Jordin Mayes is averaging 5.5 points per game. Photo by Kim Klement-US PRESSWIRE

The return of Arizona Wildcats point guard Jordin Mayes is still uncertain, but it shouldn’t be much longer now.

Mayes, who has missed five games because of a stress reaction in his right foot, is experiencing less pain than he was last week and was “almost pain free” in a Monday workout, coach Sean Miller said on his weekly radio show on KCUB (1290-AM).

“But it’s a delicate balance,” Miller said.

“The one thing we don’t want to do is put Jordin at more risk than we need to. Although he can play this weekend, what’s best for him, I don’t know.”

Arizona plays host to USC on Thursday night and then takes on UCLA in its home finale on Saturday at noon. The Wildcats end the regular season at Arizona State on March 4.

If Mayes doesn’t play this week, Miller said he would “become very, very optimistic” of Mayes being ready to play at ASU.

“The good news, if there is good news in this, is that I’m confident he will return to our team this year,” Miller said.

“He might not play on Thursday. Maybe he plays some on Saturday. That will completely depend on Jordin and what he’s telling us about his improvement.”

Mayes, who started 12 games, had settled into a backup role behind Josiah Turner at the time of his injury. He is averaging 5.5 points and 18.2 minutes per game. Without Mayes and forward Kevin Parrom (who suffered a season-ending foot injury on Jan. 28), Miller has used a seven-man rotation.

The coach said after a 79-70 loss at Washington on Saturday that his team wore down at the end of the game, which is one reason why he gave the players the day off on Monday — no practice, no film study.

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Arizona’s split on the Washington road trip was a wash; the Wildcats dropped only one spot — to No. 67 — in the NCAA RPI. Arizona’s RPI numbers doesn’t figure to move much if Arizona wins its final three regular-season games because the opponents are so poorly rated.

USC is 238th in the RPI, UCLA is 134th and Arizona State is No. 236.

A loss, though, would be devastating to UA’s NCAA Tournament at-large hopes.

The Wildcats are projected as a 12th seed in ESPN.com’s bracket posted Monday morning.

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Former Arizona guard Gilbert Arenas, who has avoided the spotlight for several months, sat down for a long interview with SI.com. Arenas, who recently had a workout with the Los Angeles Lakers, covers a lot of ground in part one of the Q&A. … The Wildcats are back up to No. 2 in the nation in 3-point field goal defense (27.2 percent, 137 of 503). … Senior guard Kyle Fogg has 179 3-pointers, good for eighth place on the UA career list. He has a chance to get to No. 4, held by Jason Terry (193). Damon Stoudamire is at No. 3 with 272.

Gilbert Arenas recently tweeted this photo of him face-planking a cake.

Sports Illustrated released its Twitter 100 list for the sports world, and two very different Arizona Wildcats made the list.

There is the unpredictable (is that a nice way to put it?) Gilbert Arenas, whose recent obsession with planking compelled our Christopher Wuensch to not only chronicle it but join in.

And then there’s Jennie Finch, who, on Twitter, just as in real life, is one of the sun-shiniest people on the planet.

Check out this Finch tweet from Thursday afternoon:

Sometimes all you need is a piece of watermelon Bubblicious gum & chew it like your 10 years old!

On the other hand, there was this from Arenas:

my twitter is for jokes and trash talkin if u dont like it go follow sumbody who cares about there image and wont say honest stuff

(University of Arizona alum Jeff Goodman, a national college basketball writer for CBSSports.com, is also on the Twitter 100 list … as he should be. He had news Thursday about Arizona sophomore guard Jordin Mayes undergoing surgery for a stress fracture in his foot.)

If only Jennie Finch could tweet to us why she was holding a soccer ball during the All-Star legends and celebrity softball game at Chase Field. Jerry Lai-US PRESSWIRE

As far as a UA-related Twitter list, who do you think should be on it?

It should start with athletic director Greg Byrne, who in the past several months has broken news on Twitter about football assistant coaches and basketball coach Sean Miller’s contract extension. And he gives away free stuff, too.

Derrick Williams is off to the Minnesota Timberwolves, but he is still entertaining and prolific on Twitter. There might not be a better place to follow his rookie season … whenever that will begin.

In addition to Arenas and Finch, there are all sorts of current and former players to follow, depending on which flavor you prefer. Same with following the local media.

