One barometer for judging the success of a college basketball program is the amount of players a school sends to the NBA. All told, 39 former Wildcats have played in the NBA and ABA. This season, there are 10 ex-‘Cats are competing among the NBA’s best.

GILBERT ARENAS of the Washington Wizards. Dennis Wierzbicki-US PRESSWIRE

GILBERT ARENAS

(AKA Agent Zero, the Hibachi)

WILDCAT YEARS: 1999-00 to 2000-2001

15.8 PPG

NBA CAREER: 10th season, 22.7 PPG

Golden State Warriors (2), Washington Wizards (8)

HOW IT ENDED: Loss to Duke in 2001 NCAA Finals

THE SKINNY: When not injured or suspended, the Hibachi — a three-time all-star — can be one of the hottest shooters in the league.

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JERRYD BAYLESS of the New Orleans Hornets. Derick E. Hingle-US PRESSWIRE

 

JERRYD BAYLESS

WILDCAT YEARS: 2007-08

19.7 PPG

NBA CAREER: 3rd Season, 6.5 PPG

Portland Trailblazers (2)

New Orleans Hornets (1)

HOW IT ENDED: First round exit to West Virginia

THE SKINNY: Sitting behind perennial all-star Chris Paul on the Hornets’ depth chart at guard doesn’t help Bayless’ playing time.

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ARIZONA WILDCAT SPORTS: BEAR DOWN…and BLOG

Former University of Arizona athletes are always making news and not always in traditional mediums. We scoured the Internet and found Wildcats online by visiting these lynx

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PHOTO

New York Jets' punter and ex-Wildcat Nick Folk is leading the NFL in points. Ed Mulholland-US PRESSWIRE

Forgive Nick Folk for cheering ‘hip hip hooray’ for his freshly healed hip. Folk is leading the NFL in scoring (55 points), months after the Dallas Cowboys released the former Arizona Wildcat. He caught on with the Jets this summer after rehabbing the injured hip that dropped him from Pro Bowl kicker to Cowboy castaway.

One week after successfully converting all five of his attempts against the Minnesota Vikings and earning AFC Special Teams Player of the Week honors, the kicker set a Jets’ franchise for longest field goal with a 56-yard boot.

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NEWS

Arizona swimmer Justine Schluntz winning the NCAA’s 20^th Annual Woman of the Year award bears repeating and applause — especially in a sport that often gets left in the wake of other sports. 

Schluntz is among the nation’s elite in the pool and out…even if now the five-time NCAA champ and Rhodes Scholar attends Great Britain’s Oxford University.

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Former Wildcat guard Gilbert Arenas found himself once again pulling out his checkbook this week in the name of disciplinarian charity. The NBA fined the Washington Wizard after Arenas told reporters he sat out the team’s Tuesday scrimmage with an alleged knee injury so teammate Nick Young could see more playing time.

That’s very generous of Agent Zero, who was fined $50,000 – or $2,083 per point that Young was able to score in the bonus play time.

Arenas told ESPN:

“I screwed up again, so I just want to say sorry,” he said. “I wasn’t really thinking that this was going to be another media outburst. It’s like everything I do now, someone, tit for tat, tries to blow it out of proportion.”

I wonder what’s Eating Gilbert…

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TWITTER

“gmorning twitter… its great to wake up in my own bed”

- Umm, Nick…it’s 2:30 in the afternoon. Nick Johnson reveling in the fruits of being a high school senior who’s already inked his letter-of-intent to play basketball for Arizona.

(more…)

ARIZONA WILDCATS SPORTS: BEAR DOWN…AND BLOG

Former University of Arizona athletes are always making news and not always in traditional mediums. We scoured the Internet and found Wildcats online by visiting these lynx

PHOTO

The Arizona Wildcat equipment room days before heading to Pullman. Twitter photo via UA Athletic Director Greg Byrne.

Preparation for game day doesn’t always pertain to players and coaches. The University of Arizona equipment staff is packed and ready to go days in advance off the Wildcats’ road trip to Pullman, Wash., on Saturday to face the Cougars of Washington State.

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NEWS

Former Arizona defensive tackle Rob Waldrop was among 30 players “on the take” from ex-sports agent Josh Luchs, alleges a Sports Illustrated story out this week. The All-American defensive tackle denied the report to TucsonCitizen.com’s Anthony Gimino. Now, Arizona athletic director Greg Byrne has weighed in on the allegations this evening via Twitter:

“Just had a wonderful conversation w/former UA great Rob Waldrop….wanted everyone to know that he absolutely denies Josh Luchs allegations.”

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TWITTER

“Soak. Shave. Stretch. Sleep”

- Wildcat hoopster Solomon Hill laying out the secrets to his success.

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“There is an older lady at the game who thinks she’s Susan Sarandon in Bull Durham.” 

- Ex-Cat and Akron Racer hurler Taryne Mowatt commenting on the fans.

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