– If you go through the drive-thru line at Tucson's Raising Cane's locations, you will see Arizona point guard Jaden Bradley on a video board, promoting their products. Bradley, Mr. Clutch, has been fortunate to take advantage of the Wildcats' NIL program. Imagine if there had been an NIL program in the days of Tedy Bruschi or Jennie Finch. They would have made tens of thousands of dollars, too.
Arizona guard Jaden Bradley reacts in the second half against UConn, Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2025, in Storrs, Conn.
– Arizona freshman wing Ivan Kharchenkov is the son of Alexander "Sascha" Kharchenkov, one of the top basketball players in Soviet Union history. Sascha played a prominent role on Russia's 1974 FIBA world championship team. The Russians beat Team USA in the semifinals that year. The American team was led by former Utah star Ticky Burden, who once scored 36 points against Arizona. Burden's grandson, Luther Burden III, is now a receiver for the Chicago Bears. Sascha Kharchenkov is now a coach in Germany for a 12U "minibasketball" program. Sascha is probably the third-best father of a former UA basketball player, following Henry Bibby (Mike) and Bill Walton (Luke).
– The only Tucsonan involved in Sunday's NFL playoff games is Ron Gould, running backs coach for the Los Angeles Rams. In 1982, Gould was an honorable mention all-city defensive back at Santa Rita High School. The city's top players that year were Sahuaro's Rodney Peete (USC), Salpointe's Buck Roggeman (Stanford) and future UA players Jerry Beasley (Sunnyside) and Craig Reeves (Sahuaro). But Gould persevered, playing at Scottsdale Community College, Wichita State and Oregon. He has since been a coach at Stanford, Cal, Boise State and was the head coach at UC-Davis for five seasons. He is married to Pac-12 commissioner Teresa Gould. Talk about a success story.
Los Angeles Rams running backs coach Ron Gould watches during a game against the New Orleans Saints, Dec. 1, 2024, in New Orleans.
– Three years ago, Pueblo High sophomore Isaiah Hill was a rising star in Arizona prep basketball. He averaged 21.9 points as a Pueblo junior. He then transferred to Premier Prep Academy, a Tucson online academy for basketball. Now a freshman starter on Pima College's 20-0 team, Hill has been sizzling. Through Friday, he was averaging 15.1 points, shooting an incredible 64% from the field and 56% on 3-pointers. He is also No. 1 in the ACCAC with 72 steals. Hill scored 1,153 points in his three years at Pueblo and has proven it was no fluke. He is now attempting to lead the undefeated Aztecs to the national championship.
– Bobby Hurley referred to his ASU basketball program with words such as "dreadful" and "futile" after Wednesday's home loss to West Virginia. He said "we don't give our fans any reason to show up with enthusiasm." That was probably Hurley's way of signing off, knowing his contract will not be renewed at the end of the season. Hurley remains one of the greatest point guards in college basketball history, but for whatever reason — sort of like other college Hall of Famers (Juwan Howard at Michigan, Steve Alford at Nevada and Hubert Davis at North Carolina) — he hasn't been able to translate his playing ability to the coaching box. It would be easy to say ASU can't afford to get the hire of its next basketball coach wrong, but that's what the Sun Devils have been saying since 1982.
