Former UA guard Mustafa Shakur played in his first NBA game on Jan. 22 this year, nearly four years after completing his Wildcat career (US Presswire photo/Rafael Suanes)

So Josiah Turner and Nick Johnson are Five-Star recruits as rated by Rivals.com in its most recent rankings released Wednesday. Is that good news or bad for UA coach Sean Miller?

Turner, a point guard from Sacramento who finished his season at Winston-Salem (N.C.) Quality Education Academy, and Johnson, a guard-wing from Henderson (Nev.) Findlay Prep, become the third Wildcat duo to be listed as Five-Star prospects in the same year.

In 2003, forward Ndudi Ebi of Houston was rated the No. 4 prospect overall and guard Mustafa Shakur was rated No. 12. In 2007, guard Jerryd Bayless of Phoenix was the No. 13 prospect and forward Jamelle Horne was rated No. 21.

Turner is rated No. 11 by Rivals.com in the Class of 2011 and Johnson is at No. 18. Generally, the top 25 or 26 recruits garner Five-Star status.

Bayless, who only played one season at Arizona, has enjoyed the most success in his career, compared to Ebi, Shakur and Horne.

Of course, these rankings are always suspect. Keep in mind that former UA forward Derrick Williams, a potential No. 1 NBA draft pick, was not among the Rivals.com Top 150 prospects in 2009.

Ebi never played for Arizona, opting for the NBA draft instead. He was the 26th overall pick in the 2003 draft but his career never flourished at Minnesota, which waived him after two seasons. He was subsequently waived by Dallas in the next preseason camp and has only played in Europe since.

Shakur started all but two of his games at Arizona during his four-year career, but he was not drafted by NBA clubs in 2007. A point guard with decent height at 6-4, Shakur was co-MVP of the 2003 EA Sports Roundball High School Classic. The other MVP? LeBron James.

Shakur toiled in Europe for a couple of years and played in the NBA Developmental League before signing a 10-day contract with Oklahoma City at the end of last season. He returned to the D-League this season, playing for Tulsa and Rio Grande, before Washington signed him to a 10-day contract on Jan. 22. He played in his first NBA game that day, almost four years after leaving Arizona.

He finished the season with the Wizards, averaging 7.2 minutes a game in 22 games.

Bayless’ only season at Arizona in 2007-08 was tumultuous personally as he felt let down when Lute Olson took a leave of absence and was replaced by interim coach Kevin O’Neill. The 2007 McDonald’s All-American still averaged 19.7 points and four assists per game in the Wildcats’ 18-13 season. He was the 11th pick overall in the 2008 NBA draft, taken by Indiana, which traded his rights to Portland.

The Blazers traded him to New Orleans in October, and a month later, he was shipped to Toronto in a five-player trade.

Olson was openly disappointed that Bayless did not stay in Tucson for at least two years. Olson ultimately retired, however, in what would have been Bayless’ second season. When I asked Bayless during the 2009 NBA Summer League if he would attend Olson’s retirement ceremony that August, Bayless, with disdain on his face, shook his head and told me “Nope.”

“Jerryd said all along he wanted to stay here two years,” Olson said at the time. “But then you get the agents working on the kids and parents all year. You might have the kid in your controlled environment for some time, but when (outsiders are) on the parents, you have no idea what’s going on.”

Horne completed his four-year career at Arizona last month, struggling to find his niche during most of his time in Tucson. He ultimately became a bench player as a senior, relinquishing his starting role to junior-college transfer Jesse Perry. Horne will likely go undrafted by the NBA in June, but will probably have a chance to play overseas.

Arizona’s other Rivals.com Five-Star recruits last decade did not flourish in Tucson as they expected.

Jawann McClellan (2004) went undrafted after suffering through personal problems and injuries during his four-year career. J.P. Prince (2005) transferred to Tennessee after his freshman season. Chase Budinger (2006) left for the NBA after three years but was not selected until the second round.

Brandon Jennings (2008) signed a national letter of intent but never qualified academically. He played in Italy for a season before being selected in the first round of the 2009 NBA draft

NOTES: Kentucky is the only school with four signees ranked in Rivals’ top 25, and only two other programs have more than one. Arizona has Johnson and Turner. North Carolina also has two (No. 8, forward James McAdoo; No. 13, forward P.J. Hairston). … Other UA recruits Angelo Chol of San Diego Hoover and Sidiki Johnson, who finished the school year at Brooklyn (N.Y.) Wadleigh, are Four-Star prospects by Rival. Chol is rated No. 73 overall in the Class of 2011 and Sidiki Johnson is at No. 84.

UA senior Jamelle Horne is consoled by teammate Derrick Williams as they walk off the court following the Wildcats' 65-63 loss to UConn in the Elite Eight (US Presswire photo/Gary A. Vasquez)

No qualms or questions here about Derrick Williams and Jamelle Horne taking three-pointers in the final two attempts of Arizona’s season Saturday.

In fact, knowing Williams and Horne had a chance to beat Connecticut should allow for a calm night of sleep for Arizona followers, despite the 65-63 loss in the Elite Eight game in Anaheim. Those who began watching the Wildcats in the postseason (ahem, national-media types) will argue that Arizona, namely Williams, should have attacked the basket with only a two-point deficit.

They don’t realize, or choose to consider, that Williams and Horne were mostly effective from three-point range all season. Entering the game, Williams and Horne were a combined 48.5 percent from three-point range — 48.5 percent! — and they are not shooting guards by any stretch. They are technically power forwards. For Arizona, those three-pointers are high-percentage shots, practically no-brainers.

And wasn’t it Williams who kept Arizona alive in the NCAA tournament by shooting 5-of-6 from three-point range against Duke in the Sweet 16? Nobody yelled “No! No! No!” when Williams tried a 25-foot three-pointer at the buzzer before halftime against the Blue Devils. He nailed it, to no one’s surprise really, especially those who know something about Arizona basketball.

When Kobe Bryant takes a step back and nails a long-range jumper in crunch time, is the first reaction: Why didn’t he take the defender off the dribble? Well, only if he misses, that’s when the cynics emerge.

Bryant can call his next shot, overriding Phil Jackson, because of his MVP status with the Lakers. Without him, how many NBA titles would the Lakers and Jackson have?

Williams similarly has earned that carte blanche status with Arizona and Sean Miller. Without Williams, the Wildcats do not have a winning record.

That’s not to indicate Williams can do whatever he pleases without consequence. That’s not a concern. Williams is not reckless and he generally plays within the team framework.

