Hansen's Sunday Notebook - Arizona Wildcats strategy: Win at foul line
- Updated
Star sports columnist Greg Hansen offers his opinion on recent sports news.
- Greg Hansen Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
Michigan State’s Miles Bridges, Kenny Goins and Nick Ward all authored rim-shaking, replay-worthy dunks in the first half Friday in Honolulu against Arizona.
You were almost waiting for someone to grab the ball off the head of MSU coach Tom Izzo, do a double-reverse, between-the-legs dunk to win a new car or something.
The TV people loved those dunks.
But no one said much about Chance Comanche, Kobi Simmons and Lauri Markkanen off-setting those first-half dunks with follow-up, almost boring, free throws.
They all counted the same.
By game’s end, the Spartans out-dunked Arizona 4-1 but those numbers were insignificant. The numbers that mattered were these: Arizona made 20 free throws, MSU five.
Free throws made are Sean Miller’s favorite statistic, followed closely by free throws attempted. That’s how Arizona beat Michigan State on Friday.
In the last three seasons, Arizona has attempted 2,707 foul shots; its opponents 2,032. That margin is the equivalent of 337 jump shots, but the difference is that Arizona averages 70 percent on foul shots and 47 percent on jump shots.
Miller plays the percentages, as did Lute Olson, whose teams paraded to the foul line year after year, an edge that Pac-12 opponents rarely foiled.
Get this: Arizona finished the disappointing 2015-16 season by losing four of its final seven games. What happened? More than anything, it was Arizona’s inability to draw fouls and shoot free throws at its normal frequency.
In those losses to Colorado, Utah, Oregon and Wichita State, Arizona was out-shot at the foul line 87 to 67. Over the rest of the season, in which the Wildcats went 25-5, the get-to-the-line strategy worked: Arizona out-shot its opponents 796 to 519 from the foul line in that 25-5 stretch.
One thing you might have forgotten about Arizona’s triumph at the 1997 Final Four: the Wildcats made 45 free throws in those wins over North Carolina and Kentucky, which combined for 17.
Now, as Miller begins the school’s Cupcake Campaign, a long series of McKale Center games against teams nicknamed Roadrunners, Antelopes and Pioneers, the real suspense is whether Allonzo Trier is allowed to play.
I suspect Trier’s eligibility will be determined early this week.
- Greg Hansen Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
Abdi Abdirahman turns 40 on New Year’s Day and the four-time Olympian from Pima College and the UA is not planning to retire.
He earned $65,000 last week when he was the first American to finish the New York Marathon, third overall, a compelling comeback from a leg injury that kept him out of the 2016 USA Olympic Marathon trials.
“A lot of people thought Abdi was over the hill,” said his coach, Dave Murray, the UA’s former head track and field coach. “But he became the oldest runner ever to sit on the podium (the top three) at the New York Marathon.
Abdirahman got a laugh from reporters when he told them about his conversations with fellow runners before and after the race.
“I was telling those guys I was in the Olympics in 2000,” he said. “They were looking at me like, ‘Really?’”
- Greg Hansen Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
Pat Nugent’s 12-0 Cienega Bobcats will play 12-1 Peoria Centennial on Friday night in the state 5A semifinals at Tucson High. Cienega has been a state football power for a decade, and has a 122-37 record dating to 2004. But that almost pales next to Centennial’s 135-15 since 2006, which includes five state championships. Centennial enters Friday’s game with 12 straight victories yet was only seeded No. 5 in the playoffs. Seems a bit off to me, but no one ever said winning a state championship would be easy.
- Greg Hansen Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
The AIA did no favors to Catalina Foothills for the 4A state semifinals. They are sending Jeff Scurran’s Falcons to an alleged “neutral site” game at Williams Field High School. That’s 2.9 miles from Higley High School’s campus in Gilbert. One of these years the AIA should consider more fairness and schedule some of these neutral site games in Casa Grande. Cienega High is 23 miles from Friday’s game at THS.
