MoMo Jones brought his swagger from New York City thanks to his relationship with Book Richardson, who is vital to the program bringing in East coast talent (US Presswire photo/Chris Morrison)

Check out video of the Arizona-Cal game, including interviews, the most recent Pac-10 standings and a brief look ahead to ASU at our partner site, WILDABOUTAZCATS.com

Random thoughts while wondering about the publicity Arizona will receive next year in New York City with Lamont “MoMo” Jones, Kevin Parrom and Class of 2011 signee Sidiki Johnson playing in the Coaches Vs. Cancer event in Madison Square Garden …

>> Jones made the clutch shots against Cal — again, as he did in wins over UCLA, USC and Stanford previously — and Parrom played his breakout game with 25 career-best points. The Most Valuable Person, however, in the 107-105 triple-overtime thriller is Arizona assistant coach Book Richardson, a Queens, N.Y., native who was instrumental in Jones (Harlem) and Parrom (Bronx) leaving New York City and heading to Tucson, of all places. Arizona coach Sean Miller, knowing Richardson’s value as recruiter and communicator with coaches and parents, has entrusted Richardson to work on some of his West coast targets, including post players Angelo Chol (a Class of 2011 prospect from San Diego Hoover High School) and Brandon Ashley (2012, from Oakland Bishop O’Dowd). …

UA assistant coach Book Richardson

>> The 52 points combined by Jones and Parrom in the thriller Saturday is reminiscent of when two Detroit prep stars — Eric Money and Coniel Norman — followed former UA coach Fred Snowden from Michigan to place a mark on the Arizona program in 1972-73. Norman remains the school’s career scoring average leader (23.9) and Money is at No. 6 (18.6). Their names would not have littered Arizona’s record books, much like Jones and Parrom would not be wearing “ARIZONA” across their chest, if it weren’t for them agreeing to leave a metropolis for the desert. Jones, who produced a career-high 27 points, after the game said to reporters: “You’re not a New York guard, if you don’t want the ball at the end of the clock. Point blank, end of story.” …

>> Jones stands a good chance of being the Pac-10 Player of the Week for the second consecutive week. Trivia: Name the two Arizona Wildcats who have earned that distinction? If you said Sean Elliott and Damon Stoudamire, you are wrong. The only UA players to earn consecutive Pac-10 Player of the Week honors are Steve Kerr and Hassan Adams. Kerr was chosen the league’s top player in consecutive weeks during the 1987-88 season and Adams during the 2005-06 season. Only two players have earned three consecutive player-of-the-week honors and they are: Eddie House of ASU in the 1999-2000 season and Brandon Roy of Washington in the 2005-06 season. …

>> The Wildcats will go for their fourth consecutive road victory in the conference when they play at ASU on Sunday (by the way, ASU sports information specialist Doug Tammaro confirmed with me Saturday night that “plenty” of tickets remain). The last time Arizona achieved four straight Pac-10 road wins was in Lute Olson’s last season of 2006-07. The Wildcats won six of their last eight regular-season games that season, including five straight wins at Oregon State, Oregon, ASU, California and Stanford. …

>>Once upon a time, notching 20 wins in a season meant a certain berth in the NCAA tournament. The Wildcats (20-4 overall, 9-2 in the Pac-10) did just that against Cal — notching their 20th win — but the berth into the NCAA tournament is not yet in hand. Inclusion in the tournament is based on power ratings and strength of schedule, which are favorable for Arizona but the Wildcats must finish strong to clinch a spot in March Madness after a year’s hiatus. At least three more wins and the Wildcats can finish no worse than 12-6 in the Pac-10, which should be good enough to open the door to the NCAA tournament. If history is any indication of how things might go this season, Arizona is in for some grand results. The last time Arizona reached 20 wins this soon — by calendar date and game total — the Wildcats finished with 30 wins. The 2004-05 team that started 21-4 finished 30-7, and the 1997-98 team that won its 20th game on Feb. 5 (the same date this year’s team achieved the mark Saturday) finished 30-5. Can this year’s team reach 30 wins? The Wildcats have seven regular-season games left, including five in the state of Arizona. Then comes three potential games in the Pac-10 tourney and then the NCAA tournament. Why not?

After watching what Jones and Parrom and the rest of the Wildcats did Saturday in Berkeley, nobody can really doubt what they can do.

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 6th, 2011 at 4:22 am and is filed under Sports. Tags for this post: Book Richardson, Coniel Norman, Eric Money, Fred Snowden, Kevin Parrom, Lamont "MoMo" Jones, Sean Miller. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.