Hansen's Sunday Notebook: These three hits from 2016 deserve a tip of the cap
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Star sports columnist Greg Hansen offers his opinion on recent sports news.
- Updated
The three best things (and one bad thing) about Tucson sports, 2016:
1. UA baseball coach Jay Johnson didnβt listen to those who said second baseman Cody Ramer couldnβt play.
"When I got here, people told me I should cut Cody or tell him to find somewhere else to play," Johnson told me recently. And why not? Ramer hit .178 a year earlier.
Midway through Arizonaβs captivating run to the College World Series championship game, Johnson turned to assistant coach Sergio Brown in the dugout and said "we need to go find the future version of Ramer."
"For my money," Johnson said, "he was the best player in the Pac-12."
Ramer led the league in runs, total bases, triples and was second in hits. He batted .348. He was the working symbol of Arizonaβs compelling burst to the national title game.
2. After finishing third in the NJCAA womenβs basketball finals in March, Pima College opened the year ranked No. 1. (The 10-2 Aztecs are currently No. 2.).
In the national championship tournament in Overland Park, Kansas the Aztecs stunned No. 1 Monroe Community College 74-73 to finish third. Freshman point guard Sydni Stallworth, who is probably no more than 5 feet 3 inches, led the Aztecs to the showdown with Monroe by scoring 16 and 21 points. But against Monroe, she struggled, shooting 1-for-9 afield.
"I still want her on my team in any situation," PCC coach Todd Holthaus said.
In the final 90 seconds, Stallworth went 4-for-4 from the foul line to produce what is likely the most meaningful victory in school history, 74-73.
3. The second-year Nova Home Loans Arizona Bowl drew 33,868 fans for Air Forceβs 45-21 victory over South Alabama. It was more people than at 18 other bowl games.
Air Force coach Troy Calhoun was so impressed by his six days in Tucson β five-star lodging, five-star weather, a list of team activities that had the Falcons going everywhere from Old Tucson to the Diamond Childrenβs Medical Center β that he said "you talk about big-time potential with a bowl, this absolutely has it."
The gameβs founder, Ali Farhang reacted by saying "we are just scratching the surface; schools will now fight to come to our game."
Farhang celebrated modestly by going out for a cheeseburger, vowing "Iβm going to get working on next yearβs game tomorrow."
One bad thing: Arizona rallied to threaten eventual Pac-12 champion Washington 28-27 with 17 seconds remaining in a late September game at Arizona Stadium.
Given the Wildcatsβ personnel issues at quarterback, running back and on defense, it was almost a football miracle. The Wildcats had the Huskies backpedaling and were 2 Β½ yards from one of the yearβs most stunning victories.
It was the opportunity that seldom comes your way. Tie or roll the dice?
Coach Rich Rodriguez immediately signaled his team would play for a tie, kick an extra point, rather than go for the throat.
The Huskies won routinely in overtime 35-28. Arizona finished in last place in the Pac-12 South, probably its worst season since 1958. Opportunity lost.
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The team of the half-season in Tucson high school basketball is Ismael Galindoβs Pueblo Warriors girls squad.
They are 16-1 and rolling. Pueblo has won 14 straight since losing to Rincon/University in November and they ripped through the Flowing Wells Holiday Shootout, 4-0. Juniors Alicia Reyes, with 58 points, and Ilyssa Galindo, with 56, made the all-tournament team.
Β
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The emerging name from the first-half of the boys basketball season is Mountain View freshman guard Evan Nelson, who is averaging 17 points and turning heads for Cory Duckβs 8-6 Mountain Lions.
Nelson, who played on the Arizona Power House Hoops AAU team that went 56-4 last summer, scored 24 points in his prep debut against Sahuaro.
He was so good over the summer that he was offered a scholarship by New Mexico before ever suiting up for a high school game. More recently, San Diego State, Vanderbilt and Davidson have expressed interest.
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Catalina Foothills grad Austin Nehls had the game of his college life last week, scoring 29 points against Fordham.
The sophomore shooting guard for Central Connecticut State is 10th in the Northeast Conference with 14 point average and third in both 3-pointers made and 3-point percentage (.456).
His father, Joe Nehls, was a first-team All-Pac-10 shooting guard at Arizona in 1979.
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One unfortunate omission from last weekβs Top 100 list of Tucson 2016 sports figures was bowler Bryanna Caldwell Cote, a CDO grad who was worthy of being in the top 10.
