Kyle Fogg earned a nice honor last week when he was named to the All-District IX team by the United States Basketball Writers Association. The team is for players in the states of Arizona, Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon and Washington. What is very interesting, the team is mostly made up of lightly recruited players. Of the 10-man team that includes players from the Pac-12, Mountain West, Big West and West Coast Conference, only Washington’s Terrence Ross and Tony Wroten were big time, national recruits…
How weak is the Pac-12 this year? Kyle Fogg and Solomon Hill were both first team all-conference picks. Not that they were not deserving, but I am not sure either player would have started on any of the Wildcats’ Final Four teams and they would not have started on many of the Elite Eight teams, if any.
Fogg, who has had a great four-year career, probably would not get the nod over players like Craig McMillon, Khalid Reeves, Reggie Geary, Miles Simon, Gilbert Arenas or Salim Stoudamire. It’s conceivable that Hill could have supplanted Reggie Geary in the 1994 team’s line-up if Lute Olson wanted a more traditional small forward. He is actually a similar player to Owes and was about the same size as Bennett Davison.
That being said, both players have been really good this season and deserved the honors they received…
Maybe I am myopic and crazy, but I believe that if the Wildcats win two games in the Pac-12 Tournament, they will get serious consideration for an NCAA Tournament bid. They would still likely be on the outside looking in, but they would get consideration. If ESPN’s Joe Lunardi is to be believed, the Cats are in a group of about 12 teams competing for the final four bids. Right now he has the Wildcats behind Northwestern, Seton Hall, Drexel, Xavier, NC State, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, Miami and Iona. He also has inspiring Colorado State and South Florida head of them.
Admittedly, the Wildcats lack quality wins, good computer numbers and now have a bad loss, but they are finishing strong (will be 7-3 and 9-3 in their last 10 and 12 games) and would be a 23-win team from a major (though maligned conference.)
A quick look at the other Bubble teams reveals these tidbits:
Northwestern: Losing record in the Big-12 and just six games over .500 overall. Have been blown out by 20+ four times. Have just one good win, beating Michigan State and beat fellow bubble team Seton Hall. Only “bad” loss was to Minnesota, but the Gophers beat them by 23.
Xavier: just 11-11 after an 8-0 start. Loses to Oral Roberts, LaSalle and UMass. Heading into A-10 Tourney they are 6-4 in their last 10. Of course, they have wins over Vanderbilt, Butler and Cincinnati.
Miami: Only quality win is an overtime win over Duke. Lost by 16 to Memphis, 17 to North Carolina and 16 to FSU.
Seton Hall: Losing record in a good Big East. Just 5-5 in their last 10. Have lost to Northwestern, Villanova, Rutgers and DePaul and went to overtime with Mercer, Have been beaten by 20+three times, including a 28-point loss to 12-19 DePaul. Do have good wins over Georgetown, and VCU.
Tennessee: Tennessee is the hot team, winning eight of nine, but were 10-12 before that. They are 10-6 in the SEC, but have gotten fat bottom six teams in SEC (7-1 against bottom seven, 3-5 against top six). Have lost to Oakland (who Arizona beat), Austin Peay and College of Charleston, but beat Florida (2X) and UConn and have played Duke, Memphis (2X) and Kentucky.
To further show how skewed the RPI can be, Colorado State is boosted by “good wins” over Montana and Denver, while the Cats are penalized for beating UCLA.
To me, the Cats should be on the outside looking in, but I’d feel much better if teams like Miami, Drexel and Texas kept them out, not teams with losing conference records and blowout loses to bad teams…
Arizona Wildcats signee Kaleb Tarczewski has been selected to the USA Junior National Select Team, which will play in the Nike Hoop Summit against an international 19-and-under team next month.
Tarczewski is one of 10 players on Team USA. The game will be played April 7 at the Rose Garden in Portland, Ore., and will be telecast by Fox Sports Net.
Tarczewski, a 7-footer who is part of Arizona’s top-ranked recruiting class, finished his career at St. Mark’s in Southborough, Mass., last weekend with a state title…
Arizona back-up quarterback and wide receiver Richard Morrison will wear No. 8 this season, the same number Nick Foles wore last season.
“I told Nick Foles I was going to take after him,” Morrison told the media after Monday’s practice.
Speaking of Pac-12 honors, two Wildcat women’s players were honored by the league. Junior guard Davellyn Whyte was named All-Pac-12, while Aley Rohde was honorable mention All-Freshman.
The Wildcat women finished 12th in the Pac-12, going just 3-13 in league play. To make matters worse, they opened the season by going 11-1. The Cats are currently on a four-game losing streak and have lost 12 of their last 13 games…
Aley Rohde’s brother Taylor has been a great player for Alaska-Anchorage averaging over 19 points a game this season. Why is this significant? Rode was one of over half a dozen ASU players to leave the program over the past two years…
Arizona pitcher Lucas Long had a nice first start for the Wildcats. The freshman hurler pitched into the sixth inning, not allowing any runs, in a 6-0 win over UC Davis on Tuesday. Lucas is now 2-0 for the 9-2, seventh ranked Wildcats.
- Brad Allis
- Arizona Insider - WildcatSportsReport