Jordan Hill takes a shot (with Chase Budinger on far right) against Stanford last season/Tucson Citizen photo

Chase Budinger and Jordan Hill, who both left Arizona last year after their junior seasons, have been reunited with the Houston Rockets.

Hill, the eighth pick in the NBA Draft, never found his footing with the New York Knicks — was that his fault or the fault of a poorly-run franchise? — and was part of a three-team, eight-player trade at the trade deadline on Thursday.

Hill will go to the Rockets, who nabbed Budinger in the middle of the second round with the 44th overall pick.

Hill and Budinger were in Tucson last weekend during the break for the NBA All-Star weekend, hanging out with their former teammates.

“I think it’s great,” UA junior forward Jamelle Horne said of the trade. “I think they’re going to have a great time. They are truly blessed to be together in the NBA at the next level. I think they will be good together. … Or they could be really bad together.”

That last part was a little joke — perhaps a reference to too much partying? — but the early change of scenery should be good for Hill. He played in only 24 games with New York, averaging 4.0 points and 2.5 rebounds.

He already has garnered the “bust” label from Knicks fans, who would have liked point guard Brandon Jennings (or a few other players) at the No. 8 spot in the draft.

With his relative lack of basketball experience, Hill still has lots of upside, and playing time should be more available with the Rockets. It took him a while to adjust to Arizona; his learning curve could be similar in the NBA.

Budinger, who slid further in the draft than everyone expected, has been more than solid as a rookie, considering where he ended up in the second round. As a bench player, he is averaging 8.3 points, 2.9 rebounds and is hitting 34.4 percent of his 3-pointers.

He has scored in double figures in five of the past seven games.

Now, he has his ol’ UA buddy with him.

The Arizona Wildcats have sent so many players to the pros in the past 20 years or so that it’s not usual when there is more than one Wildcat on an NBA roster.

The question is, how many players have been teammates at UA and in the NBA?

Our sports partner, WildAboutAZCats.com, lists three four cases:

–Steve Kerr and Jud Buechler (Chicago Bulls, 1994-98).
–Steve Kerr and Sean Elliott (San Antonio Spurs, 1998-2001).
–Brian Williams and Jud Buechler (Chicago Bulls, 1996-97). Yes, Kerr was on the team, too, but Kerr and Williams were not teammates at UA, like Williams and Buechler were for the 1989-90 season.
–Mike Bibby and Michael Dickerson (Vancouver Grizzlies, 1999-2001)

Can UA coach Sean Miller get some more defensive intensity?/Photo by The Arizona Republic

Arizona Wildcats basketball coach Sean Miller figures it isn’t too much to ask. If the other team is holding the ball for most of the 35-second shot clock, then you have to play defense for, oh, about 35 seconds.

It’s not very complicated.

As it happens in a basketball season, your team is going to miss shots, have its off days offensively. But effort on defense never goes out of style. At least, it shouldn’t. This is where Miller is coming from.

To understand Miller as a coach, you have to understand Miller as a player at Pitt.

“All you had to do was tell him what you wanted him to do,” John Calipari, a longtime Miller family friend, once told the Cincinnati Enquirer. Calipari helped recruit Sean at Pitt.

“There were bigger, faster, stronger and quicker players,” Calipari said. “But there was no one who was smarter. He had to be to survive.”

Tough. Scrappy. Never gave an inch.

That is what he demanded — and that is what he got — from his players at Xavier. That is what he is demanding — and that is what he is only sometimes getting — from his players at Arizona.

He failed to see the desired results Saturday in a 63-55 home loss to Oregon State.

“On offense, they were extremely patient and took a lot of shots near the end of the clock,” Miller said Tuesday on the Pac-10 coaches teleconference with media.

“You could see it had a wearing affect on our team, especially the young players. It was as if the mentality we took was, ‘You mean to tell me you’re going to make me stay in the stance for that long? That’s not fair.’”

Miller called that attitude “disappointing more than anything.”

Related link from TucsonCitizen.com:
UA’s loss to Oregon State eerily similar to Olson’s first year at Arizona

He said when the other team is that patient, “you have to be disciplined, you have to have some toughness to you, you have to understand that the game is going to be played a little differently. You’re going to have to have the wherewithal to stay with it for 40 minutes, knowing that a lot of things are going to happen at the end of the clock.

