FOLLOW JAVIER MORALES ON TWITTER AT @JavierJMorales

RELATED LINK: Analyzing Arizona’s recruiting classes since 1972

Arizona coach Sean Miller has a high-profile recruiting class and adequate returners that would soften the blow of a potential departure of Derrick Williams to the NBA after his sophomore season (US Presswire photo/Jason O. Watson)

Arizona coach Sean Miller has a potential top five recruiting class to soften the blow if Derrick Williams foregoes his last two years with the Wildcats to enter the NBA draft and hires an agent.

What did former coach Fred Snowden, bless his soul, have in mind in a similar situation in 1974 with the threat of losing prolific-scoring sophomores Eric Money and Coniel Norman to the NBA?

This is what was written by Steve Weston of the Tucson Citizen near the end of Snowden’s second season at Arizona on March 2, 1974:

No. 1 on most (recruiting) lists this season is 6-11 Moses Malone from Petersburg, Va. “We hope to have him visit,” said Snowden. “Of course, he’d be a great asset to our program.”

A great asset? How about a validation for a national championship?

Moses, a 13-time NBA All-Star and Hall of Famer, never took that recruiting visit to Tucson, although he reportedly became interested in Snowden and the Wildcats after watching them play New Mexico in Albuquerque that season. He signed a national letter of intent with Maryland but eventually went straight from Petersburg High School to the ABA in 1974.

Money and Norman, meanwhile, were chosen in the NBA draft that year. Money was taken in the second round (the 33rd pick overall) and Norman was the first pick in the third round (37th overall). That equates to early-second round selections today because the number of NBA teams has increased from 18 then to 30 now.

How did the Wildcats respond the following season after they finished 19-7 and failed to reach the postseason in the final year with Money and Norman? They actually had a better season, finishing 22-7 after losing to Drake in the championship game of the defunct National Commissioner’s Invitational Tournament (which featured teams that finished second in their respective conference).

The Wildcats excelled behind All-Western Athletic Conference frontcourt players Bob Elliott and Al Fleming, and a solid recruiting class that included playmaker Gilbert Myles and burly forward Phil Taylor.

Sports Illustrated, noting the Wildcats would take on a more physical look without Money and Norman, rated the UA No. 16 that year in its preseason Top 20. Snowden wanted more of a fearsome defensive presence after the loss of his star guards, who combined for more than 40 points a game in their UA careers.

Taylor, SI wrote, “bears a strong resemblance to Sonny Liston.” Snowden, known for his hyperbole, told the magazine that the team would be his best at Arizona after he went 35-17 in his first two seasons in Tucson.

Snowden proclaimed that Arizona would be “one of the five best in America by season’s end.” He looked like a prophet when the Wildcats started 11-1, but they staggered down the stretch.

Chances are that Miller, who is more close to the vest, will not proclaim next season that Arizona will be one of the nation’s top five teams if Williams does not return.

(more…)

LOS ANGELES — Arizona junior guard Kyle Fogg did not look to be in pain although he sat by his locker with two huge ice packs on both quadriceps.

Fogg, 0-2 in the Pac-10 Tournament before Thursday, looked relieved, as if a weight was lifted after Arizona beat Oregon State 78-69 at the Staples Center. The Wildcats snapped a three-game losing skid in the tournament, winning for the first time since 2008.

It was only the sixth conference tournament win for the Wildcats since they won the title in 2002.

“We were a lot more focused coming into this one,” said Fogg, who was replaced in the starting lineup by Kevin Parrom because he did not practice Tuesday and Wednesday in order to rest his legs.

“Everyone wanted to win. There’s not many guys in this locker room who won a Pac-10 tournament game and we all wanted to get our first win. The biggest reason is we want to win that (title) game on CBS on Saturday. I think everyone is really locked into that and we are going to play our hardest to get to that championship game.”

I remember when I covered Arizona’s 1996-97 NCAA championship team the Wildcats chanted “Play on Monday” before defeating North Carolina in the Final Four. The rally cry “Play on Saturday” does not carry the same significance but it has a meaning of its own with this year’s Wildcats.

(more…)

Arizona coach Sean Miller says it's his responsibility and that of his staff to get his players to block out and be aggressive on the boards (US Presswire photo/Chris Morrison)

I can hear it now: Arizona is coached by four former point guards, what do they know about rebounding?

UA coach Sean Miller was dependable at Pitt with an efficient assist-to-turnover ratio, something sophomore Lamont “MoMo” Jones needs to work on, but how does rebounding fit in his forte?

The same question goes for his brother Archie Miller, and assistants Book Richardson and James Whitford, all of whom played away from the basket in college.

An answer: Does it matter what size you are to know what it takes to be a good rebounder? The best players who attacked the glass at Arizona that I’ve seen in my lifetime is a tossup between Al Fleming and Pete Williams. Fleming was listed at 6-foot-8 and Williams 6-7. They really had no business being elite rebounders.

Fleming played alongside 6-10 center Bob Elliott, yet he pulled down 1,190 rebounds in his four-year career (1973-76). It remains the school’s career record. Williams was an undersized center in Lute Olson‘s first two years at Arizona. He averaged the most rebounds in a season — 9.9 in 1983-84 — until Jordan Hill posted 11 a game in 2008-09.

Being a good rebounder comes from positioning, working hard to block out, timing your leaps and most of all — effort. I asked Sean Miller during Tuesday’s Pac-10 teleconference about how his coaching can remedy the UA’s rebounding woes Sunday in a 76-75 loss at Oregon State.

“It’s certainly my responsibility, and our staff’s responsibility, to make sure guys are blocking out,” Miller said.

Any time the starting post player (Derrick Williams) and power forward (Jesse Perry) combine for only four rebounds — like they did against the Beavers — not only does the ball seem out of reach, but so does a victory.

Miller said that rebounding is “one of the several hot buttons of our team,” even though the Wildcats are No. 1 in the Pac-10 in rebounding margin (plus-6) over their opponents. That stat is more of a result of who the Wildcats played in the non-conference portion of the schedule.

Only a few of Arizona’s previous opponents were as aggressive as Oregon State on the boards. The Beavers outrebounded Arizona 34-31. The game brought back memories of how NAU nearly upset Arizona in McKale Center by dominating the glass, 29-19.

(more…)