If you’re new (or going to be new to Twitter), this list is one place to start for your Wildcat needs.

Let us know who you prefer.

You can follow the TucsonCitizen.com network on Twitter to get a feed of all our stories. But we have plenty of other things to say on our personal accounts — here’s Javier Morales, Christopher Wuensch, Steve Rivera, Brad Allis, Scott Terrell, the 110SportsPodcast (Matt Minkus and Victor Rodriguez) … and mine.

Gilbert Arenas, despite a troubled career of late, will have made around $160 million in salary when his current contract expires. Photo by Kim Klement-US PRESSWIRE

When Arizona’s Derrick Williams is selected in Thursday’s NBA Draft — with likely the No. 1 or No. 2 pick — it will start a new era for the Wildcats: He’ll be the first of Sean Miller’s recruits to move on to the next level.

But the meter is still running on Lute Olson’s former players … and that meter has passed three-quarters of a billion dollars in NBA salaries for the more than 30 ex-Cats who have (in many cases) gone from Lute to luxury.

Not counting money from endorsements, appearance fees, autograph shows, camps or any of that other stuff — strictly NBA salary — the grand total is approaching $770 million.

And that doesn’t include the very good living that several former Wildcats have made playing in leagues overseas.

There is still plenty of money on the books, too. Gilbert Arenas, now with the Orlando Magic, is still owed $62 million over the next three seasons, for example. The San Antonio Spurs are on the hook to Richard Jefferson for about $30 million over the next three years.

Andre Iguodala is in the middle of a six-year, $80 million contract. When that runs out after the 2013-14 season, he’ll be 30 years old — in line for another monster contract. In all, 11 former Wildcats were earning in the NBA last season. The meter is still running.

One day, it’s easy to see this all adding up to about $1 billion in NBA salaries for Olson’s players at Arizona.

Here is the breakdown (with current players in bold):

Sources: I have kept this database for several years, with the main source of information coming from the USA Today salary database and basketball-reference.com, as well as a variety of news stories and Tucson Citizen archives. The USA Today database and basketball-reference.com do not agree in all cases, but the differences are usually minor. Let me know in the comments section or at agimino (at) tucsoncitizen.com — if you see any corrections that need to be made.

Steve Kerr celebrates the last of his five NBA championships with the San Antonio Spurs in 2003. Photo by Matt Rourke/AFP/Getty Images)

Had an interesting discussion last night. Which former Arizona Wildcat has had the best NBA career?

The debate started on KCUB 1290-AM during the drive-time In the House show. Guest hosts Brad Allis and John Schuster posed the question for their listeners, with Schuster, in particular, making the case for newly-crowned NBA champion Jason Terry.

A couple of months ago, Terry wouldn’t have been in the forefront of the discussion. But he’s earned his championship ring — and he was especially good in the final two games as the Dallas Mavericks closed out the NBA Finals in six games against the Miami Heat.

But has Terry really had the best NBA career of all the ex-Wildcats?

That conversation continued later last night as Allis and Schuster joined me and TucsonCitizen.com bloggers (and former Arizona basketball beat reporters) Steve Rivera and Javier Morales at a northwest side establishment. Allis also blogs at TucsonCitizen.com.

Rivera said the choice was a no-brainer: Steve Kerr.

By virtue of Kerr’s five championship rings — three with the Chicago Bulls and two with the San Antonio Spurs — all the former Wildcats probably would trade their careers for Kerr’s. But that’s not quite the same thing as having the best career.

Kerr played 15 seasons, with a well-defined role as a shooter off the bench. He made an NBA career-record 45.4 percent of his 3-point shots (726 of 1,599). On the other hand, his career scoring average was only 6.0 points per game.

Terry has played 12 seasons, with little indication of slowing down. Since his rookie season, he has averaged less than 15.5 points only once — and that was in the 2004-05 season, his first in Dallas, when he still managed to score 12.4 points per game.

He has scored 15,537 points, which is 10,100 more than Kerr (5,437). Terry averages 16.2 points per game for his career.

But for pure scoring, no ex-Cat touches Gilbert Arenas, who has a career average of 21.2 points. For a while, he was one of the top five players in the game, averaging 29.3 points in the 2005-06 season and 28.4 in the following season.

Since then, injuries and off-court problems have diminished his production and his star power … and his postseason career has been nothing special, limited to a mere 25 games.