“My team caved in in a big way in that area.”

Intensity and personal discipline come naturally to Miller, who prizes those qualities in his players.

In 1986, when he was a junior at Blackhawk High School in western Pennsylvania, his father and coach, John Miller, told the Associated Press that his son had shot at least 100 free throws for almost 700 consecutive days. He kept at it for nearly three years.

“I see players who have so much more talent than me, I know I have to play 10 times harder than them just to play on their level,” a 17-year-old Sean Miller told the AP.

“There’s probably only five days a year I don’t play. Sometimes when I’m tired or want to go out at night I wish I didn’t play as much as I do, but then I realize how much money a scholarship is worth.”

That’s why, especially to Miller, that staying in a defensive stance for 35 seconds isn’t too much to ask.

Kenzie Fowler, a freshman from CDO, showed off her right arm in her much-anticipated debut with Arizona.

Arizona softball coach Mike Candrea likes what he see from freshman pitcher Kenzie Fowler, and not just because of the stuff you can find in the box scores.

Fowler went 4-0 in her opening weekend of college competition, striking out nearly two batters an inning and reinforcing the notion that she will pick up the pitching torch passed down from Debby Day to Susie Parra to Nancy Evans to Jennie Finch to Alicia Hollowell to Taryne Mowatt.

“I thought she threw well,” Candrea said after Sunday’s victories over Nevada and Cal State Fullerton at the Kajikawa Classic in Tempe.

The numbers back that up — 41 strikeouts and only seven hits allowed in 22 1/3 innings. Fowler did walk 11 batters and allowed two home runs, one of which should have been caught, Candrea said, but left fielder Brittany Lastrapes knocked it over the fence.

It’s how the hard-throwing Fowler handled those bouts of wildness and adversity that encouraged Candrea.

For as much “stuff” as she has as a pitcher, Candrea also likes the stuff between Fowler’s ears.

“She’s very stable emotionally. Even-keeled demeanor, even when she was nervous early on,” Candrea said. “With the home runs, Kenzie kind of blows that stuff off. She is not too into herself and stays pretty even.”

Fowler won her first two starts, including a win over No. 15 Northwestern on Saturday. She picked up a win in relief of Sarah Akamine on Sunday, as Akamine tired against Nevada in her third start in three days. That was to be expected, Candrea said, as the senior is coming off offseason back surgery.

Fowler finished with 3 1/3 innings of hitless relief and then went the distance in the win over Cal State Fullerton.

Fowler, a two-time Gatorade National Player of the Year from Canyon del Oro High School, finished the tournament with a 1.25 ERA.

“She was having some problems with trying to be too careful at times,” Candrea said of the high walk total. “That will happen. I think it was a great lesson for her and she will learn from it.”

Beyond that, Candrea loved the “team” aspect of the 6-0 weekend.

Five players hit home runs, including grand slams Sunday from sophomore catcher Lini Koria and freshman third baseman Matte Haack. Nine players had at least three RBIs in the six games.

“Saw a little bit of everything, to tell you the truth,” Candrea said.

“Saw some really good performances and some performances where we had to battle back through adversity. We played from behind; we played from ahead. In the long run, it was a good thing for us.”

And it just built anticipation for the Wildcats’ home debut this weekend, when they will play ninth-ranked Missouri, which opened its season by taking two of three games from second-ranked Alabama.

You might remember Alabama. That is the team that ran Arizona out of last season’s Women’s College World Series with a 14-0 victory in five innings.

Arizona and Missouri will play a doubleheader Saturday at Hillenbrand Stadium, beginning at noon. The teams will play one game Sunday, beginning at noon.

UA is ranked fourth in one national poll and sixth in another.

UA RESULTS AT KAJIKAWA CLASSIC
Arizona 13, Western Michigan 9 (five innings)
Arizona 10, Purdue 0 (five innings)
Arizona 4, Northwestern 3
Arizona 6, North Dakota State 0
Arizona 10, Nevada 5
Arizona 8, Cal State Fullerton 1

Sean Miller/Wildcat Sports Report photo

(UA notebook compiled from members of the TucsonCitizen.com Sports Network. Some of these notes first appeared in the weekly “Nothing but the Notes” column on wildaboutazcats.com. Find more notes there in this weekend’s edition.)

So much for the McKale magic.

