ESPN's Fran Fraschilla keeps working to make Arizona hoops feel at home in Big 12 era

In some ways, Wednesday night at McKale Center could have a familiar, Pac-12 kind of retro feel.

Arizona will be playing its in-state rival, ASU, one of four Pac-12 refugees who landed in the Big 12 last season. That means Sun Devil coach Bobby Hurley inevitably will be pacing demonstrably up and down the northeast sideline once again, while the Zona Zoo heckles him.

On the other side of the court, calling the game for FS1 will be former Stanford star Casey Jacobsen and Seattle-based Aaron Goldsmith, who handles Mariners television broadcasts during baseball season.

But it’s not often that way anymore. The Wildcats moved to the Big 12 last season, which meant they traded West Coast vibe for Heartland ethos. It means last season they visited Kansas’ Allen Fieldhouse for the first time in 17 years and played at Morgantown, West Virginia, for the first time in 74 years — and, even this season, are still making their first-ever appearances at places like TCU (Jan. 10) and UCF (Saturday).

It’s different. But ESPN college basketball analyst Fran Fraschilla, a former coach who has long called top Big 12 games, says he’s worked to make sure the Wildcats have felt welcomed — and respected — in their new home.

“My big thing when they came into the league two years ago was I wanted to treat them like they had been in the Big 12 for 20 years,” Fraschilla told the Star before the UA-TCU game Saturday in Fort Worth, Texas. “I’ve known Tommy (Lloyd, UA coach) forever. I know the nature, the history of the program.

“I wanted to make sure that we treated them like Kansas. You know Kansas gets a lot of attention and we've had the upstarts like Texas Tech and Baylor and even Houston and Kelvin (Sampson, Houston coach), but I wanted Wildcat fans to feel like Fran knows our team.”

That wasn’t the only bridge Fraschilla knew he had to cross for UA and its fans: Instead of Bill Walton routinely sitting courtside to work big ESPN broadcasts during the Wildcats’ final Pac-12 seasons, it has been Fraschilla doing many of their bigger games … not only because UA switched leagues in the summer of 2024 but also because Walton, who unabashedly advocated for the Pac-12, passed away that spring.

So Fraschilla and San Francisco-area-based Roxy Bernstein worked last season’s UA-UCLA game in Phoenix for ESPN while sitting next to Walton’s empty, custom-painted yellow chair. A high-rise version Walton was known to prefer because of back and leg issues with his 6-11 frame. The chair was also courtside for another game at McKale Center last season.

It may have also helped smooth things out that Bernstein and Phoenix-based Dave Pasch had also worked as play-by-play announcers on ESPN broadcasts with both Walton and Fraschilla.

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“We've always tried to honor Bill and Bill was such a part of Wildcat basketball,” Fraschilla said, noting that Walton’s son, Luke, played for the Wildcats before becoming an NBA player and coach, and that Bill once played an NCAA Tournament game at then-new McKale toward the end of his UCLA career in 1974.

“I do that kind of minutia,” Fraschilla said. “That's my minutia.”

Meanwhile, Fraschilla said he spent last season telling everyone who would listen that former UA guard Caleb Love would play in the NBA (which he is, now with another of Walton’s old teams, the Portland Trail Blazers).

“I coached 18 guys (who made the NBA). I know what that is,” Fraschilla said. “We have all these guys doing mock drafts, and I will say this, I asked every single person I knew at Arizona to tell me about him: ‘Is he a good kid?’ I couldn't get anybody to say anything bad.”

This season, among other things, Fraschilla said Lloyd “did the right thing” by betting on returning center Motiejus Krivas when forward Henri Veesaar transferred to North Carolina.

Fraschilla said during Saturday’s broadcast that UA “just didn’t have enough money in NIL, let’s be honest,” but noted before the game that it has worked out well for both the Wildcats and Veesaar, who is playing a prominent role for the 14th-ranked Tar Heels.

“As much as I love Henri, and I was on his bandwagon last year, this Mo Krivas thing is a great fit,” Fraschilla said.

Fraschilla could go on, and he did pretty much that while broadcasting Arizona’s 86-73 win over the Horned Frogs.

“What I love about this team is this is an old-school team,” Fraschilla said during the broadcast. “They play through the bigs, they play physically and they’re fun to watch. I’ve studied this team all season, and they have balance. I know it sounds like a broken record but if you’re looking for teams that can get to Indianapolis (for the Final Four) and win it all, you’re watching one today.”