Cote won her first professional championship, the PWBA championship in Lexington, Kentucky, and helped Team USA win a silver and two bronze medals in the world championships in Cali, Colombia.
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Arizonaβs football recruiting momentum has slowed significantly. The UAβs three most recent commitments come from lower-tier recruiting ranks.
Linebacker Colin Schooler of Southern California had offers from Buffalo, Charleston Southern, Fresno State and Nevada. Linebacker Jose Ramirez of Florida has offers from Bowling Green, Northern Illinois and Old Dominion. California junior college defensive lineman Sione Taufahema was pursued by Arkansas-Pine Bluff and Montana State.
The poaching season of football recruiting is rolling; after visiting Colorado, Phoenix Desert Ridge linebacker Jalen Harris, a key recruit who committed to Arizona in August, was offered a scholarship by Pac-12 champion Washington last week.
Worse, defensive tackle Austin Faoliu of Orange County, California, who committed to Arizona in September, was offered a scholarship by Michigan State last week and has now scheduled a recruiting visit to Arizona State on Jan. 13.
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Pima College offensive lineman Jordan Agasivia, a 6-5, 320 pound prospect who visited Auburn, Oregon State and TCU, has chosen to sign with Utah. Arizona did not make an offer to one of the top prospects ever to play for the Aztecs.
A year ago, Arizona chose not to recruit Pima College standouts Timmy Hernandez, Wesley Payne and Landry Payne, all of who signed with Oregon State. Hernandez caught a touchdown pass when the Beavers beat Arizona, but the Payne brothers combined for just two tackles in 2016.
PCC safety Markell Simmons of Tucson High chose TCU, where he made just six tackles. Simmons made one tackle in Fridayβs Liberty Bowl. His brother, linebacker Markquise Simmons of PCC and Tucson High, last week committed to play for NAU.
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I donβt think Arizona or any college football team home for the holidays loses much, if anything, by not getting 10 or 12 extra practices for a bowl game. Thatβs overblown. The same guys who played in the regular season get all the practice snaps; the redshirts and reserves serve as fodder as coaching staffs concentrate on bowl game strategy, not developing players.
- Updated
I saw TV highlights of ex-Wildcat forward Aaron Gordon of the Orlando Magic score 30 points against the Memphis Grizzlies last week. Gordonβs improvement as a shooter is off-the-charts good.
At Arizona, he shot 42 percent from the foul line, the lowest figure in modern UA history for a starter. Now heβs at 62 percent. He averaged 12 points at Arizona, and almost all of that was from dunks, put-backs and foul shots.
But now Gordon, whose NBA career average is 8.3, has had 30-point games twice in a 12-day period (he had 33 against the Clippers). He is only 21. He could someday be an NBA All-Star.
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Former Wildcats forward Grant Jerrett made his EuroLeague debut for Chinaβs Beijing Ducks last week. He scored 18 and 17 points in successive games, second only to 39-year-old teammate Stephon Marbury. Yes, the same Marbury who played his last NBA game in 2009.
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Former Catalina Foothills baseball standout Luis Gonzalez has been chosen to Collegiate Baseballβs preseason All-American third team. Gonzalez, who hit .357 for New Mexicoβs NCAA Tournament team in 2016 (and also pitched 32 innings) will be a guest instructor with ex-Salpointe standout Donny Sands at the 520 Elite Baseball camp Saturday at Pima College from 12:30-4:30 p.m.
Sands is a New York Yankees prospect. There is no charge for the camp; ballplayers 12-18 are asked to bring two canned food items for donation.
- Updated
The difference between Tucson as a basketball town and the rest of the Pac-12 is this: The upbeat Oregon Ducks scored a riveting victory over No. 2 UCLA on Wednesday, drawing a rare sellout of 12,364 at Matthew Knight Arena.
Two nights later, against undefeated No. 23 USC, the Ducks drew just 10,051, which was inflated from an in-house audience that looked to be closer to 9,000 on the TV screen.
Oregon will surely fill the house when Arizona arrives in Eugene on Feb. 4, a Saturday game likely to be tipped off in prime time for ESPN (the game time has not been set). By then, the Ducks could be 10-0 in the Pac-12 and 21-2 overall.