It’s hard to believe. In less than three Lute Olson-less seasons, Arizona has lost at home to eight of the other nine Pac-10 teams. The only conference team that has failed to win in Tucson since 2008: Washington. Go figure.

Saturday night’s 63-55 loss to Oregon State might have been the most painful, the one that double locks the door against Arizona’s chances of making the NCAA Tournament as an at-large team.

“This crowd and this arena is so spectacular, and they tried to will us to win,” coach Sean Miller said Saturday night. “And we had no answer.” …

Just too young?

According to StatSheet.com, only two other major-conference Division I schools have at least five freshmen and no more than two upperclassmen (juniors and seniors) like Arizona. They are Iowa (which like the Cats has five freshmen, one junior and one senior) and Washington State (which has eight freshmen, no juniors and one senior). The Wildcats depend on their freshmen far more than the Hawkeyes and Cougars — or any other major-college program for that matter. The UA frosh account for 47.4 percent of the team’s scoring (34.2 points per game out of 72.1 overall). Iowa’s percentage is 34.2 (24.3 points per game out of 70.9) while Wazzu’s mark is 33.2 (25 points per game out of 75.2). With such an influx of talent, and a brand new coaching staff, it’s not really a surprise that Arizona is way on the wrong side of the bubble. …

TucsonCitizen.com video:
Miller talks about his five freshman (Feb. 9)

Miller talks about MoMo Jones (Feb. 11)

Wes Bunting at the National Football Post wrote this recently about ex-UA cornerback Devin Ross‘ performance in the week of the East-West Shrine Game practices: “For a guy who showcases as much closing speed as Ross in coverage, you’d think he would be able to make more plays on the football. However, he isn’t a real instinctive corner and consistently gets caught bailing out of his back-pedal and opening his hips too early in his drop. There’s no doubt this guy has the ability to play on the outside at the next level from an athletic standpoint, but as of now he simply gives up too many plays and lacks the instincts to be trusted on an island in the NFL.” … Don’t expect to hear much from former UA defensive coordinator Mark Stoops, who is now the coordinator at Florida State. New head coach Jimbo Fisher has put his assistant coaches off limits to the media, with a one-time exception for the new guys. Too bad. Stoops is a thoughtful interviewee who is pretty honest in his assessments. …

While it’s true that Arizona has offered a scholarship to power forward Jesse Perry of John A. Logan Junior College of Carterville, Ill., the UA coaches are likely keeping an eye on what Manhattan (N.Y.) Rice High School forward Kadeem Jack decides first. Perry will officially visit Arizona after Logan’s season ends next month. Perry, 6-foot-8 and originally from St. Louis, is averaging 15.6 points, 10.5 rebounds and nearly 2 blocked shots per game this season. In a victory over Olney (Ill.) Central College on Thursday, Perry made 17 of 21 free-throw attempts. Arizona stands apart from its competition for Perry: Southern Illinois, Alabama-Birmingham and Iowa State. Rivals.com reports that the UA is the only school that has offered a scholarship. …

Former UA running back Mike Bell, who fashioned a nice comeback season with a team-high 172 carries for 654 yards for the New Orleans Saints, had a regrettable play in the Super Bowl when he slipped on an off-tackle run on third-and-goal from the 1 late in the first half. The biggest television audience in history watched that play. But what you didn’t see was the exchange that took place as Bell returned to the sideline. Saints coach Sean Payton asks Bell, “What kind of shoes you got on?” and Bell shows him the bottom of his left shoe. Payton then yells as Bell walks away, “That (expletive) figures. Put on the cleats!” Yeah, it helps to have the right shoes. You can watch the NFL Films highlights, with wired sound from players and coaches, at NFL.com. Good stuff. …

TucsonCitizen.com blogger Matt Minkus interviewed ex-UA center and current Phoenix Suns player Channing Frye for his podcast at radioexiles.com. Frye recently had his jersey number retired at his high school, Phoenix St. Mary’s, an event that was attended by Olson. Frye, Olson, friends and family members went to dinner afterward. “Coach O is great,” Frye said. “He is probably in better health now than I’ve seen him in a long time. He’s healthy. He’s relaxed. His memory is great. We were just talking about old times and some of his players. We sat there about 2 1/2 hours and just talked and reminisced about the good old days.” …