- Greg Hansen Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
When Salpointe Catholic travels to Scottsdale Desert Mountain High for Friday’s 4A semifinal against powerful Scottsdale Saguaro — that’s 10.7 miles from the Sabercats’ home field — it might be the best team Lancers coach Dennis Bene has ever faced. Bene knows excellence: Salpointe is 87-19 with a state title the last nine seasons. But in the same time, Saguaro is 107-14 with six state titles. As accomplished as Cienega, Salpointe, Sabino and Catalina Foothills have been this season, I think there would be great interest if those four teams played at Arizona Stadium for the Tucson City Championship. Maybe next century.
- Greg Hansen Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
Ironwood Ridge football coach Matt Johnson completed the season 9-3, which boosts his career victory total to 98. He should become the 12th prep football coach in Tucson history to join the 100 Club next September. After Johnson, Flowing Wells’ Mark Brunenkant has pushed his total to 94 victories at Flowing Wells, Douglas and Foothills.
- Greg Hansen Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
Four-time MLB all-star Ian Kinsler, a Canyon del Oro High School grad and second baseman for the Detroit Tigers, won his first Gold Glove last week. At 34, Kinsler has positioned himself to get in the conversation for the Hall of Fame. Of course, he’ll need at least four more Kinsler-type seasons to get there, but he already has 1,696 hits, 212 home runs and has scored 1,059 runs. Pittsburgh second baseman Bill Mazeroski got to the Hall of Fame with 2,016 hits and 796 runs. White Sox second baseman Nellie Fox became a Hall of Famer after 2,663 hits and 1,279 runs. Upon learning of his Gold Glove award last week, Kinsler told MLB Network that his foundation as a fielder started at Oro Valley’s Dennis Weaver Park, where his father, former Tucson prison warden Howard Kinsler, often took him to play “pepper.” Said Kinsler: “I’m not sure how many kids play pepper these days, but it sure helped me.”
- Updated
Arizona baseball coach Jay Johnson is a polished recruiter, which stems from his outstanding ability as a public speaker. His pitch to the 14 recruits who signed with the Wildcats last week is simple: The college path to pro baseball is more enjoyable and just as quick and effective as going to Rookie League and short-season Class A. Six of Arizona’s baseball signees were drafted by MLB but chose Johnson’s “college path.”
- Greg Hansen Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
As UA volleyball coach Dave Rubio signed three top-100 recruits in the Class of 2017 last week, his third consecutive nationally-ranked recruiting effort. There was one notable prospect who got away: Kalen Owes, an elite-level player at Phoenix Desert Vista High, committed to USC for the Class of 2018. Owes is the daughter of former UA basketball standout Ray Owes and one of Rubio’s foundational volleyball players at Arizona, Laura Bartsch Owes.
- Greg Hansen Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
Pima College infielder Anthony Felix — part of CDO’s 2015 state championship team that included future Division I players Max Smith, Nick Ames and Tristan Peterson — will sign to play at Washington State. Felix hit .390 for the Aztecs last year and is expected to be one of the leading players in the ACCAC in 2017. His former PCC teammate, Ryan Ramsower, is in his first season at WSU.
- Greg Hansen Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
If you watched any of UCLA’s season-opening basketball victory over Damon Stoudamire’s Pacific Tigers, you had to be impressed. I think the Bruins could get to the Final Four. Steve Alford has given control of his offense to dynamic freshman point guard Lonzo Ball, who operates a run-and-shoot offense similar to the Golden State Warriors; incredibly, UCLA took 30 3-pointers and has as much firepower as the Oregon Ducks. On Friday, Ball almost had a triple-double in his college debut, with 19 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds. The Bruins only drew a small crowd — 8,743, though it was closer to 5,000 — but by New Year’s I can picture sellout after sellout at UCLA. The Ducks drew a sellout crowd of 12,364 at Knight Arena for Friday’s opener against Army; it was the largest opening night basketball crowd in UO history in what looks to be one of the top years for Pac-12 basketball in memory. Even ASU drew 7,398 for Friday’s opener against Portland State.
