Hansen's Sunday Notebook: For years, Wildcats fans are apt to wonder if Deandre Ayton was underused

When it matters most, Arizona fails to get winning production from its best players

Deandre Ayton’s celebrity is such that he is at the Final Four, making the rounds, and on Friday he told CBS Sports Radio in San Antonio that Buffalo’s NCAA victory over Arizona was a case of the Bulls “just wanting it more.”

“They were pit bulls,” he said. “They were aggressive and had purpose. You could feel the energy from their bench.”

Isn’t that what Buffalo should’ve said about Arizona?

Ayton took 13 shots against Buffalo, which matched his season average of 12.9 shots per game. UA fans are apt to wonder, now and forever, if Sean Miller took advantage of Ayton’s once-in-a-coach’s-lifetime skills.

Others have done so against Arizona.

When the UA’s Final Four hopes were crushed by Wisconsin in 2014 and 2015, the Badgers’ Frank Kaminsky attempted 20 shots in both games, scoring 57 points. Ayton scored just 14 against Buffalo.

In 2017 when Arizona was stunned by 11th- seeded Xavier in the Sweet 16, Xavier’s top player, Trevon Bluiett, took 17 shots and scored 25 points. Arizona’s go-to player, Lauri Markkanen took just nine shots, scoring nine points.

It’s a disturbing trend that doesn’t easily go away; in its biggest NCAA games of the last five years, Arizona hasn’t gotten winning production from its best players.

Does that reflect on Miller’s style? Did his stallion jog through the Kentucky Derby? Or is it a fluke?

Here’s a historical perspective of Ayton’s use (or misuse) at Arizona: When BYU had breakout star Jimmer Fredette, he averaged 14.7 and 20.7 shots per game. He torched Miller’s Arizona teams for a combined 82 points. Yes, 82 points in two games. Utilizing Fredette’s star power, the Cougars got max value, going 32-5 and 30-6.

Arizona went 27-8 with Ayton.

From 1999-2003, every Pac-12 Player of the Year attempted more shots per game than Ayton:

1999: Arizona’s Jason Terry, 16.3

2000: ASU’s Eddie House, 19.5.

2001: Cal’s Sean Lampley, 13.6.

2002: USC’s Sam Clancy, 14.9.

2003: Oregon’s Luke Ridnour, 14.2

More: Pac-12 Player of the Year Joseph Young of Oregon averaged 16.4 shots per game in 2016. Two years earlier, Cal’s Allen Crabbe, the Pac-12 Player of the Year, averaged 14.2 shots per year.

Allen Crabbe took more shots than Deandre Ayton. It’s head-shaking.

When Miller hired former Washington head coach Lorenzo Romar — a man known for his up-tempo offenses — and paid him $400,000 to add to Arizona’s offense, nothing really changed.

Arizona prepared for zone-centric Washington by consulting TCU coach Jamie Dixon for advice. Dixon had often faced Washington’s Syracuse-type zone while coaching at Pitt.

What happened? Arizona shot 2 for 12 from 3-point distance and lost.

With Romar on the bench, Arizona averaged 67.1 possessions per game. That’s 224th in the nation. All of those thoroughbreds on Arizona’s roster actually played slower than the 2016 UA team, a No. 6 seed, that averaged 68.3 possessions per game.

In the same 2016 season, Romar’s Washington team averaged 77.5 possessions per game, No. 2 in the nation.

But at Arizona, even with Ayton’s abundant athletic skills, Romar was no help getting him the ball more. Ayton averaged 12 shots per game, the same amount Wildcat Gabe York did in 2016.

Ex-Cat Matt Brase wins another big one

Catalina Foothills High School and UA grad Matt Brase coached the NBA G League’s Rio Grande Valley Vipers to the championship finals a year ago. On Friday, his Vipers beat the Texas Legends to advance to the Western Conference semifinals.

