The Wildcats will get an up-close look at Colorado mascot Ralphie at Folsom Field. Photo by Ron Chenoy-US PRESSWIRE

Arizona’s first-ever Pac-12 game at Colorado will begin at 12:30 p.m. MST on Nov. 12 and will be telecast by Fox Sports Pacific.

The teams last played in 1986, with a Larry Smith-coach Arizona team winning 24-21 in Boulder. The Buffaloes won all of the previous 12 meetings between the schools.

Arizona’s game this week against Utah begins at 4 p.m. and will be shown on KWBA-TV in Tucson, as well as Fox Sports Arizona Plus and Fox College Sports Central.

Dave Sitton will have play-by-play duties, with John Fina in the booth as an analyst and Glenn Howell as the sideline reporter.

The nation’s top-ranked basketball recruiting class just got better.

Kaleb Tarczewski, a 7-footer from St. Mark’s in Southborough (Mass.) committed to the Arizona Wildcats over Kansas on Monday. Tarczewski could pretty much have gone wherever he wanted, as North Carolina and Kentucky were among those in hot pursuit.

“I had great programs and great coaches recruiting me,” Tarczewski told Jeff Goodman of CBSSports.com. “It just felt right at Arizona. I fell in love with everything — from the current players to the staff to Brandon Ashley, Grant Jerrett and Gabe York.”

Those three guys are the other members of coach Sean Miller’s recruiting class, which already had been ranked No. 1 by ESPNU. With Tarczewski’s commitment, Scout.com bumped up the Cats’ class to the top spot as well.

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Tramayne Bondurant tries to bring down Washington receiver Kasen Williams. Photo by Steven Bisig-US PRESSWIRE

Even with four suspensions over, the Arizona Wildcats secondary could remain shorthanded this week in a Homecoming game against Utah.

Injuries have, again, hit the unit, which has been without starting cornerback Jonathan McKnight all season and starting safety Adam Hall for all but one game.

Starting cornerback Shaquille Richardson, who was suspended for the game at Washington because of fighting against UCLA, suffered a sprained ankle in practice last Thursday and might not be available.

“I’m hoping we get him back, but there are no guarantees there,” Kish said.

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Mike Stoops in a happy time, following last season's win over Cal. Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images

Former Arizona Wildcats football coach Mike Stoops says he feels like he is on a bye week. Nothing important to do on Saturdays. He is adjusting, he says, to being “unaffiliated.”

Reached by phone late Saturday afternoon, Stoops said he planned on following his old team on TV against Washington that night, even though doing so might be bittersweet.

“My heart,” he said, “is still with these players.”

Athletic director Greg Byrne fired Stoops on Oct. 10 after the team’s 1-5 start and a 10-game losing streak against FBS competition. “He handled himself with class and dignity,” Byrne said at the time.

Three weeks removed from the firing, Stoops stayed classy publicly when asked about the timing and, perhaps, surprising nature, of the firing.

“I just felt like Greg was trying to do what was best for the program,” Stoops said.

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How different would the fourth quarter have been had Nick Foles connected on this third-down pass to Juron Criner in the end zone? Photo by Steven Bisig-US PRESSWIRE

Let’s start at the beginning of the fourth quarter. Score tied. Arizona poised to take the lead against Washington.

Feeling pretty good right about then, huh?

The Wildcats’ frustrating season, which had been given a double-shot of gusto after the firing of coach Mike Stoops, still had a chance to turn around at that point. A win at Washington would be two in a row under interim coach Tim Kish and fire up talk of sneaking into the postseason at 6-6.

Instead, Arizona took a 42-31 loss at Husky Stadium.

Back to the beginning of the fourth quarter; it was second-and-goal from the Huskies’ 5-yard line.

Freshman Ka’Deem Carey lost 1 yard on a run. Nick Foles missed Juron Criner in the end zone on third down.

It was a missed opportunity, Arizona settled for a 24-yard field goal from John Bonano — at least he’s taken most of the nail-biting out of place-kicks in the past two weeks — and the Cats had a 31-28 lead.

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Arizona's Ka'Deem Carey is brought down by the linebacker Cort Dennison in the first quarter. Photo by Joe Nicholson-US PRESSWIRE

Arizona loses 42-31 in a wild game. The Wildcats, who fall to 2-6 overall, needed this one to be able to think of the postseason. A four-game winning streak to end the season is a bit much to ask.

It was a familiar story on defense.

The Wildcats have given up huge games to running backs all season (such as LaMichael James rushing for an Oregon record 288 yards), and the Cats failed to slow Washington’s Chris Polk.