Telling: When Williams stepped back and launched his three-point attempt with 8 seconds left, Miller remained kneeling by the Arizona bench, motionless. He did not throw his arms up as if to suggest, “No! No! No!” None of the assistant coaches or his teammates flinched either.

“Derrick popped out after he set the second screen, which is fine,” Miller said. “He’s won about 15 games, and to have him shoot that shot, which I don’t know if it was a great one, but for him with the ball in his hands from three in that situation is something we all can live with.”

Think of it this way: A Williams’ three-pointer was converted 60 percent of the time this season. Any interior player would love that percentage for a shot near the basket; Williams just happened to be in a different comfort zone. Note to CBS’s Greg Anthony, who picked Arizona to lose Memphis in the first round: Williams taking that three-pointer was just as effective as him trying to maneuver around UConn’s bigs.

Columnist Bill Plaschke of the Los Angeles Times wrote about the last sequence this way: “On the Wildcats’ final possession after a timeout, Williams threw up yet another nutty three-point try with seven seconds remaining, then teammate Jamelle Horne missed an open three-pointer at the buzzer. If you were wondering why Williams did not take the ball inside, you weren’t the only one. Said UConn Coach Jim Calhoun about the final stretch: ‘We were happy when Derrick Williams went outside.’”

Calhoun’s happy that Williams missed; if the shot goes in, he’s talking about how effective Williams plays all over the floor. A nutty three-pointer? That classifies as a heave or a wild one-handed throw like Washington’s Venoy Overton tried against North Carolina.

As far as Horne’s attempt goes, it was appropriate that Kyle Fogg made the split-second decision to kick the ball out to him. Fogg could have tried a mid-range jumper, but Connecticut’s players swarmed to him, leaving Horne wide open. The shot looked good on Horne’s release, just like the three-pointer he swished a minute earlier.

Thinking back to three years earlier, when Horne made forgettable late-game snafus as a sophomore, the prevailing thought would be, “Why is Horne in the game?” In a symbolic move, Miller inserted Horne, the lone senior, for the last sequence instead of playing decent three-point shooters Jordin Mayes, Kevin Parrom or Brendon Lavender.

“I think everybody in the room knows I should have made that shot,” Horne is quoted as saying. “It’s just going to be hard to sleep on that one for a while. I think it’s going to be hard to sleep for everybody.”

Sleep easy, Horne. They all don’t drop.

For Horne to put himself in a position to take the potential game-winning shot in his last attempt as a senior shows how far he has come. He never disappeared. He persevered. Horne can walk into any Tucson establishment today and receive a standing ovation. Who would have guessed that to be the case three years ago when he intentionally fouled that Alabama-Birmingham player with the game tied and time running out?

Lost in all the “should haves” from those who have not followed Arizona basketball for most of the season is the plain truth that the Wildcats had no business being in the Elite Eight.

Nobody thought Miller would coach Arizona to a regular-season Pac-10 title in his second season after finishing 16-15 overall last year. Nobody.

Thirty wins for only the fourth time in school history. Thirty?

Not a soul could have predicted Williams would play his way into being the potential No. 1 pick in the NBA draft when this season started. Not a soul.

Who could have predicted the Wildcats would not only beat No. 1 seed and defending national champion Duke, but pound the Blue Devils by 16 points in the Sweet 16. Who?

Talk about nutty. That’s nutty.

PREVIOUS MATCHUP ANALYSIS:
>> THE STARTING PERIMETER PLAYERS
>> STARTING FRONTCOURT PLAYERS

A look at what to expect from the reserves Thursday at approximately 6:45 p.m., Tucson time, at Anaheim between No. 5-seed Arizona (29-7) and No. 1 seed Duke (32-4) in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament:

BENCH

CONNECTICUT

UConn reserve center Charles Okwandu originally signed a national letter of intent with Arizona in 2005 but visa problems prevented him from playing with the Wildcats (US Presswire photo/David Butler II)

What’s going right: UConn coach Jim Calhoun calls on three players the most off his bench — freshman point guard Shabazz Napier (who figures to replace Kemba Walker as the starter next season), sophomore forward Jamal Coombs-McDaniel and 7-foot center Charles Okwandu. These three are all talented. Napier averages 3.2 assists in 23.6 minutes a game. He also is second in steals with 62 behind Walker’s 73. Coombs-McDaniel is an inside-outside threat of a forward who has similar numbers to starter Roscoe Smith. Okwandu, a senior who is a one-time Arizona recruiting target, averages 2.9 points and 2.8 rebounds a game and is second on the team with 47 blocked shots. A Nigerian, Okwandu originally signed a letter of intent with Arizona in 2005 but visa problems prevented him from arriving in Tucson.

What’s going wrong: Coombs-McDaniel, Napier and two other reserves — freshman wing Nies Giffey and shooting guard Donnell Beverly — have struggled from three-point range shooting 31.4 percent (82 of 261).

UConn coach Jim Calhoun said Friday: “We talk as coaches about chemistry, right before your eyes you’re seeing a bunch of young guys who truly believe in each other and that’s a common myth, and I have them believing that no one gave them any respect early which is true and you have to earn respect all along the way, and they’ve done that.”

ARIZONA

UA point guard Jordin Mayes, shown here driving against fellow freshman Kyrie Irving of Duke, is making a living mostly from three-point range hitting 47.1 of his attempts from there (US Presswire photo/Jayne Kamin-Oncea)

What’s going right: Reserve point guard Jordin Mayes has yet to miss a three-pointer in the NCAA Tournament, making all six attempts. He has made 9 of 13 field-goal attempts (69.2 percent) and all three of his free throw attempts. He made only 44 percent of his free throw attempts before March Madness. Kevin Parrom continues to shoot a good percentage (51.2 percent) and he is third on the team with 75 assists. Jamelle Horne has only one turnover in 45 minutes played in the NCAA tournament. Brendon Lavender has more points (10) than starter Jesse Perry (nine) has in the tourney despite playing only 19 minutes compared to 67 by Perry. And Kyryl Natyazhko may not be posting significant numbers, but his steady, intelligent play on defense has been a lift for Arizona.

What’s going wrong: Mayes can be feast or famine behind three-point line, actually shooting better from there than inside the stripe. He shoots a very respectable 47 percent (39 of 83) from three-point range. Inside the arc, he is shooting 41.5 percent (27 of 65). As he gains more experience, he will be more confident penetrating and becoming more of a multi-dimensional threat. He is on his way to being that way now as a freshman.