Then there’s Sean Elliott — 12 seasons, a 14.2-point scoring average, the 1999 championship with the San Antonio Spurs … and a forever-highlight: The Memorial Day Miracle, as he nailed a 3-pointer from the corner to beat Portland in Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals.

Damon Stoudamire had a 13-year career, averaging 13.4 points and earning about $100 million in salary.

Richard Jefferson has played 10 seasons, averaging 16.4 points, although his two seasons with the Spurs haven’t been as productive offensively. There is still time for him, like there was for Terry, to get that NBA title on the back end of his career.

Mike Bibby spent some years as one of the NBA’s best point guards. He still has career averages of 15.2 points and 5.7 assists, although he seems to be fading at 33, while Terry at the same age, seems to have a few years left in the tank.

Jason Terry kisses the Larry O'Brien trophy as the Dallas Mavericks celebrate their NBA championship. Photo by Mike Ehrmann, Getty Images

So, which ex-Cat has had the best NBA career?

Kerr has the postseason success and a shooting stroke for the ages.

Arenas has the prolific scoring.

Others have enjoyed long and productive careers.

Terry can’t match Kerr’s rings or Arenas’ scoring, but he is in a sweet spot of consistency, outpacing Kerr’s scoring, matching Elliott’s championship and now holding an NBA title that has eluded Arenas.

Based on all that, I’m going with Terry as the answer to this debate.

Welcome back to another edition of World Wide Wildcats, our sporadic collection of five links — Why five? Who knows? — regarding those who wore, do wear or will wear the cardinal and navy.

Here we go:

ComedyCentral.com: Stephen Colbert took on the case of ex-Cat Gilbert Arenas, suspended recently by the NBA for bringing a gun into the Washington Wizards locker and acting as if he lost his mind when he made fun of the incident by finger-shooting his teammates during pregame introductions. Said Colbert on the locker room incident: “I say good for him. How else is he supposed to defend himself against other players’ pit bulls?”

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Rivals.com: Safety Marquis Flowers, who committed last week to Arizona at the Army All-American high school all-star game, moved up to No. 78 in Rivals.com final ranking of recruits for this season. Flowers, from Goodyear’s Millennium High School in Goodyear, is a rare best-in-the-state commitment for UA, but being an Army All-American is no guarantee of success for would-be Wildcats. Check out all the USC commitments on the Top 100 list. Some things never change.

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The Oregonian: In a preview of Thursday night’s Arizona-Oregon State basketball game, Beavers coach Craig Robinson says Arizona is still mostly Arizona, even though the team’s record isn’t what it usually is. “There’s something to the confidence of being part of a program with such a rich history. Those guys wear that ‘A’ on their chests proudly,” he said. Talk about a media convergence on this web post. There is a link to the preview package from the Arizona Daily Star’s Bruce Pascoe, a press conference video from the Arizona Daily Wildcat and a Nic Wise photo from the Tucson Citizen. Networked journalism can be fun!

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ESPN.com: The son of Terry Francona, the decorated ex-Cat and the two-time World Series-winning manager of the Boston Red Sox (man, that is fun to type), is a Marine who could be headed to Afghanistan.

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New York Daily News: First-round NBA draft pick Jordan Hill hasn’t been seeing much time on the court, losing ground in the rotation to an undrafted rookie. But coach Mike D’Antoni says Hill is “going to get a chance here pretty soon.” We’ll see.

The least I can do is share them all.

Jerryd Bayless at Arizona in the 2007-08 season/Citizen file photo

Here are five recent stories that might be of interest:

Slam Magazine: A very interesting in-depth article about putting the Portland Trailblazers’ Jerryd Bayless through extensive offseason dribbling routines.

Arizona Republic: Former UA running back Chuck Levy has some legal trouble in the Phoenix area. Levy, an assistant coach at Chandler Basha High School, was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of drugs and possessing marijuana.

ESPN.com: Pac-10 blogger Ted Miller examines the difficulty of picking the best quarterback in the league. Could it be Arizona’s Nick Foles? There’s a lot of football to be played.

Washington Post: Gilbert Arenas is back from knee problems. Recapping his fine season debut with the Washington Wizards.

Houston Chronicle: There are now two UA alums managing in the major leagues, as Brad Mills leaves the bench of Boston’s Terry Francona and takes over the Houston Astros. Francona, as classy as they come, has lots of nice things to say about his former college roommate.