The Red/Blue game is just a few days away and already the Wildcat players are looking forward to it.

Arizona seniors Jesse Perry and Kyle Fogg sat down with the media to discuss the Red/Blue game, their early impressions of the team, the three-guard line-up and whether or not they miss Midnight Madness.

Part 1

Part 2

Get more Arizona basketball coverage at WildcatSportsReport.com

It has obviously been a challenging few weeks for Arizona junior Kevin Parrom and the Arizona basketball program. Parrom was shot in the leg a few weeks ago and Arizona Head Coach Sean Miller had to deal with the incident as both a basketball coach and a surrogate father figure.

Miller addressed the incident during Arizona’s basketball media day. (more…)

The basketball season is still nearly five months away, but it is not too early to take an early look at how the roster shapes up. We’ll start by looking at the point guard position.

Jordin Mayes (Rick Faust/WildcatSportsReport.com)

So MoMo Jones is gone and the Wildcat may have more overall talent at the position than they did a year ago. Jones will not be easy to replace. He was a leader and one of the players who proved he could hit big shots, but he was not a pure point guard. Prior to the Pac-10 season he was struggling, so much so that during the Bethune Cookman game I said to the person next to me “I wonder which MAAC school he’ll play at next season?” Well, I said Manhattan, it turned out to be Iona. (I also said Long Island, but they are in the Northeast Conference.)

By season’s end, I had changed my tune. The Cal game made many believers and Jones was one of the Cats’ most visible players, but he still wasn’t a point guard.

In my opinion a sophomore Jordin Mayes and a freshman Josiah Turner are more talented than a sophomore Jones and a freshman Mayes. They will miss Jones, but the talent to be better is there. (more…)

Over the weekend the EYBL (Elite Youth Basketball League) made a stop in Los Angeles. A number of Arizona recruits were on hand. Here is a snapshot analysis from WildcatSportReport’s Gary Randazzo on a handful of the Cats’ targets.

2012 PG prospect Omar Calhoun

Brandon Ashley – SF/PF (2012)
On Saturday at the HAX (Hangar Athletic Xchange) Ashley silenced his naysayers with a 34-point scoring outburst on 15-of-19 shooting. His points were great, but his passion is what impressed. I’ve written before that this current Arizona coaching staff is looking for players capable of dominating games and more specifically, the opponent. Ashley was not only the best player on the court, he was the most dominant.

Omar Calhoun – PG (2012)
Calhoun’s natural talent was on hand as he consistently displayed a solid crossover dribble and an ability to finish at the rim through contact. Calhoun has really nice shooting form and although he prefers to attack the defense off the dribble is not afraid to settle for the three-pointer when it’s there. At times Calhoun was forced to take difficult shots because of the shot-clock rule in effect, but otherwise made sound decisions throughout the weekend with the ball in his hands.

Aaron Gordon – SF/PF (2013)
Gordon stands out on any court thanks to a well-developed body and well-skilled arsenal of scoring, rebounding and shot-blocking ability. He’s as athletic as they come and attacks the glass as if he’s launching off a springboard. On one possession, Gordon had four offensive rebounds (in traffic) before finally tipping in a teammate’s miss on his fifth-consecutive board.

Katin Reinhardt – SG (2012)
This 2012 prospect can most certainly shoot the basketball. He drained multiple three-pointers from behind the NBA line and showed good rise on his jumpers elsewhere on the court. At 6-foot-5, Reinhardt has good shooting form (elbow tucked, high release, solid follow through) that will help him get his shot off at the next level.

For more on Arizona basketball recruiting, check out WildcatSportsReport.com

The last 36 hours have been crazy for Arizona fans, administrators, players and even the coaches. People around the Arizona basketball program have been going crazy while trying to get the latest info on whether the reports of Sean Miller going to Maryland were true. As stressful as it has been for the fan base, imaging how stressful it was for the four signed recruits and the two verbally committed players.

To their credit, the Wildcat coaching staff was in constant, permissible contact with the recruits or those close to the recruits starting late Friday night.

The staff informed their recruits of their intentions to stay approximately 40 minutes before the Wildcat administration released the information to the public. This insured the players heard the confirmation from the staff and not from a press release or a news story.

Throughout the day on Saturday the staff was honest about what was going on and what their intentions were. While reports out of the East Coast were certain Miller was leaving, the Wildcat recruits knew nothing was 100% and most felt confident that Miller was going to remain at Arizona.

Both Angelo Chol’s high school coach Ollie Goulston and La Verne Lutheran Coach Eric Cooper Sr. felt “confident” early on that Miller was going to stay at Arizona as long as a few issues were addressed. One other coach told Wildcat Sports Report’s Gary Randazzo that both Arizona assistants, Book Richardson and James Whitford, indicated they wanted to remain in Tucson.

While most of the sources do agree that Miller addressed a fondness for the East Coast, he really wants to “build a legacy” and be a coach who is thought of like Lute Olson and Coach K. are.

WSR was told that Miller indicated he was trying to get some additional improvements to the program, including further compensation for the assistant coaches

“We will continue to work towards getting better in all areas as we move forward,” Miller said in his statement.

Or as one of the coaches told WSR “He told us he ‘got a lot of things accomplished’.”

In the end, Maryland’s courtship of Sean Miller will be a stressful couple of days for Wildcat fans and little more. I am sure Greg Byrne and his staff in the athletic department had a few heart palpitations as well, but in a few weeks all will be forgotten.

Had Miller left, or had Miller and his staff not been upfront and honest in their dealings with the players, their parents and the coaches, then there could have been backlash. Since Arizona coaches had been in contact with players and coaches and not mentioned Maryland as late as Friday morning, a lot of bridges would have been burned had Miller left or had they stayed and not followed up with full disclosure.

Now it becomes an uncomfortable weekend and little more.

For the latest on Arizona basketball and football, check out WildcatSportsReport.com