UA coach Sean Miller said Friday: “One of the things you can’t lose sight of is we play two point guards, the split isn’t 35 minutes to 5, Jordin Mayes has played in all games we’ve played, and he’s averaged in most regards 14, 15 minutes where MoMo (Jones) is at 25. Great example is Jordin’s play against Texas is one of the reasons we were able to come here to California. He had a career high of 15, 16 points, made nine 3s in a row. So some of what makes us a good team is MoMo and Jordin compliment each other very well. Some of the strengths that Jordin has on offense are very different than MoMo’s, and it’s that forty minutes that we try to evaluate our point guards on, and if you look at it from that perspective, I would agree that that position is the most important. When that position plays well for us, that’s one of the keys to us winning.”

Who has the edge? Arizona. Napier is a better-than-average playmaker for UConn and Coombs-McDaniel and Okwandu can be productive on the boards. Arizona’s reserves, however, have contributed enough to be the reason why the Wildcats have advanced, as Miller said, in this tournament. The steady play of Mayes, Parrom, Horne and Natyazhko, especially, is a result of Miller frequently playing 10 players each game most of the season.

NEXT BLOG: THE COACHING MATCHUP AND THE FINAL OUTCOME

Arizona forward Derrick Williams overpowered Duke's Kyle Singler with 32 points and 13 rebounds in the UA's 93-77 Sweet 16 win Thursday in Anaheim (US Presswire photo/Gary A. Vasquez)

If somebody was lost at sea since 2007 and returned to hear the news about Arizona qualifying for the Elite Eight on Thursday, what would the reaction be?

“That’s great to hear. Lute’s finally got them back where they belong. Great to see it happen after that collapse in 2005 against Illinois. When is he hanging it up? What is he 80?”

You were lost only four years ago, but since then, Lute Olson took a leave of absence and eventually retired. In the meantime, a couple of coaches replaced him as caretakers, each for a season, and then they finally hired this young, 42-year-old guy named Sean Miller.

Arizona is in the Elite Eight and Lute is not the coach? What?

Believe it. Nobody, not even Miller, can say they are not surprised. Last season, the Wildcats failed to make the NCAA tournament … (interrupted)

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Didn’t make NCAA tournament? Don’t they go every year?

Until Miller’s first year last season they went 25 straight years. But it’s not his fault the streak was snapped. The interim coaches — Kevin O’Neill and Russ Pennell — did not actively recruit in the two years after Lute left. A lot of turnover occurred as Miller brought in five of his own guys last year — three at the last minute because the USC coach left amid turmoil and those guys shifted their allegiance to Arizona. Miller told the Tucson media that he has a three-year plan to coach Arizona back to prominence.

Hold on. Arizona lost Olson, used two interim coaches, hired Miller … lost out on some recruits, all in the last four years … didn’t make the NCAA tournament last year. … and this guy Miller, in only his second year, has Arizona in the Elite Eight?

Like I said. Believe it. The Wildcats also won the regular-season Pac-10 title this year.

C’mon. Being lost at sea is troubling enough for my brain to process.

In my opinion, Miller’s coaching performance and the Wildcats’ 93-77 dominating win over No. 1 seed and defending national champion Duke on Thursday in Anaheim ranks as one of the program’s top five victories in their history.

Not to beat my own drum, but I have followed the Wildcats since Fred Snowden coached in the early 1970s. I sat in McKale Center with the 6,000 or so fans in Olson’s first year at Arizona in 1983-84 after the embarrassing year of Ben Lindsey as head coach. Yes, I also attended most of the games when Lindsey’s team went 4-24.

I covered the Wildcats for The Arizona Daily Star during their historic run through the NCAA tournament in 1997. I have watched probably more than 1,100 Arizona basketball games in my lifetime (I turn 44 in July).

Considering the state of the UA program the last three years, it is a no-brainer to me to place the win over the Blue Devils and Mike Krzyzewski in the Top 5 category of significant victories.

The honor roll:

1. 1997 Sweet 16 vs. Kansas. Arizona’s 85-82 win over No. 1-ranked Kansas, which was only one overtime loss from a perfect season, has no equal. The Jayhawks featured four future pros in Paul Pierce, Raef LaFrentz, Scot Pollard and Jacque Vaughn. The Wildcats placed fifth in the Pac-10 that year and had nine regular-season defeats before advancing on their magical title run.

2. 1997 Championship vs. Kentucky. The Wildcats’ 84-79 win in overtime over Kentucky is their greatest accomplishment because it is a national title with the eyes of the world watching. I stick to my guns, however, about the win over 1997 juggernaut Kansas as the top victory in the program in terms of difficulty and significance.

3. 2011 Sweet 16 vs. Duke. This 93-77 drubbing may not rate as high as the top two, but as far as overall performance — from Derrick Williams’ dominance to Lamont “MoMo” Jones’ playmaking to Jamelle Horne’s spirited play and Solomon Hill’s and Kevin Parrom’s shooting and defensive play — no other performance in Wildcat history might compare. Again, the circumstances of how far Miller has taken this recently faltering program in such little time has this game rated high. If Arizona beats UConn on Saturday to reach the Final Four, that victory could be No. 2 as the most significant in the program’s history because this hard-to-believe story will get richer.

4. 1988 Elite Eight vs. North Carolina. To many of the Wildcats’ followers this 70-52 win over the Tar Heels is the most prideful victory in Arizona history. Arizona advanced to its first Final Four in school history only five seasons after Lindsey’s debacle, and the Wildcats did it at the hands of Dean Smith and the vaunted Tar Heels. The two most popular UA hoops players in school history — Steve Kerr and Sean Elliott — are part of this historic team.

5. 1997 Final Four vs. North Carolina. Former UA player and assistant coach Josh Pastner told me after the Wildcats defeated the Tar Heels 66-58 that the Wildcats chanted “Play on Monday! Play on Monday!” before the game. The Wildcats achieved playing on Monday in the national title for the first time in school history behind the steady play of freshman point guard Mike Bibby, whose awe-inspiring play along with Final Four MVP Miles Simon in the 1997 run, is rivaled now by what we’re seeing from Williams.

Honorable mention: Arizona’s 88-76 victory in 1986 behind Elliott late in the season at UCLA enabled the Wildcats to clinch at least a share of the Pac-10 title, which they later won outright. The UA began its Pac-10 prominence under Olson only three years after the Wildcats finished 1-17 in the league under Lindsey. Adding spice to the story, the win came at the hands of John Wooden’s old program and standard-bearer of the conference. … And, of course, victories that deserve mention are those that enabled the Wildcats to advance to the 1994, 1997 and 2001 Final Fours (Louisville, Providence and Illinois, respectively), and the win over Michigan State in the 2001 Final Four that set up a national championship showdown against Duke, which the Blue Devils won. … The sentimental favorite of many long-standing Arizona fans is the 1976 Sweet 16 win over UNLV, a 114-109 overtime classic in Los Angeles. That moved the Wildcats to their first Elite Eight appearance, where they would lose to host UCLA. At any rate, the thriller over the Running Rebels and Jerry Tarkanian in 1976 is clearly the best win in the Snowden era.

