Kaleb Tarczewski goes up and under for two points at Washington on Thursday. Photo by Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports

There comes a time in every season when freshmen stop being freshmen, and Arizona coach Sean Miller says his young ‘uns have reached the tipping point.

He talked to his freshman quartet about that on the Washington road trip as the Wildcats swept the two games for the first time since 2006.

“All that experience will start to benefit us, and the biggest reason is they’re the greatest kids in the world and they work so hard,” Miller said Saturday night on his postgame radio show on 1290-AM after a 79-65 victory over Washington State.

“It’s just a matter of time as they continue to get better.”

Center Kaleb Tarczewski (6.2 points, 5.8 rebounds per game) is in his best stretch of the season. He has scored 10 points — matching his career high — in three consecutive games.

“The team is doing a great job of getting me the ball in positions I can score,” Tarczewski said in a postgame interview with 1290-AM’s Matt Muehlebach.

“Coach has been calling a few plays to get me the ball down low, and I’m trying to capitalize on that unselfishness by the rest of the team.”

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The regulars in Arizona’s rotation cheer on the reserves late in the second half against USC. Photo by Casey Sapio-USA TODAY Sports

I’d say the loudest McKale Center got Saturday night was when Nick Johnson shook free for an open drive and a reverse dunk (video below).

I’d say the second loudest was when a backup post player averaging 1.9 points and 1.9 rebounds entered the game with 8:25 left in the first half.

And perhaps the third loudest moment came when a backup freshman guard who hadn’t played in the six previous Pac-12 games, nailed a 3-point shot.

It was that kind of night for the Arizona Wildcats, with their easy 74-50 victory giving coach Sean Miller the opportunity to use the ninth and 10th players in his rotation — sophomore Angelo Chol and freshman Gabe York.

Afterward, Miller delivered one of the best anecdotes of the season, and it will only serve to make Chol more of a fan favorite than he already is.

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Arizona Wildcats signee Gabe York started his playoff run with a dunk so good that his coach called it “maybe the best I have ever seen in a high school game,” according to the L.A. Times.

You be the judge. The video speaks for itself.

York scored 26 points to lead Orange Lutheran High School in Orange, Calif,. to a 70-46 win over Dana Hills in the team’s opening game of the state 1A playoffs on Friday night.

York — who is listed at either 6-1 or 6-2 — is part of Arizona’s top-ranked, four-player recruiting class. He is rated No. 31 nationally by Rivals.com and 247Sports. Scout.com ranks York at No. 47.

Read more about York’s game from Gary Randazzo of WildcatSportsReport.com, one of our partners in the TucsonCitizen.com Sports Network. Randazzo was at York’s game Friday night.

Gabe York is averaging about 30 points per game as a senior in high school. Photo by Gary Randazzo, Wildcat Sports Report

Arizona basketball signee Gabe York will likely miss at least a few weeks of high school ball after undergoing an appendectomy last weekend.

The news was first reported by Gary Randazzo of WildcatSportsReport.com, one of the partners in the TucsonCitizen.com Sports Network.

York, a 6-foot-1 guard from Orange (Calif.) Lutheran High School, was coming off a big tournament performance last week, leading his team to the championship of the Dick’s Sporting Goods Orange Holiday Classic on Dec. 28.

York, a consensus top 50 recruit, is part of a four-play recruiting class that is ranked No. 1 in the country by all the major recruiting services.

The L.A. Times reported Wednesday night that York could miss several weeks, although WildcatSportsReport.com pegged the timetable as 2 to 3 weeks.

Where York ranks nationally

Gabe York at the Boost Mobile Elite event in August. Photo by Gary Randazzo, Wildcat Sports Report

Arizona basketball signee Gabe York is “the guy that simply finds a way to score,” said ESPN recruiting analyst Dave Telep.

Telep was quoted in an ESPN.com story on York earlier this week. York, a 6-goot-1 guard, then scored 38 points for Orange (Calif.) Lutheran High School in the semifinals of the Dick’s Sporting Goods Orange Holiday Classic on Wednesday night.

York scored big again a night later, with 30 points — including a 3-pointer at the end of regulation that sent the game into overtime — as his team defeated Foothill High 68-60.

In the process, York became the school’s career leading scorer with 1,922 points.

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Gabe York

6-1, 170

Orange (Calif.) Lutheran High School

What Arizona Wildcats coach Sean Miller says about York:

“I saw Gabe play a lot over the last two years. He is a very explosive scorer. He can shoot the 3. I think one of the things that is sometimes overlooked in the transition from high school to college is if you can really shoot the ball, the game seems to come easier, the adjustment is a little bit simpler.

“Gabe, I believe, can play some point guard. But his ability to really score and his explosiveness — not just shooting the 3 but getting to the basket — is really exciting. Gabe, especially once he gets bigger and stronger, will be a really gifted scorer for us.”

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Sean Miller has the best recruiting class in the nation, hands down. Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images

Arizona Wildcats basketball coach Sean Miller has the unanimous No. 1 recruiting class in the nation, although he won’t comment on it until Monday.

He’s waiting until Grant Jerrett signs at a ceremony at his high school — Lutheran High in La Verne, Calif.

In the meantime, plenty of others are commenting about Arizona’s recruiting haul that includes four top 50 players, as rated by six different organizations.

There is 6-8 power forward Brandon Ashley (who might eventually be able to play a small forward position), 7-footer Kaleb Tarczewski, shooting guard Gabe York and Jerrett, a 6-9 power forward.

Perhaps the best quote came from Dave Telep, a senior recruiting analyst for ESPN.com.

“You could dump Sean Miller in Russia, and he’s going to come up with a great recruiting class,” Telep told USA Today.

“He’s a chameleon. There were questions about bringing an East Coast guy out west — how would it work? (The Wildcats) own the West Coast right now.”

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Sean Miller has the program pointed toward another highly rated recruiting class. Photo by Kirby Lee/Image of Sport-US PRESSWIRE

ESPNU has updated its basketball recruiting rankings for the 2012 class, with two Arizona recruits rated among the nation’s finest.

Grant Jerrett, a 6-10 forward from Lutheran High School in La Verne, Calif., is No. 10 nationally. Gabe York, a 6-1 guard from Orange (Calif.) Lutheran is rated No. 37.

As it is, ESPN’s ranks these two committed players as the third-best recruiting class in the nation.

There is still a long way to go, though, and coach Sean Miller is pushing for two more top 10 recruits — forward Brandon Ashley of Findlay Prep in Henderson, Nev. (the same school as UA incoming freshman Nick Johnson) and 7-footer Kaleb Tarczewski from St. Mark’s in Southborough, Mass.

ESPNU rates Ashley as the fifth-best prospect in the country. Tarczewski is No. 7.

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