- Updated
Arizona and Stanford sold out 14 of 16 games at Maples Pavilion from 1988-2003, when the Lute Olson vs. Mike Montgomery rivalry was the best of its kind in the West, and perhaps the most notable in league basketball history, the Arizona-UCLA series included.
But Montgomery has been gone for 12 years, Stanford is working on a third new coach, and Maples Pavilion is probably the second most dreary venue in the league, beating only WSUβs Friel Court. Stanford hasnβt finished in the AP Top 25 since 2008.
Stanford hasnβt drawn more than 4,661 all season and will probably struggle to match that Sunday night against Arizona.
After Arizona beat Cal on Friday, Sean Miller said that you "covet" road sweeps. No one at Arizona will have feelings of nostalgia for the old Todd Lichti, Adam Keefe, Brevin Knight Stanford teams that produced records of 30-2, 31-3 and 30-5 in the heart of the Olson v. Monty rivalry.
As good teams do, the Wildcats manufactured a victory over Cal, which has been a "Haas of Horrors" for Miller at Haas Pavilion. In 2014 and 2016 losses at Cal, the Wildcats shot 31-for-33 from the foul line at Cal and yet couldnβt overcome performances-of-the-year by Calβs Dave Kravish, who scored 14 points with 11 rebounds, and Jordan Mathews, who made six 3-pointers and scored 28 points.
Arizona won Friday essentially because Calβs only star-level player, power forward Ivan Rabb, was in foul trouble for the final 20 minutes.
Anything else probably wouldβve prevented a chance for a coveted sweep.
Sundayβs outlook: Another grind. Arizona 67, Stanford 61.
- Updated
Are 41 college football bowl games too many? Not when most of the games involve charities and become a feel-good project for their community.
I spent three cold and lonely days at an Arizona-Boston College 2014 bowl game in Shreveport, Louisiana, over New Yearβs Eve and New Yearβs Day β a car my colleague and I drove to a bowl-game dinner got stuck in a massive mud pit on a sleety and rainy night β yet the sense of community good prevailed.
I rarely hear complaints about 148 college basketball teams reaching postseason play in various NIT, CBI and collegeinsiders.com tournaments, and those events are quick-hitters, with little community investment.
Those like Tucsonans Mark Irvin, Fletcher McCusker and Jon Volpe who have helped to put the Arizona Bowl on the map in just 15 months without receiving any compensation, make it work and make it worthwhile.
The three best things (and one bad thing) about Tucson sports, 2016:
1. UA baseball coach Jay Johnson didnβt listen to those who said second baseman Cody Ramer couldnβt play.
"When I got here, people told me I should cut Cody or tell him to find somewhere else to play," Johnson told me recently. And why not? Ramer hit .178 a year earlier.
Midway through Arizonaβs captivating run to the College World Series championship game, Johnson turned to assistant coach Sergio Brown in the dugout and said "we need to go find the future version of Ramer."
"For my money," Johnson said, "he was the best player in the Pac-12."
Ramer led the league in runs, total bases, triples and was second in hits. He batted .348. He was the working symbol of Arizonaβs compelling burst to the national title game.
2. After finishing third in the NJCAA womenβs basketball finals in March, Pima College opened the year ranked No. 1. (The 10-2 Aztecs are currently No. 2.).
In the national championship tournament in Overland Park, Kansas the Aztecs stunned No. 1 Monroe Community College 74-73 to finish third. Freshman point guard Sydni Stallworth, who is probably no more than 5 feet 3 inches, led the Aztecs to the showdown with Monroe by scoring 16 and 21 points. But against Monroe, she struggled, shooting 1-for-9 afield.
"I still want her on my team in any situation," PCC coach Todd Holthaus said.
In the final 90 seconds, Stallworth went 4-for-4 from the foul line to produce what is likely the most meaningful victory in school history, 74-73.
3. The second-year Nova Home Loans Arizona Bowl drew 33,868 fans for Air Forceβs 45-21 victory over South Alabama. It was more people than at 18 other bowl games.
Air Force coach Troy Calhoun was so impressed by his six days in Tucson β five-star lodging, five-star weather, a list of team activities that had the Falcons going everywhere from Old Tucson to the Diamond Childrenβs Medical Center β that he said "you talk about big-time potential with a bowl, this absolutely has it."
The gameβs founder, Ali Farhang reacted by saying "we are just scratching the surface; schools will now fight to come to our game."