Polk rushed for 144 yards, had 100 yards receiving and scored five times, including once on a reception.

* * *

Nick Foles intercepted again in the final minute. That won’t help the passing efficiceny rating.

* * *

That should do it. Washington sophomore safety Sean Parker jumps all over a sideline pass and picks off Nick Foles at the 20-yard line with about 2 minutes to play.

* * *

The Huskies convert the turnover into more points as Chris Polk scores his fifth touchdown of the game, this time on a 2-yard run with 3:59 to go. He has 131 yards rushing and 100 yards receiving.

Washington leads 42-31.

* * *

Potential killer for Arizona. WR Juron Criner fumbles after making a short catch, with the Huskies recovering and taking over at midfield with 7:14 left. Momentum all on Washington’s side now.

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There wasn't much for Kyryl Natyazhko to shout about Thursday night. Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images.

Arizona Wildcats coach Sean Miller barely slept. He stayed up Thursday night and broke down the video of his team’s exhibition loss to Seattle Pacific, then had to catch a 6 a.m. flight to Los Angeles for Pac-12 Media Day.

He found plenty of teachable moments on the video and conjured ideas about lineup changes. Washington coach Lorenzo Romar even said at Pac-12 Media Day that the loss will help ensure Arizona doesn’t fall into a “false sense of security.”

All that is potentially good.

But, really, no part of Miller was happy about dropping an exhibition game to a Division II school, even one as good as Seattle Pacific, even one that has a Pac-12-level big man in Gonzaga transfer Andy Poling.

“It’s hard,” Miller said of losing anytime, anywhere.

“It’s what you’re judged by. It can really become obsessive.”

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It will be a happy sight to see Kevin Parrom with a basketball in his hands. Photo by Stephen Dunn/Getty Images

LOS ANGELES — Forget wins and losses. The highlight of the Arizona Wildcats’ early season could be — will be? — the moment junior wing Kevin Parrom steps foot on the court.

Coach Sean Miller delivered more encouraging news about Parrom, who was shot last month while home in The Bronx, N.Y., to visit his ailing mother.

“It was five weeks ago to the day that he got shot,” Miller said Friday at Pac-12 Media Day.

“When he got shot, below his right knee didn’t work. He had no feeling, no movement, and there was no guarantee that it would ever come back. Five weeks from Friday, he can run.”

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LOS ANGELES — Seattle Pacific, fresh off a 69-68 exhibition victory at Arizona on Thursday night, will play another exhibition next Friday at Washington.

Huskies coach Lorenzo Romar was asked at Pac-12 Media Day what he thought of his next opponent and the Wildcats’ loss to the Falcons.

“My thoughts are that in an exhibition game, it’s a time to experiment, it’s a time to teach, it’s a time to learn,” Romar said.

“We’re fortunate we didn’t have an exhibition game last night, trust me. The way I see it from a coach’s perspective is I’m sure (Arizona) got a lot out of it.”

Romar noted that he Cats have four freshmen while trying to replace Derrick Williams and MoMo Jones.

“It gives them a perspective right now of what level you have to be at,” Romar said of the Cats’ loss.

“Sometimes guys think it will be easy — ‘I will do what Derrick did.’ It’s not that easy. It did more good than if they blew out somebody by 50 or 60 and gave them a false sense of security.”

Cal coach Mike Montgomery will be back on the sideline after a scary bout of bladder cancer. Photo by Jason O. Watson-US PRESSWIRE

LOS ANGELES — Many coaches gently chide the media when they feel their team is not rated highly enough in preseason polls. Not Arizona Wildcats coach Sean Miller.

“There is no way in the world we’re the third-best team in the Pac-12,” Miller said of where his team landed in the Pac-12 media poll.

“Hopefully, I won’t say that next year but I will am saying it now. There is no chance that’s where we’re at.”

Maybe the fourth-best?

In any case, it’s hard to argue with Miller after Arizona’s loss to Seattle Pacific on Thursday night.

* * *

Arizona coach Sean Miller opens with a joke: “I guess I’m the only coach up here who is 0-1.”

He adds quickly: “We’re not the team that was in the Elite Eight. We’re a brand new team.”

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UCLA coach Ben Howland said he has had meetings about his team taking an exhibition trip to China, perhaps as early as next fall.

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Washington sophomore guard Terrence Ross averaged 8.0 points per game as a freshman last season, but could be one of the league’s premier players this season.

“Terrence is immensely talented,” Husky coach Lorenzo Romar said.