Brase joins Utah Jazz coach Quin Snyder and Toronto Raptors assistant Nick Nurse as the only three coaches in G League history to reach the playoffs three years in succession.

Now it gets tricky. The G League has made the first three levels of the playoffs single-elimination affairs. Brase will face Nick Johnson’s Austin Spurs on Monday; if they win they’ll play in the conference finals. The G League championship series, which begins next Sunday, is a best-of-three setup.

Here’s how former UA players fared in the G League this season:

Brandon Ashley, Texas, 16.2 points in 31 minutes per game.

Kobi Simmons, Memphis, 15.1 points in 31 minutes.

Nick Johnson, Austin, 11.8 points in 30 minutes.

Chance Comanche, Memphis 9.2 points in 18 minutes.

Kadeem Allen, Maine, 17.7 points in 34 minutes.

Former CDO star Chris Duncan's cancer returns

Sad to hear that CDO grad Chris Duncan, who played for the St. Louis Cardinals from 2005-09, is again being treated for a brain tumor. Duncan, 35, has taken a leave from his job as a sports-talk personality at St. Louis’ ESPN101 WXOS. “This tumor keeps popping up so I’ve got to do something about it,” Duncan said on WXOS last week. “So I’m going to step aside for a little bit, take a little bit of a medical break, and focus on one thing instead of multiple things.” Duncan was inducted into the Pima County Sports Hall of Fame last October.

Former UA wrestler, founder of Pima Sports Hall dies at 67

More sad news: Al Sye, the founder of the Pima County Sports Hall of Fame, died last week. He was 67. Sye was inducted into the UA Sports Hall of Fame in 2001 after winning two WAC wrestling championships and going 58-9 in his Arizona career. After leaving Arizona, Sye became a notable high school coach and teacher at Sahuaro and Palo Verde high schools.

UA Hall of Fame swim coach Frank Busch was a Loyola Rambler

As Loyola-Chicago burst into the Final Four last week, two of its proud alums watched with interest in Tucson: Arizona’s Hall of Fame swimming coach Frank Busch and his wife, Patty, not only graduated from Loyola in 1973, that’s where they met and began dating. Frank was a swimmer and water polo player for the Ramblers.

Rillito Racetrck ends year with record wagering handle

The Rillito Racetrack ended its spring horse racing session with a record wagering handle of $1.7 million, which included a record $351,000 on the final weekend of racing in mid-March. Jaye Wells, president of the Rillito Park Foundation, said that three years remain on a five-year lease from Pima County. Rillito signed an agreement with Churchill Downs this year to provide more financial resources via simulcast betting.

Tucson's Mackenzie McRee will participate in national tourney at Augusta National

Tucsonan Mackenzie McRee, 14, is at Augusta National Golf Club this weekend and will compete for the national championship Sunday morning in the Drive, Chip and Putt competition that precedes the Masters. Golf Channel will televise the event. An eighth-grader who has struggled with scoliosis while golfing, McRee won local, state and regional competitions to reach Augusta, a contest for boys and girls aged 7-15. She will be accompanied on the hallowed golf turf by her Tucson golf instructor, John Basden. The two work together at Ventana Canyon Golf Course. 

Amphitheater grad shooting low at college level

Amphitheater High School grad Jessica Williams was the only golfer in a field of 97 players to break 70, shooting 69 last week to lead Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University to the championship of the NCAA Division III Bulldog Classic in Indio, California. Williams, a sophomore, was medalist, shooting 69-77 in the two-day event. She is majoring in space physics at Embry-Riddle, where she plays for coach Kim Haddow, who was Annika Sorenstam’s coach at Arizona in the early 1990s.