PREVIOUS MATCHUP ANALYSIS: THE STARTING PERIMETER PLAYERS AND THE STARTING FRONTCOURT PLAYERS

A look at what to expect from the reserves Thursday at approximately 6:45 p.m., Tucson time, at Anaheim between No. 5-seed Arizona (29-7) and No. 1 seed Duke (32-4) in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament:

BENCH

DUKE

Duke freshman Kyrie Irving is projected by some NBA draft boards as the No. 1 overall pick this year (US Presswire photo/Andrew Synowiez)

What’s going right: The Blue Devils go a legitimate eight deep with the most publicized reserve of the NCAA Tournament — freshman sensation guard Kyrie Irving. The 6-2 playmaker, out three months with a right toe injury before returning last week, will make people in Cleveland think less of LeBron James when he is selected as the No. 1 draft pick in April. The last time the Wildcats faced an NBA No. 1 selection was Derrick Rose of Memphis on Dec. 29, 2007, when the Tigers beat Arizona (coached in the interim by Kevin O’Neill) 76-63 in Memphis. Rose had a subpar game, however, with only 12 points and five assists with six turnovers. This is what the experts at DraftExpress.com wrote about Irving before he injure his toe in December: “Productive, efficient, unselfish, exciting—there’s really no shortage of ways to describe the way Irving has performed thus far. He’s managed to take a NCAA Tournament championship team—ranked as the best offense in college basketball—and make them even better, acting as their main facilitator, shot-maker and go-to guy. Dominant when needed, but still deferential enough to keep all of Duke’s many other options happy (thus far), Irving has fit in as seamlessly as possible, making the transition to the NCAA-level look effortless.” … Wow. … Sophomore guard Andre Dawkins can start for most teams in the country. He has made at least one three-point field goal in 29 of Duke’s 36 games and has nine games with three or more made threes. He has scored in double figures 12 times with a career-high 28 points vs. Bradley. Ryan Kelly (6-11, 234) adds additional size to the Blue Devils’ spelling the 6-10 Plumlees (Miles and Mason). He started 27 games this year. A proven shot-blocker, with three or more swats in eight games.

What’s going wrong: Not so much going wrong, but how soon will Irving make getting this right? — Getting back in the flow of Duke’s offense and rotation. At least for Duke this is not his first game and the Blue Devils know, by what coach Mike Krzyzewski said this week, that Irving will play “significant minutes” against Arizona. Dawkins scored a bunch early in the season, including 28 against Bradley, but went through a 10-game funk going into the NCAA tournament in which he didn’t reach double figures and was shut out four times. Kelly, who ranked No. 9 in the ACC with 1.5 blocks per game, has none so far in two NCAA tournament games.

Duke guard Nolan Smith said Wednesday: “Having Kyrie is a huge benefit for our team because he is so talented. Even though he’s missed a lot of time, he was a great teammate while he was out. … Adding him back into the lineup and getting back into the swing of things here in the tournament has been very easy. We’ve had a lot of time before we headed out here to practice and he started to look more comfortable.”

ARIZONA

Arizona freshman guard Jordin Mayes has made nine consecutive three-pointers in postseason play (US Presswire photo/Gary A. Vasquez)

What’s going right: The play of Arizona’s bench, especially in the first half against Texas, catapulted the Wildcats to victory over the Longhorns. The UA bench outscored Texas’ reserves 18-2 at one point. Jordin Mayes (16 points) and Brendon Lavender (8) scored more points combined vs. the Longhorns than they had since December. Mayes is fast becoming Arizona’s Mr. March, easily playing his best basketball of the season since the Pac-10 tournament started. He not only has made nine consecutive three-point attempts since the Pac-10 tourney, he is averaging 8.4 points and has only four turnovers in 75 postseason minutes. The sure-handed play of Arizona’s reserves in the postseason is overlooked. Kevin Parrom, Jamelle Horne, Kyryl Natyazhko, Mayes and Lavender have combined for 32 assists and only 15 turnovers in the five postseason games.

What’s going wrong: Parrom’s ankle sprain suffered against Texas kept him out of most workouts in a short week of practice. However, it appears the injury is not as serious as feared at first. Horne, who is playing potentially the last game of his career each time, is becoming too foul prone. In postseason games, Horne has more fouls (22) than field goals (19) in 16.7 minutes a game.

UA coach Sean Miller said Wednesday: “If you look at our team today, all are significant in their contributions and headlined by Derrick Williams and we were fortunate to add Mayes and (Jesse) Perry to that group. Now you’re talking about seven players and Kyle Fogg and Jamelle Horne and Brendon Lavender and Alex Jacobson, those four guys who were at Arizona before we came in, their attitude has been great and they’ve contributed as well.”

Who has the edge? Slight edge to Duke because of Irving’s talent and the question surrounding Parrom’s ankle. As a productive unit and what it means to a team’s success, Arizona’s bench rivals that of Duke, especially if Parrom is completely healthy. A good indication of how Arizona’s night will end is observing the performance of Parrom and Mayes. Obviously, a player’s stats are better in a team’s win as compare to win a loss occurs. But Parrom’s and Mayes’ contrast in a win vs. a loss is most pronounced. They shot 51.1 percent from the field (137 of 268) and a scorching 47 percent (63 of 134) from three-point range in the UA’s wins compared to 36.9 percent from the field (24 of 65) and 32.4 percent (12 of 37) from three-point range in the UA’s seven losses. Arizona fans should know by halftime how these guys are performing because Miller freely substitutes.

NEXT BLOG: THE COACHING MATCHUP AND THE FINAL OUTCOME

An Arizona fan makes a reference to the incident that caused the suspension of Kevin O'Neill. Photo by Stephen Dunn/Getty Images

LOS ANGELES — An Arizona fan lofted a “Hotel Bar” direction sign Friday night, in full view of the large scoreboard screen, drawing laughter from the Staples Center crowd.

The joke ended in the stands and never impacted the Wildcats during their 67-62 victory a team without USC coach Kevin O’Neill, who was suspended by the school for improper conduct after a bar-hopping Thursday night.

O’Neill and his wife, Roberta, allegedly got into a verbal confrontation with UA booster Paul Weitman, a close personal friend of former UA coach Lute Olson. This occurred after O’Neill was observed drinking alcoholic beverages and carrying on conversations with Arizona fans at an establishment adjacent to Staples Center, where he and his wife live in a suite.

