Wild About AZ Cats

One of the more interested observers of today’s Red-Blue scrimmage was a player who wanted to lace up his shoes and participate.

Phoenix North senior shooting guard Daniel Bejarano, who has verbally committed to Arizona, enjoyed his experience — with about 19 family members and friends from Phoenix. “But I was so anxious to get out there,” he said.

“It liked being there a lot and seeing everbody, all the players and coaches. One of the things that stuck out the most were the players and how good they are. MoMo (Jones) is really good. That was the first time I saw him play. He was really good at point guard. I can’t wait to play with him.”

Aside from watching the scrimmage, Bejarano also met Detroit Country Day School point guard Ray McCallum (who officially visited the UA campus this weekend) and former UA coach Lute Olson. Bejarano was first recruited to the UA by Olson, but he backed off from the Wildcats and committed to Texas when Olson abruptly retired due to health issues.

Bejarano’s interest in Arizona regenerated when Sean Miller was hired in April. Olson, who recruited Bejarano before any other Division I coach, expressed his condolences to Bejarano because his father was tragically killed in apparent robbery attempt earlier this summer.

“They set up a little room where my family and I could meet Coach Olson after the game,” Bejarano said. “That was really nice. He wished me good luck. It was a good heart-to-heart moment. He’s a great man.”

Bejarano’s meeting with McCallum was constructive. The two know each other from playing in the AAU summer tournaments and elite camps.

“I just told him that I hope he goes to Arizona,” Bejarano said. “I told him Arizona has everything he wants. He told me his visit was going fine so far and that he liked everything.

“To me, everything there, on campus, is nice. That’s the best word to describe it — nice. You can’t go wrong going there.”

Related link: Steve Rivera was courtside to give his observations from the scrimmage.