Farhang celebrated modestly by going out for a cheeseburger, vowing "Iβm going to get working on next yearβs game tomorrow."
One bad thing: Arizona rallied to threaten eventual Pac-12 champion Washington 28-27 with 17 seconds remaining in a late September game at Arizona Stadium.
Given the Wildcatsβ personnel issues at quarterback, running back and on defense, it was almost a football miracle. The Wildcats had the Huskies backpedaling and were 2 Β½ yards from one of the yearβs most stunning victories.
It was the opportunity that seldom comes your way. Tie or roll the dice?
Coach Rich Rodriguez immediately signaled his team would play for a tie, kick an extra point, rather than go for the throat.
The Huskies won routinely in overtime 35-28. Arizona finished in last place in the Pac-12 South, probably its worst season since 1958. Opportunity lost.
The team of the half-season in Tucson high school basketball is Ismael Galindoβs Pueblo Warriors girls squad.
They are 16-1 and rolling. Pueblo has won 14 straight since losing to Rincon/University in November and they ripped through the Flowing Wells Holiday Shootout, 4-0. Juniors Alicia Reyes, with 58 points, and Ilyssa Galindo, with 56, made the all-tournament team.
Β
The emerging name from the first-half of the boys basketball season is Mountain View freshman guard Evan Nelson, who is averaging 17 points and turning heads for Cory Duckβs 8-6 Mountain Lions.
Nelson, who played on the Arizona Power House Hoops AAU team that went 56-4 last summer, scored 24 points in his prep debut against Sahuaro.
He was so good over the summer that he was offered a scholarship by New Mexico before ever suiting up for a high school game. More recently, San Diego State, Vanderbilt and Davidson have expressed interest.
Catalina Foothills grad Austin Nehls had the game of his college life last week, scoring 29 points against Fordham.
The sophomore shooting guard for Central Connecticut State is 10th in the Northeast Conference with 14 point average and third in both 3-pointers made and 3-point percentage (.456).
His father, Joe Nehls, was a first-team All-Pac-10 shooting guard at Arizona in 1979.
One unfortunate omission from last weekβs Top 100 list of Tucson 2016 sports figures was bowler Bryanna Caldwell Cote, a CDO grad who was worthy of being in the top 10.
Cote won her first professional championship, the PWBA championship in Lexington, Kentucky, and helped Team USA win a silver and two bronze medals in the world championships in Cali, Colombia.
Arizonaβs football recruiting momentum has slowed significantly. The UAβs three most recent commitments come from lower-tier recruiting ranks.
Linebacker Colin Schooler of Southern California had offers from Buffalo, Charleston Southern, Fresno State and Nevada. Linebacker Jose Ramirez of Florida has offers from Bowling Green, Northern Illinois and Old Dominion. California junior college defensive lineman Sione Taufahema was pursued by Arkansas-Pine Bluff and Montana State.
The poaching season of football recruiting is rolling; after visiting Colorado, Phoenix Desert Ridge linebacker Jalen Harris, a key recruit who committed to Arizona in August, was offered a scholarship by Pac-12 champion Washington last week.
Worse, defensive tackle Austin Faoliu of Orange County, California, who committed to Arizona in September, was offered a scholarship by Michigan State last week and has now scheduled a recruiting visit to Arizona State on Jan. 13.
Pima College offensive lineman Jordan Agasivia, a 6-5, 320 pound prospect who visited Auburn, Oregon State and TCU, has chosen to sign with Utah. Arizona did not make an offer to one of the top prospects ever to play for the Aztecs.
A year ago, Arizona chose not to recruit Pima College standouts Timmy Hernandez, Wesley Payne and Landry Payne, all of who signed with Oregon State. Hernandez caught a touchdown pass when the Beavers beat Arizona, but the Payne brothers combined for just two tackles in 2016.
PCC safety Markell Simmons of Tucson High chose TCU, where he made just six tackles. Simmons made one tackle in Fridayβs Liberty Bowl. His brother, linebacker Markquise Simmons of PCC and Tucson High, last week committed to play for NAU.
I donβt think Arizona or any college football team home for the holidays loses much, if anything, by not getting 10 or 12 extra practices for a bowl game. Thatβs overblown. The same guys who played in the regular season get all the practice snaps; the redshirts and reserves serve as fodder as coaching staffs concentrate on bowl game strategy, not developing players.