“He’s a very good offensive player. He’s a great athlete. He has a knack for putting the ball in the basket. What has taken place over last year is he has become a better defensive player. … The fact he is paying attention to being more well-rounded is really going to help his cause.”

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USC coach Kevin O’Neill on Cal coach Mike Montgomery: “Not a more respected coach in the whole country.”

* * *

USC coach Kevin O’Neill’s team suffered a devastating injury loss when point guard Jio Fontan blew out his knee this summer. KO sat at the interview table at Media Day with sophomore guard Maurice Jones and said:

“He is playing 40 minutes per game this year. I’m informing him of that right now. He’s going to have to.”

USC doesn’t really have a second ball-handler.

“If Mo gets hurt, we can’t really even play the games,” O’Neill said. “Don’t come to the games. It will be ugly.”

But O’Neill vowed, “We’re going to guard you. That’s going to happen, no matter what.”

* * *

Cal coach Mike Montgomery sat down at the interview table and said, “It’s good to see everybody and, in light of recent circumstances, it’s good to be seen.”

He explained.

Montgomery was diagnosed about a month ago with bladder cancer.

“Through a series of extremely fortuitous events, we were able to get in, get the little polyp, tumor, out and everything since that time has been all clear, all clear, all clear. Essentially I went from having high-grade bladder cancer to cancer-free at this point.”

Montgomery said he was resumed some basketball duties and that he will have no physical limitations this season.

“I will be back full-time Monday, much to the players’ chagrin,” he said.

He said that the doctors told him that if he had been checked six months earlier, the cancer would not have been detected. Six months later, he said, and it would have been too late.

“It’s scary,” he said.

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Colorado is paired with Utah as a travel partner in the new Pac-12, which might — or might not — create a rivalry.

“I don’t know if you pick a rival,” Colorado coach Tad Boyle said. ”

“I know everybody is trying yo make Utah our rival and maybe that is what it will end up being, but I’m more of the mind that rivalries develop.”

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New Utah coach Larry Krystowiak was asked by one of his local beat writers this morning what it felt like to be picked a “distant last” in the Pac-12 media poll.

“Distant last? What’s distant last?” Krystowiak said he replied.

“Then I looked and we were the only team with two digits.”

He was referring to the fact Utah had 74 points in the poll; Colorado and Washington State tied for 10th with 119 points.

“For us, we have so many internal things to try to improve on and learn than we really haven’t had a lot of time to sort out where we might fit in in the overall scheme of things,” Krystowiak said. “Just because we’re picked last has no relevance to me. There are always two or three teams in every league that exceed expectations.”

Further showing his dry wit he noted that the league media had correctly picked the winner of the conference in 12 of the past 19 years and wondered what’s the record for picking the worst team.

“Hopefully, that is not quite as high a number,” he said.

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Washington State guard Marcus Capers is asked which player in the Pac-12 is toughest to guard. His answer: Cal’s Allen Crabbe, the league Freshman of the Year last season.

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Washington State coach Ken Bone on new Utah coach Larry Krystowiak, the former coach at Montana and an ex-NBA coach: “Larry is intense. They play relentless basketball and will bring it. They are going to be a team to be reckoned with, there is no doubt about it.”

Utah doesn’t have the personnel to compete right away, but it has the tradition to be a factor in a few years. The Utes have eight new players and only four returning players.

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Oregon is a bit of a mystery with eight newcomers — eight very talented newcomers that includes Louisiana Tech transfer Olu Ashaolu (who could be a rebounding machine in the Pac-12) and, more notably in recruiting circles, freshman guard Jabari Brown.

He will play a significant role; how much is to be determined,” coach Dana Altman said. “He shoots it well from the perimeter and is getting better at putting the ball on the floor and getting to the basket.”

As for the impact of those eight new scholarship players?

“We like our increased athleticism; we like our increased depth,” Altman said. “It will take some time for us to jell as a team. I think team chemistry is going to be important.”

Oregon was widely picked last in the league last season but went 7-11 and tied for seventh. The Ducks are picked fifth in this season’s media poll.

“This year, people are expecting some things,” said senior guard Garrett Sim.

* * *

Stanford coach Johnny Dawkins is bullish on his point guard position. He said sophomore Aaron Bright “is probably our most improved player.” And then there is touted freshman Chasson Randle.

“Chasson Randle definitely gives us depth there and definitely answers some of our questions as to how do we compete in the Pac-12,” Dawkins said.

“When I first saw Chasson, I thought he was a winner. I also saw a young man who was very versatile in his play. … I think he adds another dimension to our team.”

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