Derrick Williams jammed a lot into two years.
Photo by Gary A. Vasquez-US PRESSWIRE

Derrick Williams had his final press conference as a college basketball player on Wednesday. He talked about his draft projections, the potential lockout and finishing school.

There was one thing he didn’t say that he should have:

That’s how a short-timer does it.

How does Williams’ two-year career rank among the Arizona Wildcats’ other NBA draft early entrants?

This isn’t an attempt to discuss the sports morality of going pro early. I don’t know who had what mouths to feed, or who couldn’t keep his grades up, or who wasn’t enjoying his coaches, teammates or being broke.

It also isn’t about individual awards, stats or records. My fan currency is championships. What did you help your team win?

I didn’t include the guys who left after their junior season because in this day and age a three-year player may as well be a fifth-year senior.

In reverse order of achievement, here’s how the UA’s youngest NBA draftees stack up:

#6 – Jerryd Bayless, 2008 freshman
Freshman year: 7th place in the Pac-10, one win in the conference tournament (in the 7-10 play-in game) and a loss in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

Arizona’s only one-and-done to date was a part of the Cats’ lowest Pac-10 finish in 25 years, first losing conference record in 24 years, and lowest win total in 21 years. Not the way to build a legacy.

For the record, I don’t have a problem with one-and-done as a concept. If the rules say you can get paid after one year and you’re good enough to get paid, so be it. Just do something in the one before you’re done. Carmelo Anthony going pro? Let me give you a ride to the airport. Kyrie Irving? Maybe you should stick around and for another 11 games.

#5 – Marcus Williams, 2007 sophomore
Freshman year: 4th in the Pac-10 and one win each in the Pac and NCAA tournaments.
Sophomore year: 3rd in the Pac-10 and a complete oh-fer in the postseason.

In addition to the team’s poor showing, this one was strange in that no one was heartbroken when Williams left because everyone wanted Chase Budinger to take over as the starting small forward. It’s hard to be remembered when they’re trying to forget you before you’ve left.

#4 – Andre Iguodala, 2004 sophomore
Freshman year: Pac-10 champs (17-1 record), first-round loss in the Pac-10 tournament but made the Elite Eight.
Sophomore year: 3rd in the Pac-10, one win at Staples Center and a first-round loss in the NCAAs.

Iguodala’s win resume is built on the 2003 season but he wasn’t a starter on that team. Seniors Jason Gardner, Luke Walton and Rick Anderson led the way with help from stars-in-training Salim Stoudamire and Channing Frye.

2004 was Iguodala’s year to shine but the triple-doubles don’t make up for spending his final semester sending out “Will you draft me? Check Yes or No” cards.

#3 – Derrick Williams, 2011 sophomore
Freshman year: 4th in the Pac-10, first-round loss in the Pac-10 tournament, no national tourney of any kind.
Sophomore year: Pac-10 champs, two Pac-10 tournament wins and the Elite Eight.

Major bonus points for being The Man on his final team. Thirty wins and a highlight reel that stretches to Sierra Vista are a great way to build memories.

#2 – Gilbert Arenas, 2001 sophomore
Freshman year: Pac-10 champs, one win in the NCAA tournament.
Sophomore year: 2nd in the Pac-10 and the NCAA championship game.

Four Wildcats were drafted after the 2001 Final Four run but Arenas was the only underclassman. UA fans have every right to believe if he was 100% healthy he would have been the difference in the title game against Duke.

#1 – Mike Bibby, 1998 sophomore
Freshman year: National Champions.
Sophomore year: Pac-10 champs (17-1 record) and the Elite Eight.

The ’98 season ended in disappointment but the Cats could’ve gone 0-31 that year and Bibby would still be at the top of this list. When you play a key part on the team that achieves your school’s most prized athletic accomplishment, you live forever.

It’s interesting that Derrick Williams and Mike Bibby have similar individual resumes. Both were the Pac-10 Freshman of the Year followed by a sophomore campaign that included winning the Pac-10, going to the Elite Eight, taking home the Pac-10 Player of the Year award and being named a consensus All-American.

