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AG's Wildcat Report - Dispatches on the Wildcats, from Anthony Gimino

Posts Tagged ‘Josiah Turner’

Arizona basketball: Early games to help define competition at center, point guard

Tuesday, October 25th, 2011

Kyryl Natyazhko celebrates after Arizona's win over Texas in the 2011 NCAA Tournament. Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images.

It doesn’t have to be decided this week, or next month, but Arizona Wildcats coach Sean Miller is going to have to make some decisions at center and point guard.

Those are the positions that are most up in the air as the Cats approach their exhibition opener Thursday night against Seattle Pacific. Somebody has to be out there for the opening tip, although Miller said that might not mean much at this point.

Junior Kyryl Natyazhko and freshman Sidiki Johnson are competing at center, which is the team’s biggest question mark.

“We’re not at that point where one player is a clear-cut leader,” Miller said.

“Both will get heavy minutes at that position. I would like to think that between the two of them, they can grow at that position and make us successful. Who is going to start, who is going to play more, it’s too early to tell and it’s not clear cut.”

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Sean Miller: Turner made ‘good decision’ to withdraw from Team USA tryout camp

Wednesday, June 22nd, 2011

Josiah Turner

It was a surprising decision when Arizona-bound point guard Josiah Turner decided to pull out of last week’s tryout camp for the USA Basketball U19 World Championship Team, citing scheduling conflicts.

Arizona Wildcats coach Sean Miller said Wednesday it was a personal decision for Turner, and that he was not disappointed that Turner missed out on the potential experience of playing for Team USA.

Turner, who left his Sacramento (Calif.) High School team and was eventually dismissed in January, finished the school year at Quality Education Academy in Winston-Salem, N.C. Miller said Turner decided to spending time home in California before starting classes at Arizona for the second summer school session on July 11.

“He could have gone to the camp, but he has already been away from home for the past five months,” Miller said.

“He would have basically gone from Winston-Salem to Colorado Springs to Europe and then straight to Arizona. I think he was making a good decision for the right reasons.”

Miller said six of his players are here for the first summer school session, and that everyone will be on campus for the second session. That includes junior center Kyryl Natyazhko, who had been invited to try out for the Ukraine team — coached by Mike Fratello — for this summer’s EuroBasket competition.

Miller said his team’s five seniors — Alex Jacobson, Kyle Fogg, Brendon Lavender, Jesse Perry and Dondre Wise (who will be a walk-on this season) — are in good shape to graduate next spring or summer.

Arizona signee Josiah Turner withdraws from Team USA camp

Friday, June 17th, 2011

Josiah Turner

Arizona Wildcats signee Josiah Turner has withdrawn from the USA Basketball U19 World Championship Team training camp because of unspecified schedule conflicts, according to a press release from USA Basketball.

Turner, a point guard, had been one of 21 players scheduled to be at the camp, which begins today. Twelve players will be selected for the team, which will compete at the U19 World Championships later this summer.

The timing of the withdrawal is curious, as it was announced on May 12 that Turner had been chosen to the camp in Colorado Springs, Colo., so there was ample time to prepare.

The camp figured to be good experience for Turner, who is expected to play a key role on next season’s Arizona team, especially with the recent transfer of starting sophomore point guard MoMo Jones.

Others from the soon-to-be Pac-12 at the camp include Cal’s Allen Crabbe (the Pac-10 Freshman of the Year last season), Cal’s Richard Solomon, Stanford’s Anthony Brown and Arizona State incoming freshman guard Jahii Carson.

Worldwide Wildcats: Bruschi climbs Kilimanjaro; UA hoops signee and more

Monday, May 23rd, 2011

Tedy Bruschi with a sack dance in 1994. Photo by Stephen Dunn, Getty Images Sport

Former, current and future Arizona Wildcats are always making news. Here is some of the latest:

Tedy Bruschi

The former All-American defensive end didn’t get into the College Football Hall of Fame last week — his ex-teammate Rob Waldrop did — but how cool is Bruschi’s latest adventure?

Bruschi recently climbed Mount Kilimanjaro with former Titans coach Jeff Fisher, former Eagles tight end Chad Lewis and four injured military service members to raise awareness for the Wounded Warrior Project.

He reached the summit and called it a “truly memorable experience.”

Bruschi writes about it for ESPNBoston.com.

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Arizona signee Josiah Turner to try out for USA U19 men’s basketball team

Thursday, May 12th, 2011

Josiah Turner

Arizona signee Josiah Turner, a point guard who rated the nation’s 11th-best prospect by Rivals.com, will try out for the USA Basketball Men’s U19 World Championship Team.

Turner is one of 17 players who accepted invitations to the camp, which will be held June 17-24 at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo. The team will be cut to 12 players.

Turner will be one of only three players at the camp who lack college experience. He will get a look at future Pac-12 competition, as Stanford wing Anthony Brown, Cal guard Allen Crabbe (the 2011 Pac-10 Freshman of the Year) and Cal big man Richard Solomon will also be at the camp.

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Arizona basketball recruits left off McDonald’s All-American team

Thursday, February 10th, 2011

Nick Johnson. ESPN3 screenshot

None of Arizona’s basketball recruits was selected to the prestigious McDonald’s All-American team, released Thursday.

Nick Johnson, an athletic guard from Findlay Prep in Las Vegas, was considered a strong possibility to become the first Arizona signee since 2007 (see list below) to be selected to the 24-player team.

(Dave Telep, a senior recruiting analyst for ESPN.com, tweeted that Johnson was among his top four omissions from the team.)

(Mike DeCourcy of the Sporting News tweeted: “McDonald’s All-America team is a joke. Arizona-bound Nick Johnson was one of the 3 best players in 3 different events I saw last summer.”)

Asked Wednesday if he thought any of his recruits had a chance to make the team, Arizona coach Sean Miller said, “I don’t know. I’ll tell you this, if they don’t make it, there are going to be some real unheralded guys play well at Arizona.”

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