Current and former Arizona Wildcats are making news. We’ve got views.
News: The Arizona baseball team sweeps Cal and reaches the midpoint of Pac-12 play at 10-5.
Michael Lev is a senior writer/columnist for the Arizona Daily Star, Tucson.com and The Wildcaster.
Views: After they lost 12-9 at home on March 26 to a New Mexico State team that hadn’t won a road game in about a year, the outlook was grim for Chip Hale’s Wildcats.
They’ve won eight in a row since, including back-to-back Pac-12 series sweeps.
We might look back at the UCLA series — which featured three walk-off wins in a row — as the turning point in Hale’s tenure. Or perhaps it was the day that Hale hired Kevin Vance as pitching coach.
The UA staff’s turnaround has been nothing short of remarkable. After Monday afternoon’s 12-1 nonconference win at Stanford, Arizona has a 3.94 ERA — more than two runs lower than last year’s 5.97.
UA pitchers did not walk a single batter in either of the last two games in Berkeley. They struck out 22 hitters. Is that any good?
Arizona is no longer a one-dimensional team. For the first time in a long time, the Wildcats don’t have to score a gazillion runs to win.
Last year, Arizona had a 2-11 record when scoring between four and six runs. This year: 5-2.
The Wildcats aren’t nearly as good an offensive club as they’ve been. But when you pitch as well as they have, you have a chance to win every game.
I don’t know the terms of Vance’s contract. But if I were Hale, I’d start working to get him an extension and raise right now. He’s worth whatever Arizona is paying him and then some.
News: The UA softball team rallies from a four-run deficit to defeat Utah and win the series vs. the Utes.
Views: Caitlin Lowe’s team really needed that one. If it had gone the other way, Arizona would have suffered its fourth series loss in a row.
Arizona coach Caitlin Lowe awaits the pregame meeting at home plate as the Wildcats prepared to face Lipscomb at the Candrea Classic on Feb. 9 at Hillenbrand Stadium.
The Wildcats were down 4-0 in the fifth inning when they exploded for six runs — highlighted by Allie Skaggs’ grand slam, which gave Arizona a 6-4 lead.
It was Skaggs’ team-leading 10th home run of the season. Her .290 batting average is unusually low (for her), but her walk and strikeout rates are about the same as last year, suggesting she’s had some bad luck. Her BABIP (batting average on balls in play) is just .279, down from .347 last year.
As a team, Arizona is hitting well enough to win most of the time. No Pac-12 team has scored more runs than the Wildcats. Even in league play, they’re averaging 4.8 runs per game.
Arizona also continues to play catch as well as anyone, leading the Pac-12 in fielding percentage for the second year in a row.
Similar to the baseball team, the question coming into the season was how much the pitching would improve. The answer so far? Not that much.
Arizona had a 5.99 ERA in Pac-12 play last season; so far this year, it’s a league-worst 5.41.
Stanford pitcher NiJaree Canady celebrates after a strikeout against Washington during the seventh inning to end a Women's College World Series game on June 4, 2023, in Oklahoma City.
Before last season, Stanford hadn’t reached the Women’s College World Series since 2004. What changed?
The Cardinal recruited and signed pitcher NiJaree Canady. She was the national freshman of the year and leads the country in ERA as a sophomore.
Arizona’s only path back to national prominence is to find its own NiJaree Canady.
News: The UA football team concludes its second week of spring practice under first-year coach Brent Brennan.
Views: I’ve been to half the practices so far. Four quick observations …
It’s been impressive to watch the offense operate. The learning curve has been minimal. Brent Brennan smartly kept a lot of the verbiage in place. When Jedd Fisch introduced his pro-style system in 2021, it was like learning a foreign language for most players. I haven’t heard one person use the “install” excuse on that side of the ball.
Arizona coach Brent Brennan says, as expected for this time of year, the defense has been ahead of the offense.
The offensive line has been a little banged up. But if I’ve learned one thing in all my years covering college football, it’s this: Don’t make too big a deal out of bumps and bruises suffered during spring ball. That unit will be among the best in the Big 12, and I really like the way new OL coach Josh Oglesby operates.
My biggest personnel concern is the defensive line. Arizona lost a ton of good players up front to graduation and the transfer portal. Brennan and his staff have done what they could to replace them, but I don’t see as many playmakers along the D-line, at least as of yet. Syracuse transfer Kevon Darton, who will get here in summer, could be the missing piece.
It’ll be fascinating to see what Duane Akina decides to do with Arizona’s secondary. An argument could be made that nickel back Treydan Stukes is the second-best cornerback on the roster. If you concurrently conclude that sophomore safety Genesis Smith is one of the Wildcats’ five best DBs, do you shuffle the deck and move Stukes back outside?
News: The UA men’s basketball team loses three players to the transfer portal, while the women’s team loses one and gains one.
Views: It’s just the beginning.
As of Monday morning, per On3.com, more than 800 men’s basketball players had entered the portal. It opened March 18. It doesn’t close until May 1.
March Madness, meet April Anarchy.
With NIL money flowing freely, no restrictions on transfers and the NCAA losing every court battle it enters, roster turnover in college basketball is now a rite of spring. If Tommy Lloyd and Adia Barnes are able to retain half their players, that’s a win.
Each program seems to have a solid nucleus. But I’m hesitant to name names because the second you think someone is firmly in place, they jump in the portal. Nothing shocks me anymore in that regard. Even Lloyd loyalist Oumar Ballo testing those waters isn’t that stunning when you think about his potential earning power in the NIL space.
Arizona’s Paulius Murauskas gets squeezed trying to get into the lane against Lewis-Clark’s Anthony Peoples Jr., left, and Davian Brown in the second half of a preseason exhibition matchup at McKale Center on Oct. 20, 2023.
From a UA perspective, it was disappointing to see Paulius Murauskas (men) and Salimatou Kourouma (women) enter the portal because both could have been key contributors here next season.
Murauskas is a knockdown shooter; the ’23-24 Wildcats could have used a guy like that, or so it seemed.
He also might be a tweener — possibly not quick enough to guard wings or strong enough to guard power forwards. Lloyd and his staff observed him in practice a lot more than we did in games.
Kourouma showed great promise as a versatile, all-around player while battling a shoulder injury that prematurely ended her season. Given the struggles her family has endured back home in Mali, Kourouma’s decision to enter the portal is probably financially driven. She needs to do what’s best for herself, and them.
Arizona football coach Brent Brennan, speaking on April 5, 2024, shares what longtime NFL coach Hue Jackson brought to Brennan's first Arizona coaching clinic, which ended Saturday. Brennan said he wanted one main speaker so the UA coaches can have face time with local high school coaches “and start building our relationships with them.” (Justin Spears, Arizona Daily Star)
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