After UA coach Sean Miller left the interview room following the Wildcats’ win over USC, he mentioned that O’Neill’s absence was never a distraction for his team.

“I don’t know if it was for them, but it wasn’t for us,” Miller said. “We were focused on what we had to do to win the game.”

Miller did not specifically address the Wildcats in the locker room about O’Neill, which turned out to be a sound move. The 16th-ranked Wildcats (27-6) played like they did not take anything for granted.

To a player in the locker room, the Wildcats believed USC was affected by O’Neill not being around. They also claimed not much was spoken among themselves about O’Neill’s absence before the game.

“No, no,” UA senior Jamelle Horne said with a smile. “We all know K.O., so it was nothing too far out of line.”

When Arizona beat USC 82-73 at McKale Center on Jan. 29, Horne pointed at O’Neill after making a basket. O’Neill responded to Horne’s action after the game, telling reporters, “I’m waiting for the NBA career to take off.”

When Horne was asked if he had a comment about O’Neill given their history — it is no secret O’Neill was not fond of Horne when coaching Arizona in 2007-08 — Horne did not bite.

“I wouldn’t say it’s a history,” he said, continuing to smile. “He was a coach in my past. He did what he did at Arizona. He’s moved on and done great job with USC this season. Hopefully, he can get back and coach his team in the tournament.”

Arizona guard Kyle Fogg said without hesitation that he could tell O’Neill’s absence set USC back.

“Definitely,” Fogg said. “I am sure it was a distraction for them. They’re used to seeing him on the bench; it had to affect them.”

He recalled while at Brea Olinda (Calif.) High School having to play a game without coach Bob Terry, who was ill.

“It was a lot different without him there,” Fogg said. “Mentally, it’s just not the same.”

USC center Nikola Vucevic quipped, “It was different. When K.O.’s there, he yells a lot and we did not hear a lot of yelling today.”

He looked over at O’Neill’s replacement for the game, Bob Cantu, who smiled sheepishly on the other side of the interview podium. Cantu joked that O’Neill told him, “You better win.”

Cantu was forced to be the replacement head coach at the junior-college level after head coach Marvin Menzies (now at New Mexico State) was suspended for a game after an ejection. He shook his head in bewilderment of that episode as well. Nevertheless, he said he felt prepared to handle the coaching role.

“When you have a good team of great kids who are coachable, it makes your job really easy,” Cantu said.

Although the frontcourt duo of Vucevic and Alex Stepheson never took control, the Trojans (19-14) were competitive to the end. Vucevic had 16 points and 12 rebounds but he never appeared to get in the flow of the offense as wing Marcus Simmons looked for his shot more, scoring a career-high 20 points. Stepheson finished with eight points and eight rebounds. He attempted only seven shots.

They clawed back back from a 12-point deficit with 11:58 left in the game to trail by 3 on a couple of occasions late in the game. Derrick Williams‘ two free throws with 3 seconds remaining sealed it.

“If you’re on the (NCAA tournament selection) committee, and we were on the border,” Cantu said, “you’d have to say, ‘Well, this team played well without their head coach. We feel like they can compete in the NCAA tournament.’”

Derrick Williams may be in the forefront at Arizona as the Pac-10 Player of the Year but he stands behind teammates such as Jesse Perry (33), Lamont Jones (12) and Kyle Fogg (21) (US Presswire photo/Chris Morrison)

Never before has a Pac-10 Player of the Year from Arizona been the only Wildcat recognized on the all-conference team.

Derrick Williams was the only UA player selected among the Pac-10′s elite this week by league coaches. That differs from when Sean Elliott, Chris Mills, Damon Stoudamire, Mike Bibby and Jason Terry earned the conference’s player of the year honor.

Elliott was joined on the all-Pac-10 team in 1987-88 by Steve Kerr and Anthony Cook. A year later, Cook again joined Elliott as an all-conference pick.

Stoudamire and Mills were part of the 1992-93 all-Pac-10 team. Two years later, when Stoudamire was the league’s co-player of the year with UCLA’s Ed O’Bannon, UA forward Ray Owes was also part of the all-conference team.

Bibby in 1997-98 was on the all-Pac-10 team with Michael Dickerson and Miles Simon — one of the best perimeter groups in conference history. Terry was accompanied by A.J. Bramlett and Michael Wright in 1998-99.

At least Lamont “MoMo” Jones was an honorable mention choice this year.

Williams’ lone representation of the Wildcats among the Pac-10′s elite only adds fuel to the general misconception of the national media that the Wildcats are a one-man band. As far as perception goes, it does Arizona no good that Williams is scoring 18.8 points a game, more than the next two players are averaging combined. Jones and Kyle Fogg average 18.4 points.

The balance underneath Williams, however, does Arizona a lot of good.

Note to the national media who form their opinion by looking at statistics: Arizona should be looked at more as a team with multiple components. How talented and effective those components are on a game-by-game basis is up for debate. But truth be known: Arizona is not Derrick Williams and the 12 Dwarfs.

My case:

• In Pac-10 games in which Williams was not the leading scorer, Arizona went 6-2. The most significant victory among those six was the triple-overtime 107-105 win at Cal in which Williams had only 12 points before fouling out and Jones (27 points) and Kevin Parrom (25) combined for 52.
• The evolution of Arizona’s role players in the Pac-10 season was huge considering that in the non-conference schedule, Williams was not the leading scorer only once. That was at BYU in a humbling 87-65 loss on Dec. 11. Jones led the Wildcats with 20. Williams finished with 13.
• Five different players other than Williams led Arizona in scoring. Parrom’s hot hand that resulted in 20 points at Oregon on Dec. 30 carried the Cats to a 76-57 victory. Jamelle Horne‘s uplifting, team-leading 16-point performance against Stanford on Jan. 9 was just what Tucson needed a day after the shooting tragedy of U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and other victims. The Cats held off the Cardinal 67-57. Fogg’s 26 points at ASU in a 67-52 win on Feb. 13 occurred after Jones and Parrom led the Cats over Cal. Finally, the UA clinched the outright regular-season Pac-10 title behind Jones’ 17 points against Oregon State (70-59 win) and Fogg’s 20 against Oregon (90-82 victory).
• In games in which Williams was not the leading rebounder, Arizona was 10-1. That does not include games in which Williams tied another Wildcat for the rebounding lead. In those games, Arizona was 2-1.

Ironically, Arizona is very dependent on Williams, as the scoring and rebounding averages and all-conference selections suggest, but coach Sean Miller‘s balance from players No. 2 to No. 9 is what earned him the Pac-10 regular-season title and coach of the year honor.

