Evans' job on the line - again. I'm telling you, it was the switch to the red road jerseys that sparked these guys on.

More hoops here....here.....here......here....

And how happy are we that the Cats didn't play on Sunday this past week, what with all the upsets happening on that day.

Saturday, March 05, 2005

The Mirage in the Desert

That's how Bill Fritter describes the asu basketball program in this article, painting a not-so-rosy picture for attracting a top-level coach, should Evans get das boot this season.
The UA/asu game is on the radio now, and it was just announced that there are plenty of empty seats - in the student section. Guess the kids have cast their vote.

You tell 'um Bill

Evans' status more uncertain than ever............a mirage in the desert....from The Arizona Republic

Friday, March 04, 2005

Angry Olson stirs the PAC10 pot again

An angry Lute Olson took the Pac-10 office to task again this week, this time for not naming Channing Frey the Player of the Week. Maybe it's because we lost to uw, Lute.

Thursday, March 03, 2005

Cats/Devils Deux

The UA/asu basketball game this weekend has much importance to asu than to UA, esp. if the Devils are entertaining any hopes of the NCAA tourney later this month. A loss this weekend and a poor showing in the PC10 tourney next weekend spells doom (N-I-T) for the boys up the road. I'm actually more interested in the side show this weekend - the asu student section vs. Lute. Give 'em heck, coach.