I saw TV highlights of ex-Wildcat forward Aaron Gordon of the Orlando Magic score 30 points against the Memphis Grizzlies last week. Gordonβs improvement as a shooter is off-the-charts good.
At Arizona, he shot 42 percent from the foul line, the lowest figure in modern UA history for a starter. Now heβs at 62 percent. He averaged 12 points at Arizona, and almost all of that was from dunks, put-backs and foul shots.
But now Gordon, whose NBA career average is 8.3, has had 30-point games twice in a 12-day period (he had 33 against the Clippers). He is only 21. He could someday be an NBA All-Star.
Former Wildcats forward Grant Jerrett made his EuroLeague debut for Chinaβs Beijing Ducks last week. He scored 18 and 17 points in successive games, second only to 39-year-old teammate Stephon Marbury. Yes, the same Marbury who played his last NBA game in 2009.
Former Catalina Foothills baseball standout Luis Gonzalez has been chosen to Collegiate Baseballβs preseason All-American third team. Gonzalez, who hit .357 for New Mexicoβs NCAA Tournament team in 2016 (and also pitched 32 innings) will be a guest instructor with ex-Salpointe standout Donny Sands at the 520 Elite Baseball camp Saturday at Pima College from 12:30-4:30 p.m.
Sands is a New York Yankees prospect. There is no charge for the camp; ballplayers 12-18 are asked to bring two canned food items for donation.
The difference between Tucson as a basketball town and the rest of the Pac-12 is this: The upbeat Oregon Ducks scored a riveting victory over No. 2 UCLA on Wednesday, drawing a rare sellout of 12,364 at Matthew Knight Arena.
Two nights later, against undefeated No. 23 USC, the Ducks drew just 10,051, which was inflated from an in-house audience that looked to be closer to 9,000 on the TV screen.
Oregon will surely fill the house when Arizona arrives in Eugene on Feb. 4, a Saturday game likely to be tipped off in prime time for ESPN (the game time has not been set). By then, the Ducks could be 10-0 in the Pac-12 and 21-2 overall.
Arizona and Stanford sold out 14 of 16 games at Maples Pavilion from 1988-2003, when the Lute Olson vs. Mike Montgomery rivalry was the best of its kind in the West, and perhaps the most notable in league basketball history, the Arizona-UCLA series included.
But Montgomery has been gone for 12 years, Stanford is working on a third new coach, and Maples Pavilion is probably the second most dreary venue in the league, beating only WSUβs Friel Court. Stanford hasnβt finished in the AP Top 25 since 2008.
Stanford hasnβt drawn more than 4,661 all season and will probably struggle to match that Sunday night against Arizona.
After Arizona beat Cal on Friday, Sean Miller said that you "covet" road sweeps. No one at Arizona will have feelings of nostalgia for the old Todd Lichti, Adam Keefe, Brevin Knight Stanford teams that produced records of 30-2, 31-3 and 30-5 in the heart of the Olson v. Monty rivalry.
As good teams do, the Wildcats manufactured a victory over Cal, which has been a "Haas of Horrors" for Miller at Haas Pavilion. In 2014 and 2016 losses at Cal, the Wildcats shot 31-for-33 from the foul line at Cal and yet couldnβt overcome performances-of-the-year by Calβs Dave Kravish, who scored 14 points with 11 rebounds, and Jordan Mathews, who made six 3-pointers and scored 28 points.
Arizona won Friday essentially because Calβs only star-level player, power forward Ivan Rabb, was in foul trouble for the final 20 minutes.
Anything else probably wouldβve prevented a chance for a coveted sweep.
Sundayβs outlook: Another grind. Arizona 67, Stanford 61.
Are 41 college football bowl games too many? Not when most of the games involve charities and become a feel-good project for their community.
I spent three cold and lonely days at an Arizona-Boston College 2014 bowl game in Shreveport, Louisiana, over New Yearβs Eve and New Yearβs Day β a car my colleague and I drove to a bowl-game dinner got stuck in a massive mud pit on a sleety and rainy night β yet the sense of community good prevailed.
I rarely hear complaints about 148 college basketball teams reaching postseason play in various NIT, CBI and collegeinsiders.com tournaments, and those events are quick-hitters, with little community investment.
Those like Tucsonans Mark Irvin, Fletcher McCusker and Jon Volpe who have helped to put the Arizona Bowl on the map in just 15 months without receiving any compensation, make it work and make it worthwhile.
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