Another reason why Miller is deserving of the Pac-10 coaching honor: Williams was the only Arizona player among the top 20 scorers and rebounders in the league. Moreover, Arizona did not have a player among the league’s top 10 players in assists, steals, blocked shots and three-pointers made.

But in the most important category — victories — Arizona was better than anybody else.

This is arguably Arizona’s best overall team performance, rivaling the school’s first Final Four team of 1987-88. I am not writing that this team is as talented as that one — not even close — but in terms of overall team contribution, this group is as good as it gets.

Please follow me on Twitter: @JavierJMorales
I will also be in Los Angeles for the Pac-10 tournament, starting with Arizona’s game Thursday against either Stanford or Oregon State.

USC coach Kevin O'Neill chats with Pac-10 ref Randall McCall during a recent game. O'Neill has the attention of the refs heading into Thursday's game against Arizona after he accused them of giving Derrick Williams preferential treatment (US Presswire photo/Kirby Lee)

Aw shucks, USC coach Kevin O’Neill is at it again, but I’ll give him a pass because we in the media love his candor.

Wait, give him a pass? Isn’t that what he’s insinuating the Pac-10 refs do about Derrick Williams?

O’Neill, opening up to a couple of L.A. reporters Wednesday, said this about Arizona’s All-American candidate: “He is the most protected dude I’ve seen since Michael Jordan.”

Williams should consider the comparison an honor because, let’s face it, any time a basketball player is mentioned in the same breath with Jordan, it can’t be all that bad. Credit Jordan and now Williams (if you believe O’Neill) for putting themselves in a position where officials think about calling a foul instead of swallowing their whistle.

Orlando All-Star center Dwight Howard leads the NBA with 625 free-throw attempts, an astounding 149 more attempts than the next guy, LeBron James (who is accused of receiving the most star treatment by NBA refs).

To steal O’Neill’s line about Williams: Does a player draw a foul against Howard for simply walking across the court? Or could it be that Howard is stronger, quicker to the ball and more assertive than other players, therefore creating more opportunities to draw fouls?

The same can be asked about Williams, whose 187 free throws made is 52 more than the No. 2 player in the Pac-10 in that category — Jared Cunningham of Oregon State.

Who’s fooling whom? Twitter can be enlightening, not just a bunch of random, worthless thoughts and updates. I received this Tweet Tuesday night from a gentleman named Ted Lyons (@TedLyons), who wrote one of the most astute lines I’ve come across on Twitter: “K.O. (O’Neill) gets the Jordan treatment from (ESPN’s) Andy Katz. Don’t see him complaining about that.”

So true. If an ESPN radio listener knew nothing about O’Neill, and his 219-220 career record in 14 years as a collegiate head coach, he or she would think the former Arizona assistant and interim head coach is the next Bobby Knight. Case in point: Why did Stephen A. Smith have O’Neill on his ESPN national radio show last week after the second-tier Trojans just came off a loss at home against Oregon?

Why? Because O’Neill has found his niche with the media.

Smith asked O’Neill as much about the NBA as he did about college basketball because of their partnership when O’Neill coached in the NBA and Smith gravitated toward him for quotes and information. Reporters love O’Neill for speaking his mind and his accessibility.

Some of us in the media laugh off what O’Neill said about the refs’ favoritism for Williams and the question he asked about Jamelle Horne last month after Arizona defeated USC at McKale Center: “I’m still waiting for his NBA career to take off.” That’s O’Neill being O’Neill, we in the media like to say.

A good question to ask: Is O’Neill a good guy to reporters because of his shortcomings as a coach — a way to lessen the criticism — and would he be like this if his teams were consistently ranked in the top 20? None of the high-profile coaches I’ve come across — Lute Olson, Mike Krzyzewski, Dean Smith, Bill Self, Roy Williams, etc. — have been the type to shoot the breeze with the media after practice.

Not that they are bad guys. They just don’t find the need to do that on a routine basis.

But what about all the nice things O’Neill says about Arizona? Of course, O’Neill has a soft spot for Arizona, which he said is a sleeper for the national title during the interview with Stephen A. Smith. O’Neill named his son Sean after Sean Elliott. Steve Kerr and Elliott are ardent O’Neill supporters.

However, some of what O’Neill says can be calculated because he knows Arizona remains on the schedule Thursday night and potentially in the Pac-10 tournament. It’s better to butter up Arizona than tell Stephen A. Smith that his Trojans match up favorably with the Wildcats, isn’t it?

O’Neill sure knows how to work the crowd (the media), just like Williams is impeccable with those giving refs.

O’Neill has stoked enough of a fire inside Horne and now Williams and perhaps the Pac-10 refs who will call the game Thursday. Don’t think for a second that Arizona’s assistant coaches and teammates will not remind Williams about the comments about his so-called preferential treatment.

Williams Tweeted on Tuesday night: “I’m going for the school record again Thursday … 23 free throws attempted just because!”

Matchups (Tipoff 4 p.m., Tucson time)

PERIMETER

Isaiah Thomas won the Pac-10 Player of the Week honor last week, his third such award this season (US Presswire photo/Kyle Tirada)

WASHINGTON

What’s going right: Isaiah Thomas, a 5-9 junior who can match up with any point guard in the country, is coming off a subpar game for him with only 11 points and six assists in Washington’s 79-62 win at ASU. But last week at home, he averaged 22.5 points and 5 assists and shot 56 percent from the floor in a sweep of Cal and Stanford (garnering Pac-10 Player of the Week in the process). Thomas is a Jason Terry and Damon Stoudamire kind of a player, leading the Pac-10 in assists (5.7 a game) while ranking in the top five in scoring (17 points a game). Go figure: Terry and Stoudamire have helped his development.
What’s going wrong: Junior shooting guard Scott Suggs, who was shooting 45.5 percent from three-point range (40 of 88), is out until perhaps the Pac-10 tournament because of a sprained medial collateral ligament in his left knee after colliding with Thomas 3 minutes into ASU game. The Huskies already lost former UA recruit Abdul Gaddy, a sophomore point guard out for the rest of the season after tearing the ACL in his left knee during practice on Jan. 4

ARIZONA

What’s going right: The backcourt combination is helping Arizona by not only scoring, but in all phases. A game after Lamont “MoMo” Jones had a season-high six assists against ASU, Kyle Fogg registered a season-high seven assists against Washington State Thursday. They also combined for 10 rebounds against the Cougars, a season high for them. Their increased contribution is indicative of how players other than Derrick Williams have stepped up their effort since the turning point of the Pac-10 season.
What’s going wrong: Jones is 3 of 15 from the field in his last two games after going 9-of-18 in the triple-overtime thriller over California. The cold shooting does not seem to faze or frustrate Jones, who never lacks confidence. Getting others involved is paramount anyway.

