– Those (like me) who thought Caleb Love would not be a productive NBA player are being proven wrong. In his last five games for the Portland Trail Blazers (through Friday), Love scored 95 points and made 22 of 46 3-point shots. Wow. Just as impressive, he averaged 30 minutes per game in those five games. Love has not yet played in a G League game, which seemed to be his destination after leaving Arizona last season.
Portland Trail Blazers guard Caleb Love (2) drives down the court in the second half against the Detroit Pistons, Dec. 22, 2025, in Portland, Ore.
– Salpointe Catholic High School grad Bijan Robinson rushed for 195 yards in last week's Monday Night Football game against the favored Los Angeles Rams. With 1,445 yards this season, No. 4 in the NFL, Robinson is sure to be a Pro Bowl selection for the second time in his three NFL seasons. Rushing for 195 yards in a game is nothing new to Robinson; at Salpointe, he gained 430 yards rushing against Desert Edge in 2019, a season he also rushed for 347 yards in a game against Casa Grande. In all, Robinson rushed for 200 or more yards 13 times in his remarkable Salpointe career, including 303 in the 2017 state playoff game against St. Mary's. Robinson completed his Tucson days with a state-record (for big schools) 7,036 rushing yards.
– Former Sunnyside High wrestler Sergio Vega, who went 140-2 in his Blue Devil career, winning four state championships, has taken it to another level as a freshman at Oklahoma State. Vega is already ranked No. 2 in the NCAA at 141 pounds and pinned defending NCAA champion Brock Hardy of Nebraska last week. Four of Vega's 10 victories through last week were against wrestlers ranked in the Top 10 at 141 pounds.
– Those who have suggested former Utah football coach Kyle Whittingham's move to Michigan is a risk because Whittingham is 66 should review Lute Olson’s career. After Olson turned 66 in 2000, he led Arizona to the 2001 Final Four, the 2003 Elite 8 and the 2005 Elite 8. He won three Pac-10 championships and won 157 games from age 66 to 71, or 26 per season. It's a far better hire than the UFL's transactions last week, when the Houston Gamblers hired 61-year-old Kevin Sumlin as head coach and the Dallas Renegades hired 63-year-old Rick Neuheisel as head coach, both of whom were fired in the Pac-12 by Arizona and UCLA, respectively. Did the Gamblers do any research on Sumlin at all? He was inept at Arizona. I think it's 50-50 that Whittingham wins a national championship at Michigan.
– I thought Bobby Dalbec was Arizona's best baseball player on its 2016 College World Series team that was ranked as high as No. 2 in the nation and reached the national championship game with a 49-23 record under first-year head coach Jay Johnson. Seven players on that team reached the big leagues. Dalbec was a third baseman-pitcher who hit 11 home runs and batted .319 as a sophomore and, a year later, in 2016, won 11 games while pitching 100 innings. When he reached the big leagues with the Boston Red Sox in 2021, Dalbec was a phenom. He hit 25 homers with 78 RBIs and became a Fenway Park favorite. But then, unaccountably, Dalbec slumped. He lost his starting job and bounced between Triple A and Boston, and last year was a sub for the White Sox and at Kansas City. Last week, at 30, Dalbec signed to play with the Yomuri Giants of the Japanese baseball league. It's the same path taken by ex-Wildcat stars Jack Howell and George Arias, both of whom played at Pima College and became stars in Japan after their MLB careers ended.