Local College Football Hall of Fame to honor 10 high schoolers

The Southern Arizona Chapter of the College Football Hall of Fame will hold its annual Scholar-Athlete Banquet April 28 at the Doubletree Hotel at noon. Ten high school players from Southern Arizona will be honored. Guest speakers this year include Tucsonan Glenn Parker, a 1989 All-Pac-10 tackle who played 12 NFL seasons and in four Super Bowls, and last year’s UA starting guard Christian Boettcher, one of the most inspirational stories in college football, 2017. A walk-on at Arizona, Boettcher became a full-time starting offensive lineman in ’17, earning a degree in biochemistry. He has chosen not to play his final season of eligibility and instead will enter the UA Law School. Tickets for the banquet are available at rick72@aol.com.

Lancer Lathan Ransom still reaping benefits of monster season

In his sophomore football season for Salpointe Catholic’s state championship game club last fall, Lathan Ransom emerged as an impact player. He gained 695 all-purpose yards, made 48 tackles and intercepted five passes. College coaches noticed. In the last two weeks, Ransom has been offered scholarships by Arizona’s Kevin Sumlin, Cal’s Justin Wilcox and ASU’s Herm Edwards. Ransom got a fourth scholarship offer last week from Indiana Hoosiers coach Tom Allen. One of Ransom’s top competitors in Tucson prep football, Cienega senior receiver/back Terrell Hayward, has also been scouted closely and this spring has been offered scholarships by Army, Air Force and South Dakota State.

Tucson High's Neysia Howard running circles around her own records

In mid-March, Tucson High senior Neysia Howard won the 100, 200, long jump and anchored the winning 4x100 relay event at the Willie Williams Classic at Drachman Stadium. A week later, at the Nike Chandler Rotary Elite Classic, Howard broke her own THS records in the 100 (11.90 seconds) and 200 (24.45 seconds) and finished third in the long jump at 17-7½. On Friday, she won the 400 at the Mario Castro Invitational. Howard has a strong role model: her father, Tambotka Howard, won the state championship in the 200 meters and was second in 100 meters while at Cholla High School in 1993.

Wildcats leading Pac-12 in attendance at Hi Corbett

Arizona baseball coach Jay Johnson, whose team leads the Pac-12 in attendance at 2,623 through Friday, should add to those totals with an impact. Arizona will host No. 1 Oregon State next weekend at Hi Corbett Field, and follow with home series against No. 3 Stanford (April 20-22), No. 13 UCLA (May 4-6) and against Arizona State (May 17-19). Those 12 games could draw about 40,000. 

Playoff-bound Roadrunners drawing crowds of their own

Speaking of attendance: The Tucson Roadrunners, who this week are likely to begin preparations for the AHL playoffs, will host the Grand Rapids Griffins on Friday and Saturday night at Tucson Arena. They could top 10,000 at the gate; Saturday’s “Superheroes” Night promotion has a chance to be a sellout. The Roadrunners will follow with regular-season closing home games April 13-14 at Tucson Arena, and then await the Calder Cup playoffs.

My two cents: All-American game gives UA fans a glimpse of the future

For the first time, I watched the McDonald’s All-American girls basketball game last week on ESPN.

Three words: Change is coming.

Incoming Arizona freshman Cate Reese is really good. I mean it. Really, really good. Reese is a potential game-changer unlike any in UA history, with the exception of the late Shawntinice Polk a generation ago.

Reese is fully 6 feet 2 inches tall, runs the court, can create a shot, is athletic and instinctive. Most impressive was that she didn’t back down against a roster of All-Americans. She was a force. ESPN ranks Reese the No. 13 prospect in the Class of 2018 and she is all of that.

When UA coach Adia Barnes is able to deploy Reese with Washington transfer point guard Aarion McDonald, Purdue transfer Dominique McBryde and returning players Sam Thomas and Lucia Alonso, among others, the Wildcats will no longer be the sad 6-24 team of last year, a club that averaged a historic low 57.9 points per game.

I’m not saying Barnes, Reese, McDonald and the others will be an NCAA Tournament team overnight, but it won’t be long until the Wildcats women’s basketball team draws 4,000 or 5,000 at McKale Center and commands attention on Tucson’s sports landscape.