Who has the edge? When Arizona first played Washington last month, this was a no-brainer because of Thomas’ exploits and the way Jones and Fogg were inconsistent. This is what I wrote in this space before Arizona played at Washington: If the Wildcats win its because either Fogg or Jones — or both — break out of their shell. Consider the shell shattered to pieces. Suggs’ injury — senior Venoy Overton (more of a distributor and defensive player) is slated to start in his place — will affect the Huskies’ perimeter presence on offense. Advantage goes to Arizona’s ever-improving guard combination.

FRONTCOURT

Washington senior power forward Matthew Bryan-Amaning has averaged 9.1 rebounds in Pac-10 games this season (US Presswire photo/James Snook)

WASHINGTON

What’s going right: Seniors Matthew Bryan-Amaning at power forward and Justin Holiday on the wing are two credible candidates for the All-Pac-10 team. Bryan-Amaning notched his eighth double-double of the season against ASU with 22 points and 12 rebounds and produced a career-high three assists with a season-high four blocks. Holiday, perhaps the most underrated player in the league, is in the Pac-10′s top 10 in three-point field-goal percentage (40.8), steals (1.3 a game), and blocked shots (0.9).
What’s going wrong: Aziz N’Diaye, a 7-foot, 260-pound, sophomore, can alter shots and block them with 1.3 a game but he is not an overwhelming force on the boards. He has only four games with double-digit rebounds and is averaging only 5.3 a game despite his size and athleticism.

ARIZONA

What’s going right: Derrick Williams has 506 points this season, becoming the 35th player (accomplished 50 times) in Arizona history to score 500 or more points in a single season. He is just eight points shy of 1,000 for his career. If he scores eight Saturday he will become the 45th player in school history to achieve 1,000 career points, and just the seventh sophomore to accomplish that feat (thanks to the UA sports information office for that info).
What’s going wrong: This has been written before but it bears repeating, especially after the way Solomon Hill started to assert himself at the beginning of the second half against Washington: Hill has played 56 more minutes (almost a game and a half) than reserve Kevin Parrom but he’s attempted one less field goal than the fellow wing player (Parrom is 38 of 88 from the field while Hill is 31 of 67)

Who has the edge?: Bryan-Amaning and N’Diaye are confident heading into this game because of how they performed against the Wildcats last month (Bryan-Amaning with 18 points, seven rebounds and three blocked shots and N’Diaye with eight rebounds in a season-high 27 minutes). Also, Holiday is a game-breaker who made 8 of 11 field-goal attempts for 22 points against Arizona. Bryan-Amaning and N’Diaye, defensively, are superior than other headline Pac-10 frontcourt duos (such as UCLA’s Reeves Nelson and Joshua Smith and USC’s Alex Stepheson and Nikola Vucevic). Will Williams and Jesse Perry match their intensity and effort? Holiday stacks up favorably against Hill, who can learn a lot from how Holiday plays in all facets of the game. Advantage: Washington.

BENCH

WASHINGTON

What’s going right: Freshman 6-5 wing player C.J. Wilcox is starting to heat up. He has 40 points over his last three Pac-10 games (after only 22 in the previous nine games). He had 16 points on 4-of-9 shooting from three-point range against ASU Thursday. Last month, he was scoreless against Arizona in eight minutes.
What’s going wrong: With the injuries to Gaddy and Suggs, Washington coach Lorenzo Romar does not have many options off the bench. Freshman wing Terrence Ross and junior forward Darnell Gant have shown flashes of strong play but can they make an impact in a game like this after playing limited roles?

ARIZONA

What’s going right: Arizona senior Jamelle Horne will play his last hyped game in McKale Center — the season-ending affairs with Oregon and Oregon State won’t rate like this one — and visions remain of his 22-point game against the Huskies last year in Tucson. Horne has attempted 29 of his 51 field goal attempts in Pac-10 games from three-point range, but has used that to his advantage. He is shooting 48.3 percent from beyond the arc and is due for a big game from there. Since going 6-for-6 from three-point range against Cal and Stanford in the first Pac-10 games at McKale this season, he is 1-for-8 in Tucson against ASU, UCLA, USC and Washington State.
What’s going wrong: Arizona junior reserve guard Brendon Lavender made some key baskets at Stanford and Cal a couple of weeks ago, scoring a combined 13 points in those games. He has not scored in Arizona’s last two games at ASU and against Washington State on Thursday. He was 0-for-2 from the field in those games, playing only a total of 16 minutes.

Who has the edge?: Parrom can provide a difference against Holiday with his size and physical play. The game features two of the better freshmen in the league with Wilcox and Arizona’s Jordin Mayes, who is accustomed to these type of pressure-filled games with his big-city Los Angeles high school background. The perimeter shooting of Parrom, Mayes and Horne (they are shooting a combined 42.4 percent from three-point range) is usually reliable and capable of helping the Wildcats win. Advantage: Arizona.

COACHING

Some Washington fans criticized this space before last month’s game because I rated Arizona’s Sean Miller ahead of Romar. I stand by that rating. Romar is the dean of Pac-10 coaches (in terms of continuous tenure) with nine consecutive years in Seattle. Romar has coached the Huskies to three Sweet 16 appearances. Miller, coaching a mid-major such as Xavier, has gone as far as the Elite Eight with less of a talent pool to recruit from (as opposed to Seattle and the Pacific Northwest). Romar has also consistently scheduled a less than stellar non-conference slate, which should not be happening considering he has the Husky program on solid ground. Miller says he will subscribe to predecessor Lute Olson‘s theory of playing the best to be the best (and boost that RPI) after he gets the program to where it is as competitive as Olson’s golden years.

OUTCOME

The Husky faithful rightfully chastised me for picking Arizona to upset Washington in Seattle (my only off-base pick this year). The Wildcats lost 85-68, but the game was still in doubt with a little more than six minutes remaining (the Cats trailed 67-61 with 5:54 left). Bryan-Amaning admitted during Washington’s postgame radio show that score did not reflect how closely contested that game was overall. Now the scene shifts to McKale Center, where Arizona is 14-0 this year and hosting its first “White-Out” in school history. Washington’s athletic department quoted Thomas saying “I can’t wait” in terms of playing in what will be a raucous crowd and national TV audience with ESPN. How will the UA players, who have never played in a game of this magnitude in their Wildcat careers, respond? With only four losses in 26 games, Arizona has not beaten itself much this year. That should continue Saturday with Miller’s no-nonsense influence. Arizona 86, Washington 79.