The gargantuan difference is in Williams’ freshman year the Cats missed the tournament for the first time in 26 years while in Bibby’s first season he cut down a bunch of nets.

No Wildcat fan is going to hold that against Derrick Williams though. He will be remembered as the player who helped make Arizona Basketball matter again…

Even after Sean Miller finds his Mike Bibby.

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Scott Terrell says thanks to the winners. Follow along on Twitter and Facebook.

Kevin O’Neill sees his UA wins disappear.
Tucson Citizen photo

The Lute Olson Era has finally ended.

We thought it ended March 16, 2007, the date of Olson’s final game as coach. Or maybe you preferred March of 2009 when the last of Lute’s former assistants said goodbye. But it turns out the true final day of Lute Olson’s direct influence on Arizona Wildcat Basketball was July 29, 2010, the day the NCAA handed out punishment for the violations committed beginning in 2006.

It wasn’t supposed to end this way.

When you’re writing the final chapter in a legend’s career you’re looking to have him go out on top. Exit with a bang. Parades and speeches and all that.

For a while it looked as though it might happen. Even after the collapse against Illinois in the 2005 Elite Eight (in hindsight the mortal wound to Lute’s program) it looked like Coach O would have one last shot at glory.

The 2008-09 UA hoops team was supposed to feature Brandon Jennings, Jerryd Bayless, Chase Budinger, Jordan Hill and Nic Wise. You can do a lot of damage with four future NBA players in the same lineup.

But instead of driving the float in Lute’s parade Bayless went pro after one year, Jennings went pro after zero years, and Olson’s health forced him to go unpro.

When the program started slipping Lute started dabbling in the dark side of recruiting, asking a booster group to fund a shady tournament for prospects. He turned the Rebounders into Offensive Rebounders.

As a result Kevin O’Neill officially has zero coaching wins at Arizona. It’s fitting, even though none of the violations were committed under KO’s watch. The Russ Pennell season was a no-pressure feel-good year when everyone knew what was going on. Lute Olson was gone, the assistant coaches were going to be gone, and the two best players were heading for the draft. The nothing-to-lose crew went on a surprise Sweet 16 run.

O’Neill’s lone season was just the opposite. Lute was on a leave of absence and no one knew why or for how long. It was a year of confusion and frustration. And now the record books show it’s a year of all losses.

The official stat ledgers also show that the Cats didn’t have a 25-year NCAA tournament streak after all. This would have been great information to have a year ago so the UA faithful didn’t have to spend the entire season worrying about losing something that didn’t exist.

It retrospect it’s good that the Wildcats’ streak didn’t extend another couple years and break North Carolina’s record. Losing the second-best mark is embarrassing but getting stripped of an all-time record would have been a disaster. USC football wouldn’t be nearly as shamed if Reggie Bush had finished second in the Heisman voting.

Lute Olson’s script had gripping exposition and a thrilling climax. He just couldn’t figure out how to finish it.

There would be no storybook ending. Bobbi’s team came up one win short in 2001. A final Final Four slipped away in 2005. Now the final chapter of a hall of fame career is one of infractions and sanctions.

A Storey book ending.

This isn’t the conclusion anyone wanted but it could have been much worse. The UA doesn’t have to take down any banners. It doesn’t have to disassociate itself from Lute Olson in any way. Kevin O’Neill’s record and Jamelle Horne’s stats take the fall, Sean Miller cleans up the mess and Arizona keeps its basketball legend.

One last rebound for Lute.

In sports you’re always looking for people who have it. The “it” that separates good from great, and stars from superstars.

The Arizona Wildcats‘ ace pitcher Kurt Heyer has a healthy dose of It.

Scroll down for Jerryd Bayless’ strikeout.
Photo by Rob Schumacher/The Arizona Republic

When you’re rebuilding with young players you want to see potential stars. Anybody can develop into a contributor, but you’re not going to win big without big-time players. UA basketball fans have hope that a return to prominence is on the horizon because of the play of freshman Derrick Williams.