Jennie Finch

Jennie Finch was selected the 2009 USA Softball Female Athlete of the Year. Finch was the MVP of the Japan Cup, throwing a one-hitter and hitting a two-run double in a 2-0 title game victory over Japan, to (somewhat) avenge a loss to the Japanese team in the 2008 Summer Olympics. Finch also led Team USA to the championship of the Canada Cup, with a two-out walk-off single for a 3-2 win over Canada. In three events — the U.S. also won the World Cup of Softball — Finch was 5-0 with a 0.54 ERA and she hit .447. “I am completely honored all the way around to not only play for our great country but also to be recognized out of a group of extremely talented athletes. I am surrounded by amazing women and feel blessed to be a part of USA Softball,” Finch said in a release. “I feel privileged to still have the opportunity to play the game I love at this stage in my life. Just to wear USA across my chest is a great honor and I am grateful for the opportunities I continue to have.” … UA’s next great pitcher, freshman Kenzie Fowler, struck out 18 batters in a 4-3 win over 15th-ranked Northwestern on Saturday. The school record for strikeouts is 20, set by Alicia Hollowell in a seven-inning perfect game against Indiana in 2004. Yep, she struck out 20 of 21 batters. That will be tough to top.

Arizona freshman Kenzie Fowler struck out 18 in her second career start as the Wildcats rallied in the bottom of the seventh to beat Northwestern at the Kajikawa Classic in Tempe.

Brittany Lastrapes‘ two-out, two-run single gave Arizona a 4-3 victory and made a winner of Fowler, who allowed only three hits but walked seven.

The Wildcats loaded the bases with no outs in the seventh on a walk, a hit batter and a walk. After Fowler struck out, Arizona made it 3-2 as pinch-runner Nicole Bryan scored on a passed ball. Kristen Arriola made the second out on a fielder’s choice, bringing up Lastrapes, who delivered the game-winner, which was only the second hit of the day for Arizona off senior Lauren Delaney.

This was a great early test for Arizona, which is ranked sixth in the USA Today/NFCA poll. Northwestern is 15th.

The Wildcats (4-0) won their second and final game of the day with a 6-0 victory over North Dakota State. Freshman Brigette Del Ponte, making her first start at third base, hit a bases-loaded double and had four RBIs. Sarah Akamine went the distance, allowing four hits, striking out six and walking one.

Akamine

The Arizona softball team began the season Friday afternoon with a no-hitter in a 13-0 five-inning victory over Western Michigan at the Kajikawa Classic in Tempe.

Senior Sarah Akamine, coming off offseason back surgery, threw the first no-hitter of her career, striking out three and walking one.

Coach Mike Candrea sent out touted freshman Kenzie Fowler to make her much-anticipated debut in Arizona’s second game of the day, against Purdue, which lost to the Wildcats in last season’s NCAA regionals.

Fowler came through with a one-hitter, striking out eight and walking two, in a 10-0 five-inning victory. Brittany Lastrapes, Stacie Chambers and freshman first baseman Baillie Kirker hit home runs against Purdue.

In the first game, Arizona scored 13 runs on only seven hits as two Western Michigan pitchers combined to walk 14 batters. UA junior centerfielder Lauren Schutzler went 2-for-2 with three RBIs. Shortstop K’Lee Arredondo was the other Wildcat with multiple hits, as she went 2-for-4 with three RBIs.

The Wildcats scored seven runs in the first and six in the fourth.

Offensive lineman Conan Amituanai is one of the current Wildcats with Polynesian ties. His uncle is UA defensive coordinator Mike Tuiasosopo/2007 Tucson Citizen photo

The Arizona football team, building on its tradition of recruiting American Samoa and players of Polynesian heritage, has added defensive tackle Aiulua Fanene to its recruiting class.

Fanene, the brother of defensive end Jonathan Fanene of the Cincinnati Bengals, is from Tafuna High School on the island and was part of a recent “60 Minutes” feature on football in Samoa. You can watch it here. I’d recommend watching the whole thing if you haven’t seen it, but the part with Fanene begins at about the 6:12 mark.

Fanene was recruited by UA defensive line coach Mike Tuiasosopo, who has known the family since he recruited Jonathan to Utah.

In a 2006 story in the Tucson Citizen, Tuiasosopo talked about Arizona’s connection to the island.

