โย Almost everyone in the NBA world knew that Arizona'sย Caleb Loveย would not be drafted last summer. But according to the Athletic, Love reserved a private room at an upscale Tucson restaurant on the day of the draft, surrounding himself with a dozen family members and Wildcat teammates. The celebration went bust. Love re-rented the private room for the second day of the draft and, again, he was not selected. Love told the Athletic he cried when he got home that night. There are no tears now. Love is averaging 11.3 points per game for the Portland Trail Blazers through 40 games. According to NBA bylaws, the Trail Blazers will have to cancel Love's two-way contract by the time he plays in 50 games, or send him to the G League. If not, they'll have to trade him, release him or give him a full-blown NBA contract. This is a no-brainer.
Portland Trail Blazers guard Caleb Love (2) dribbles past Sacramento Kings guard Russell Westbrook, back, during the first half, Jan. 18, 2026, in Sacramento, Calif.ย
โย Bob Sicilian, who grew up in New York City in the โ50s and โ60s and was an offensive lineman at Arizona from 1968-70, died last week. He was 75. Sicilian was best known as the head football coach at Sabino (1980-84) and at Palo Verde (1990-97), where he won 53 games. He worked under two state championship head coaches, Ollie Mayfield and Todd Mayfield, and was a career biology teacher. He was also Sabino's head baseball coach from 1980-84. Funeral services for Sicilian will be held Saturday at 10 a.m. at the Our Mother of Sorrows Catholic Church, 1800 S. Kolb Road.
โย Before Lute Olson arrived at Arizona in 1983, he created a legacy at Long Beach City College in 1970-71 with a state championship team. Last week, LBCC staged the inaugural Lute Olson Legacy Classic, a day in which six high school games were held at LBCC and the '71 team was honored. Among those honored was Gary Anderson, a star player in โ71 whose son, Ricky Anderson, was a key contributor to Arizona's 2003 Elite Eight team, averaging 10.7 points. Former UA reserve guard Dylan Rigdon was one of the sponsors of the Olson Legacy event. Rigdon is now president of the Laguna Equity Funding firm in Costa Mesa, Calif.
โย From 2010-23, the only Tucson sports figures inducted into the Arizona Sports Hall of Fame were Kerri Strug, Rodney Peete, Fat Lever, Mike Candrea and Dick Tomey. It was basically a Phoenix Sports Hall of Fame. But all that has changed the last three years as Abdi Abdirahman, Terry Francona, Richard Jefferson, Jerry Kindall, Mike Bibby and now J.J. Hardy, Michael Bates, George Young and Frank Busch will be inducted on April 9 in Phoenix. What happened? Influential Tucson insurance executive Cody Ritchie has become the title sponsor of the event, and UA grad Nikki Balich, who grew up in Bisbee, is the Hall of Fame's executive director. They have corrected the organization's path.
โย Arizona senior golfer Filip Jakubcik won the NIT golf championship at Omni Tucson National last week. He shot rounds of 67-67-68. How good is that? Jakubcik's career scoring average at Arizona is 70.73. That ranks impressively with Arizona's PGA Tour regulars Robert Gamez (71.02), Ricky Barnes (71.04), Ted Purdy (74.13) and Jim Furyk (74.39). Perhaps scores are lower today than 20 and 30 years ago due to equipment changes, but it still puts Jakubcik on a list with the UA's best-ever golfers.
โย Pueblo High's amazing America Cazares scored 44 and 31 points in the Warriors' two games last week, raising her career total to 2,718 points. She now trails all-time state girls scoring leader Julie Brase of Catalina Foothills (1994-97) by 195 points. Pueblo, 19-4, is ranked No. 2 in Class 5A and has four regular-season games remaining. If Cazares averages her current total of 33 points per game, she'll have 2,850 entering the state playoffs. It's not that Cazares has always had smooth sailing. In December of her sophomore season, she shot 0 for 23 and scored one point in a loss to Sunnyside. She knows the highs and lows and has become a certain all-state player.