WildAboutAZCats.com and another partner — SteveRiveraVentures.com — have a promotion this season with Tino’s Pizza in Tucson. During any UA men’s hoops game, order any large pizza (dine-in or carryout) get a discount of $2. Tino’s Pizza was voted as the Best Eastside Pizzeria by the Tucson Weekly last year. If you take advantage of this opportunity at Tino’s save your receipt and mail it to: TINO’S PIZZA / WILDABOUTAZCATS.COM CHALLENGE, c/o Javier Morales, P.O. Box 531418, Henderson, NV 89053 (include your full name, address and phone number). The person who spends the most during this promotion over the UA’s 18-game Pac-10 schedule wins a free Lute Olson-autographed “UA Basketball Vault” book (valued at $50)

USC forward Nikola Vucevic claims the Trojans lost Saturday to Arizona because they played like the opposite sex (US Presswire photo/Kirby Lee)

More random thoughts while wondering when that huge mug shot of Alex Jacobson will be added to those of Arizona coach Sean Miller and the rest of the Wildcats in the Zona Zoo at McKale Center. …

>> Comments by USC post player Nikola Vucevic suggesting that the Trojans lost 82-73 because they “played like women” were made at least 10 minutes after a cool down period following the game. He had enough time to think clearly enough that such a comment was unnecessary. “I felt like we played like women,” Vucevic told reporters. “We didn’t play hard at all. Every single one of us just played like women.” Is this 2011 or 1971? Comments like that are so outdated and unwarranted in this day and age, especially when women’s basketball is covered more by the national media than ever before. Wonder how much grief Vucevic will get from USC women’s coach Michael Cooper and some of the Trojans’ women’s basketball players? Maybe not much. After all, it was Cooper, who a few minutes after beating UCLA — not losing to the Bruins — last year told the media: “My opening statement is [expletive] UCLA.” Classy. USC athletic director Pat Haden must make a stand about Vucevic’s comment, much like Arizona should expect the same from Greg Byrne if one of UA’s athletes made a similar statement. …

>> Not being in the hallway interviewing USC coach Kevin O’Neill myself, I don’t know the full extent of how he reacted to one of his former players — Jamelle Horne — pointing at him and smiling in the first half after making an acrobatic shot while getting fouled. But according to reports, O’Neill said he did not see Horne point at him and then finished by saying, “I’m still waiting for his NBA career to take off.” Both Horne’s action and O’Neill’s comments were uncalled for Saturday. It’s no secret they did not get along when Horne was a freshman and O’Neill was the interim coach. Horne and his parents were not keen on the idea of O’Neill becoming the full-time coach at Arizona and they contemplated a transfer if that happened. Horne, now a senior, supposedly took issue with how he played sparingly under O’Neill. Also, O’Neill is not one to hold back his comments about players in practice. …

>> UCLA and USC mostly utilized man-to-man defenses against Arizona, which resulted in Lamont “MoMo” Jones having “the best weekend of his (UA) career,” Miller said in the KCUB (1290-AM) postgame radio show. Jones, who consistently took his defender off the dribble, scored 34 points in the sweep behind a 12 for 17 shooting performance from the field. He also had five assists with three turnovers and five rebounds. Miller and freshman backup Jordin Mayes were impressive as a point guard tandem. “Our point guards combined for25 points, three assists, and only one turnover (against USC),” Miller said. “That’s really great for us. … It’s tough to expect a freshman to play point guard, but Jordin has been working hard in practice, and he’s very coachable. His high school program really helped him bridge the gap, and now he is light years ahead of how he was in November and December. Anyone can see that he is really hitting his stride right now. For Momo, I think this was his best weekend this season. He was aggressive and took care of the ball.” The most important element for a team with postseason aspirations is its backcourt play overall. The performance of Jones and Fogg (eight points and six assists against the Trojans) are finally providing some hope for Miller in that regard. …

>> Arizona did not exactly perform like Yankees stopper Mariano Rivera against UCLA and USC. The Wildcats’ victories this weekend were the equivalent of winning by four runs but after allowing the bases to become loaded. The UA still won by 11 against UCLA and nine against USC but Miller shudders to think if Arizona was on the road clinging to a 5-6 point lead in the waning minutes. “There was a little bit of déjà vu from the UCLA game tonight,” Miller said. “For our guys, when we’re up double digits, we have to protect the ball, and play smarter defense. USC had a 10-0 run in the last 2:30, which also happened against UCLA. We talked about it after that game, but obviously we didn’t correct that tonight. We have to finish strong, and we can’t let this keep happening. It’ll be even worse if we’re up by five on the road, and our opponent goes on a run like this. We need to get better at protecting the lead at the end of the game.” Credit UCLA and USC for also not packing it in, but the mental lapse of the Wildcats is a warranted cause for concern. Arizona does not want its coach to say in February that “we can’t finish it off,” like Miller did Saturday. …

>> Miller acknowledged during the postgame press conference that “when February comes, teams start to fracture.” How will Arizona handle being in a Pac-10 title race? The Wildcats have not been in a close race for the conference title since they won it in 2004-05 with a 15-3 record, one game better than Washington. Most of the current Wildcats were in middle school at the time. With its 7-2 record in the first half of the Pac-10 season, the Wildcats will be favored to win against everyone except perhaps Cal in Berkeley next week, Washington at home and UCLA in Pauley Pavilion. So, at worst, the Wildcats should be expected to finish 13-5 in the Pac-10. How will they hold up to those expectations? …

>> Derrick Williams scored 20 points, which included a 3-for-3 performance from three-point range, despite a bandaged hand that protected his sprained pinkie. Williams is now 24 of 34 from three-point range, an astounding 70.6 percent. Gary Clark of Wake Forest led the nation before Saturday shooting 64.8 percent from three-point range (35 of 54). NAU’s Cameron Jones is next at 57.9 percent (22 of 38). In order to qualify, a player must participate in 75 percent of his team’s games and attempt at least two three-pointers a game. Williams has played in all 22 games, but he is 10 attempts shy of qualifying for the national leader statistical category. …

>> And finally, Miller ended his press conference Saturday by essentially saying that when he grew up in Pittsburgh he always had the successful Steelers to count on amid the dreary, cold weather. “All you got is the Steelers,” he said with a smile. The Steelers play Green Bay next week in Super Bowl XLV and Miller will be glued to the tube. One of Miller’s assistants, James Whitford, hails from Cheesehead Country — Madison, Wis. Wonder if a friendly wager is in the works? …