“Others claim they have been there, but if anybody has a history, or can make that claim it is Arizona,” said Tuiasosopo, who was born in Samoa and has a nearly endless list of relatives who have played football in the United States.

“Utah and BYU can make a claim they have been involved because of their Mormon influence, but Washington and Oregon, I get a tickle out of that. They can say that now, but trust me, Arizona has a history.”

Former Arizona coach Dick Tomey, who had previously been the head coach at Hawaii, was, “instrumental in building the Samoan pipeline,” as described in a 2003 Sports Illustrated story titled “Football in Paradise.” And not just the pipeline to Arizona — the prolific pipeline from Samoa to colleges to the NFL.

The magazine wrote that Tomey had more than 120 Samoan players on his rosters at Hawaii and Arizona, spanning 24 years.

“There are no athletes that are, in my estimation, more competitive, more athletic or more family-oriented, or who fit into a team concept as well as Samoan athletes,” Tomey told SI. “The more we could get on our team, the better I felt.”

The Wildcats have sent at least a dozen players of Polynesian ties to the NFL: DL Stan Mataele, OL Mu Tagoai, OL Pulu Poumele, OT Edwin Mulitalo, TE Brandon Manumaleuna, DE Van Tuinei, OL Makoa Freitas, OL Makai Freitas, OL Steven Grace, OL Kili Lefotu, OL Manu Savea and DT Joe Salave’a.

The long list of Polynesian players at Arizona includes quarterbacks George Malauulu and Willie Tuitama. Malauulu is the president of the AIGA Foundation, which, according to its blog, seeks to “bring exposure to Pacific Islander football players excelling at the high school, collegiate and professional level.”

Many of the current and former Arizona players with Polynesian ties come from Hawaii or the West Coast, but some have come directly from American Samoa, including Savea and the late Young Thompson.

Salave’a, who was born in Samoa and grew up there, lost several family members in last September’s devastating tsunami and has been active in relief efforts through his foundation.

In another good story on the subject, this one a 2000 story from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer written by Ted Miller, now of ESPN.com, then-UA defensive coordinator Rich Ellerson was quoted about the values of the Samoan culture.

“Their physical profile is outstanding for the game,” Ellerson said, “but I think the cultural profile — the family values, the idea of sacrifice, taking pride in your performance, the importance of toughness — that’s also important. Their chances of success are impacted by how close they are to their culture.”

Family values, sacrifice, pride and toughness: In the 60 Minutes profile, Aiulua Fanene was said to “do a day’s work before school under the direction of his father, David.”

Fanene will see plenty of friendly faces when he arrives in Tucson, and he won’t be fazed by the rigors of coach Mike Stoops‘ fall camp.

Jamelle Horne needs to do better work around the basket in terms of rebounding/Photo by Wildcat Sports Report

You know a coach really has something to say when he’ll be answering a question about one thing, and then, unprompted, comment about something else.

Such was the case Tuesday with Arizona Wildcats basketball coach Sean Miller about junior forward Jamelle Horne.

“The one aspect of our finish is to get Jamelle Horne to rebound,” Miller said at his weekly press conference.

There you have it.

Miller went on to note that 5-foot-10 point guard Nic Wise has more defensive rebounds in conference play (33) than does the 6-7 Horne, who, if nothing else, always has shown excellent hops. Horne has 31 defensive rebounds in Pac-10 play.

“Jamelle Horne finishing the season strong, rebounding the ball, that is one of the keys for us finishing the season strong,” said Miller, whose team is in a five-way tie for second-place in the Pac-10, a game behind Cal.

“We talk to him all the time about it. It’s not an easy solution.”

Miller had a notable talking-to with Horne at halftime of the Arizona State game on Jan. 23, and Horne responded with 11 second-half points, hitting 4 of 5 shots.

But Horne always has been Mr. Inconsistent … and it’s laughable that fans got on interim coach Kevin O’Neill a couple of years ago for not giving Horne regular minutes. If he can’t be counted on as a junior, imagine what he must have been like as a freshman.

Anyway, Horne has had plenty of good moments this season, and his 3-point shooting (22 of 45, 48.9 percent in conference play) has been a revelation. But the good times have been offset by his disappearing acts.

Miller said it was too early in the week to know if there will be any lineup changes for Thursday’s home game against Oregon. Freshman wing Solomon Hill is coming off a good weekend at the Washington schools as he rediscovered some of his aggressiveness that had been lacking.

