Tucson Citizen.com

Steve Rivera Ventures

So, who had the better career? Shakur or Wise?

by on Mar. 16, 2010, under Sports

So, Anthony Gimino, Javier Morales (Wildaboutazcats.com) and I were sitting around talking shop and Arizona basketball (such that it is) and I ask, “Who would you rather have? Or who had the better career? Is it Mustafa Shakur or Nic Wise?”

Fair questions.

Shakur went 90-41 in his career at UA and had some decent games and was within a whisker of helping his team get to the Final Four in 2005. He was labeled the “Golden Child” by his teammates for never getting yelled at by former UA coach Lute Olson until the latter stages of his career.

Wise committed to UA when he was a freshman in high school. That was a first for Olson. Wise had some incredible games, saving the day three times with last-second heroics this year alone. He finished his career at 76-55.

The two played together when Shakur was a senior and Wise was a freshman, although Wise didn’t play all that much under Olson.

But who would you have rather had to run your team?

Give us your thoughts.

Gimino: Give me Nic Wise

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 16th, 2010 at 10:53 pm and is filed under Sports. Tags for this post: , . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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  • Andy Morales

    um, Shakur was prone to silly and careless turnovers – like dribbling behind his back at mid-court in the final minutes against Illinois for a costly turnover.
     
    Wise did something over and over again that no point guard had ever done before (that I can recall), dribbled the ball off his legs, feet, thigh, head, etc.
     
    It’s a toss up for me although Skakur was just called up for a 10-day contract:
     
    http://www.philly.com/inquirer/sports/88051337.html
     

  • Joe Matz

    Mustafa was a better distributer and defender however Nic was the far superior shooter and just an all around smarter player who came through (more often than not) in the clutch. Based on talent Mustafa should’ve been easily better than Nic, however he never figured out how to put it all together so I’ll take the guy who showed loyalty and determination in sticking with the program through its most difficult years.

  • John

    Numbers on most statistics favor Nic, but I have to think that they’d be even much more in his favor had he had the type of cast to support that Mustafa had around him. 

  • John

    AND had Nic a single coach over 4 years, I imagine he would have developed much further and much faster than he did…

  • http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/wildaboutazcats Javier M.

    After much deliberation Steve, I decided on Nic Wise from a pure shooting and scoring standpoint. Arizona usually could rely on Wise from the perimeter for an important three-pointer or an aggressive drive to the basket. Shakur did  not have that same offensive promise. Yes, he was prone to turnovers (especially late this season) but he showed more overall control than Shakur during the UA careers. With that being said, I saw Shakur  play last summer in the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas and he was much improved. He outplayed James Harden in one game by being aggressive and under control at the same time. He has improved his defense a great deal which has helped his offense — he gets a lot of open looks at the other end off the break. I had to rub my eyes to believe that was really Shakur out there. Congratulations to him for sticking with it and believing in himself when he could have given up. It’s funny. He told me his lowpoint at the UA is when he left — when the Cats lost to Purdue in the first round of the 2007 NCAA tournament and not the Elite Eight collapse vs. Illinois in 2005. That’s the way he is, I guess, always looking forward instead of looking back. Wise can learn a lot from him in that regard.

  • Bob B

    Maybe NOT such a fair question, because they played under different circumstances with different guys and different coaches mostly. But going with the speculation of it,  Nic took care of the ball better, shoots better, and has a better inherent court sense. Mustafa is a late-blooming excellent player. Nic was just developed faster.
    Nic, through all the adversity, PROVED to be one of the top ‘Cats in many ways, including a lot of the intangibles like loyalty, never complaining, never causing trouble, adapting to new coaches, fighting through injuries; the kid was a solid Wildcat.

  • vegasallen

    Let’s retire Shakur’s number!!

  • Bruce Lerner

    Nic seemed to get better of over his time at Arizona whereas Mustafa seemed to get worst over his time at Arizona.   Nic has the edge in most categories.

  • Simon

    I hope the idea of retiring Shakur’s number is a joke.

  • Carlos J. M.

    Not sure Mustafa did any better with one coach – Coach O – than Nic did with 4 coaches – Olson, O’Neill, Pennell and Miller.  Yep, PG by committee would’ve served the ‘Cat program best during the Shakur-Wise eras.  I’m doing my best to be positive here. 

    That Staf has hung in there and may parlay his skills into an NBA career of sorts has to be inspiring to Wise.  Whatever the pride of Philly is doing to get there may hold the key for the pride of Houston in getting to where he wants to be some day.  Moreso maybe even than all the coaches Nic has had and is bound to have soon. 

    BTW, does anyone know if these two guys ever talk with each other, especially now?  If TucsonCitizen.com and/or WildaboutAzCats.com ever sat these two ‘Cats down and had a little give and take time together with them, that would make for an interesting read.  Indeed.  And it would be a great time – the perfect time – to settle the debate with a little one-on-one.  Or, do I hear a call for some two-on-two, with both PGs picking their own former ’Cat sidekick to play with them?  That way the true PG skills, like passing, would come into play.  Let’s utilize the opportunity as a fundraiser for some worthy cause.  Tell me this wouldn’t be fun!

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