BatCat fans should feel just as good about the future of Kurt Wolfgang Heyer.

Friday night’s stat line said it all. Eight-and-two-thirds innings, two earned runs, 14 strikeouts and just one walk. And this wasn’t another game with Northern Colorado. This was the same Washington State team that took two of three from ASU a week ago.

After the game I had to wait my turn as Heyer got his picture taken with the Girl Scout troop in attendance. When you see his youthful energy you’re reminded that, oh yeah, this is a 19-year-old kid who just happens to throw a baseball really fast.

Heyer said he didn’t want to come out of the game but he was happy his roommate, Augey “Big Bird” Bill, was able to come in and get the save.

It was the type of starting performance that easily brought back memories of Preston Guilmet’s 2007 season when he posted a single-game high of 15 strikeouts on the way to being named the Pac-10 Pitcher of the Year.

Guilmet came at you from straight over the top; Heyer has a ¾ arm angle. Guilmet would attack the bottom part of the strike zone and then get hitters to chase his split-finger fastball in the dirt. Catcher Dwight Childs would spend a good portion of his night blocking pitches coming in on a hop. Heyer doesn’t force Jett Bandy to get nearly as dirty but he has just as impressive a command of the strike zone. Did we mention the 14-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio on Friday?

After the game coach Andy Lopez said Heyer is further along than Guilmet was as a freshman. Heyer has more velocity than Guilmet did as a rookie, and Kurt’s second pitch is more advanced.

Perhaps the best news for the fans in the stands is Heyer is not a pace-around-the-mound kind of guy. He’s always standing on the rubber and ready to go. Who doesn’t love a two-hour-and-15-minute college baseball game?

Heyer said he was aware of his strikeout total and he wanted number 15 to finish the game. He did not have a running mental total of his pitch count but said he felt fine and wanted to go the distance. You have to admire his competitive fire but when it comes to the toil on his arm I’m going to worry for him. 130 pitches is 130 pitches and it’s a well you don’t want to drink from too many times.

I understand it’s hard to pull a guy who’s still hitting 92 on the gun. I know that the Cats don’t exactly have a dominant bullpen. I realize that no one wants to interrupt greatness.

All this is not to say that Heyer needs to strike out 14 every game and land on this year’s All-America lists. I fully expect there to be some speed bumps as young Kurt makes his first pass through the Pac-10. A bunch of ranked teams are still to come so don’t be shocked if Heyer’s ERA doesn’t remain just a hair above 2.

But whatever happens the rest of 2010 shouldn’t keep anyone from dreaming about what the next two years have in store. We’ve already seen enough to know that It is there, and It will be fun to watch.

Get in line behind the Girl Scouts.

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It’s Game 1 of the Phoenix/Portland series in the first round of the NBA playoffs. The Blazers are up by three with 12.2 seconds left. Former Wildcat Jerryd Bayless steps to the line to try and seal the victory.

Clang.

Clang.

How did it make you feel?

It didn’t bother me at all. If you have a favorite pro team you have to get used to rooting against ex-Cats sometimes. If you can’t stand the Spurs you want Richard Jefferson to have an off night, but normally you don’t feel good about it. This was different.

I’ve been wondering how I would I feel about Bayless as his NBA career progressed. Now I know: I don’t.

It’s not that I have anything against him personally. I wasn’t stomping around and cursing the day he declared for the draft. It’s just that we don’t have any ultra-fond memories of his eight months on the UA campus. He didn’t really do anything. Sure he scored a lot of points but the Cats didn’t win a thing with Bayless leading the way. No marquee victories. No NCAA tournament wins. Not even a single win against ASU.

That’s always been my thing with early-entry players. Go ahead and take the NBA money, just have enough competitive pride to do something at the college level first.

Carmelo Anthony? Enjoy that fat paycheck. Kevin Love? Cha-ching! Mike Bibby? See you at the jersey retirement ceremony.

Jerryd Bayless? Eh.