Whether Horne starts or comes off the bench, he needs to be at his best if Arizona, which plays five of its final seven at home, is going to threaten for a regular-season championship and build momentum for the Pac-10 tournament.

As I mentioned in a recent UA notebook, Horne averaged 16 points through the first four conference games, but has slumped to 6.3 in the past seven league games. Not that Miller’s top concern is scoring.

“He is one of our most experienced players, and one of the roles he has to fill for us is to rebound,” said Miller, hammering his theme. “I haven’t even talked about offensive rebounding, where he is averaging less than one a game.”

It’s true. Horne has 10 offensive rebounds in 11 conference games.

Miller talked about staying even keel emotionally with Horne, who could use some even-keel emotions of his own. On the court, his body language shows too much disgust when things go badly, and he celebrates a bit too heartily when things are going well. Just play, Jamelle.

Miller and his staff are sure to spend more time talking with Horne this week, trying to find the right buttons to push. Since the coach is trying to make a point publicly, let’s give him the last word.

“The one statistic that is real that you need to evaluate Jamelle on is rebounding,” Miller said.

“We’re going to ask him to improve that down the stretch. If he does it, I know our team is much better and he is a much better player.”

Random thoughts (and notes) while wondering if Arizona football coach Mike Stoops sent a congratulatory message to Super Bowl-winning coach Sean Payton of the New Orleans Saints. Their connection: They were teammates on the replacement Chicago Bears during the 1987 NFL players’ strike …

Say this, the Arizona basketball team is good at one thing: Giving up career highs.

It started with the season opener, when NAU guard Cameron Jones went for 29 points.

Later in the non-conference season, there was the epic 49 points from BYU’s Jimmer Fredette. And the 34 points allowed to Lipscomb’s superb post player Adnan Hodzic.

More recently, Oregon’s LeKendric Longmire came off the bench to tie his career-best with 18 points. On Jan. 31, Theo Robertson poured in 27 points, his personal best. And, on Feb. 6, Washington State big man DeAngelo Casto had a career-high 19 points to go along with plenty of other mayhem in the paint.

In between those two games, Washington’s Quincy Pondexter lit up the Wildcats for 30 points, one off his career high. In any case, he used that to help grab Pac-10 Player of the Week honors.

Basically, if the other team has an elite scorer, Arizona usually can’t stop him, from Wisconsin’s Trevon Hughes (24 points), to Colorado’s Cory Higgins (28), to UNLV’s Tre’Von Willis (25), to Oklahoma’s Willie Warren (25), to Louisiana Tech’s Kyle Gibson (25) to Stanford’s Landry Fields (31), to all the guys mentioned above. …

Mike Bell

Mike Bell became the ninth former UA player to earn a Super Bowl ring. The New Orleans Saints running back only had two carries against the Colts, slipping on an off-tackle third-and-goal attempt from the 1, but he was a key part in the championship season. Bell actually had the most rushing attempts (172) on the team during the regular season.

As for the other Super Bowl-winning Cats:

*Tedy Bruschi has three rings (Patriots — 2002, 2004, 2005 Super Bowls)
*T Bell has two (Steelers — 1979, 1980)
*The following have one — Ron Gardin (Colts, 1971), Edwin Mulitalo (Ravens, 2001), Chris McAlister (Ravens, 2001), Josh Miller (Patriots, 2005), Michael Johnson (Giants, 2008) and Antonio Pierce (Giants, 2008).

For the complete list of ex-Cats in the Super Bowl, go to our sports network partner WildAboutAZCats.com. …

Scout.com released its initial list of top 150 football recruits for next season. How in the world did CDO running back Ka’Deem Carey not make the list? … Reason No. 5,871 to not get put too much stock into recruiting rankings: There was a lot of buzz when running back Ryan Bass — the 31st-best player in the nation, according to Scout.com — committed to Arizona a couple of years ago, and much angst when he then signed with Arizona State. He spent two unspectacular years with the Sun Devils, was suspended at the end of last season and has now transferred to Idaho. …

Jamelle Horne

UA junior forward Jamelle Horne is nothing if not consistently inconsistent, but how in the world has he scored single-digit points in six of the past seven games? Is he injured in some way that has not become public? He began Pac-10 play by averaging 16 points through four games. In the seven games since then, he is averaging 6.3. Something is not right … Four of the 23 football players in Arizona’s recruiting class have spent time on a Division I roster. They are defensive lineman Willie Mobley (redshirted at Ohio State in 2008), defensive end Mohammad Usman (had 10 tackles in nine game with Houston in 2008), linebacker Paul Vassallo (redshirted at Nevada in 2007) and, of course, Texas transfer receiver Dan Buckner. …

Among the football newcomers, long snapper Chase Gorham from Scottsdale is the one most guaranteed of playing time in 2010. The Wildcats lose two seniors on the long-snapping depth chart, and Gorham is supposed to one of the best around. He is the son of Charlie Gorham, a UA kicker in 1972 and 1973. “I know how much I really, really, really love the Cats,” Charlie said in a video interview with Wildcat Sports Report, part of the TucsonCitizen.com sports network. “The minute he steps foot on the football field at the U of A, I am going to be bawling.” …

The father of Arizona basketball commit Jordin Mayes, a point guard from Los Angeles Westchester High School, offered this honest assessment of his son to WildAboutAZCats.com: “Jordin has to learn more about managing the game and getting better at that,” Darryel Mayes said. “He has the skills to score big points when he needs to. As a point guard, he has to get others involved. But as he matures, he will understand more that he must keep the defense on its heels. Sean (Miller) and his staff can see the ability of Jordin scoring when the opportunity presents itself. When the play calls for a bucket, get that bucket. Don’t pass up that shot. That’s called playing too nice.”…

The Arizona softball team begins its season Friday at the Kajikawa Classic in Tempe. Mike Candrea‘s team has its home opener on Feb. 20 with a doubleheader against Missouri. One of the changes at Hillenbrand Stadium is a padded outfield fence, replacing the wooden face that has been a hazard to outfielder’s faces. “I’m really looking forward it,” said junior centerfielder Lauren Schutzler. “I was joking with my family that Coach put that up because he’s getting sick of me not catching the ball. That wood wall was kind of a big omen out there. Any time you would run into that wall, you would get splinters, you would bang your head. It was horrible.” The padding comes a few years too late for Caitlin Lowe, who became a YouTube sensation when she crashed into the fence during postseason play in 2007. The outfielders will now have a little security when going hard after fly balls. “But it’s going to be another thing that raises expectations,” Schutzler said. “Coach is going to be like, ‘I put that padding out there for you, you better be going into it.’”

Scelfo

In a story first reported by our sports network partner Wildcat Sports Report, Arizona head coach Mike Stoops will announce the hiring of Frank Scelfo as his quarterbacks coach in an ironic spin of the coaching carousel.

Scelfo had been the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Louisiana Tech, elevated to interim head coach two weeks ago when Derek Dooley left to become the head coach at Tennessee.

Louisiana Tech then hired Arizona offensive coordinator Sonny Dykes to lead the Bulldogs.

A good trade? Let’s see how it all shakes out at Arizona.

Although it was first reported that Scelfo would be a co-coordinator, those titles will fall to well-respected offensive line coach Bill Bedenbaugh and running backs/tight ends coach Seth Littrell, both of whom have backgrounds in the Texas Tech-style spread offense.

Scelfo is an experienced assistant and has a good reputation as a play-caller who understands the passing game.

Prior to his three-year stint with Louisiana Tech, he spent 11 years on the staff at Tulane, including the final eight as offensive coordinator.

While there, he tutored four future NFL quarterbacks — Patrick Ramsey, J.P. Losman, Lester Ricard, and Shaun King – which is four more quarterbacks than Arizona has sent to the NFL in its entire Pac-10 existence.

Stoops said Wednesday he had interviewed three candidates for the position. Scelfo attended a UA fan recruiting event in the Phoenix area on Thursday.

Stoops has had two previous offensive coordinators. The first one, Mike Canales, was recently hired as coordinator at North Texas after he wasn’t retained by new South Florida head coach Skip Holtz.

From his Louisiana Tech bio about his days with Tulane:

Scelfo directed one of the most innovative offenses in the college game as the Green Wave finished ranked in the top 30 nationally in passing offense five times, including ranking 3rd in passing offense (324.45) in 2000, 5th in passing offense (327.3) in 1999 and 12th in passing offense (291.50) in 2001.