- Greg Hansen Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
Catalina Foothills grad Austin Nehls, now the starting shooting guard at Division I Central Connecticut State, scored a team-high 18 points Friday in a victory over Hartford. Nehls swished four 3-pointers.
- Greg Hansen Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
Golf’s fickle nature: Salpointe Catholic and UA grad Jonathan Khan, in position to advance to the championship round of the Web.com Qualifying School last week, shot rounds of 65-71-71 but then shot an 80 at the worst possible moment to miss advancing by four strokes.
- Greg Hansen Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
When OB Sports took over day-to-day operations of Tucson’s five city golf courses, it inherited a notable deficit. The bunkers (sand traps) at Silverbell Golf Course had become unplayable after decades of neglect. Golfers avoided Silverbell and paid to play elsewhere. It is at the point the city might consider selling Silverbell to an independent party. But first, the city will pay about $70,000 to install proper drainage systems at Silverbell. If that works, and play increases, the city might consider repairing the similarly below-standards bunkers at El Rio, Randolph and Dell Urich. More golf: There has been chatter that the Tucson Conquistadores Classic, a PGA Champions Tour event, be moved to Randolph North. It would be more of a community event at Randolph, but the locker room facilities and parking issues are significant. Also, one year remains on the Conquistadores’ contract with Omni Tucson National. A bigger issue is whether the Conquistadores can sign a title sponsor.
- Greg Hansen Arizona Daily Star
- Updated
Last week was the NCAA’s fall signing period for most Division I sports, at Arizona and elsewhere, a time that 1975 Amphitheater state championship football linebacker Steve Doolittle remembers well.
“Arizona’s head football coach then was Tony Mason,” Doolittle said Friday, in town to watch his alma mater, Colorado, play at Arizona Stadium. “He came into my living room wearing this loud, checkered suit, and it just seemed over the top to me.”
Doolittle did not get the wine-and-dine treatment that 21st century recruits do; Arizona recruits are lodged at the Westin La Paloma. “When I visited Colorado,” he said, “we had to stay in the dorms.”
Doolittle, an Amphitheater High School standout, said he was intrigued by UCLA, which sent then-defensive coordinator Dick Tomey to Tucson to watch Doolittle play basketball. But the Bruins weren’t as aggressive as Doolittle hoped, and his college choices were narrowed to Colorado, Arizona State and New Mexico.
Ultimately, Doolittle chose CU on the advice of his mother, a single mom who worked at Furr’s cafeteria and was a house cleaner.
“She told me, ‘go away and become a man,’” Doolittle remembers. “My father died when I was 10. Leaving Tucson was the right choice.”
At CU, Doolittle made 231 career tackles, was the team captain in 1980, and later played in the USFL for Memphis and New Orleans, among other pro teams. He became an actor.
For Doolittle, a man his teammates and friends call “Dewey,” letter-of-intent day 40 years ago became a career home run.
Michigan State’s Miles Bridges, Kenny Goins and Nick Ward all authored rim-shaking, replay-worthy dunks in the first half Friday in Honolulu against Arizona.
You were almost waiting for someone to grab the ball off the head of MSU coach Tom Izzo, do a double-reverse, between-the-legs dunk to win a new car or something.
The TV people loved those dunks.
But no one said much about Chance Comanche, Kobi Simmons and Lauri Markkanen off-setting those first-half dunks with follow-up, almost boring, free throws.
They all counted the same.
By game’s end, the Spartans out-dunked Arizona 4-1 but those numbers were insignificant. The numbers that mattered were these: Arizona made 20 free throws, MSU five.
Free throws made are Sean Miller’s favorite statistic, followed closely by free throws attempted. That’s how Arizona beat Michigan State on Friday.
In the last three seasons, Arizona has attempted 2,707 foul shots; its opponents 2,032. That margin is the equivalent of 337 jump shots, but the difference is that Arizona averages 70 percent on foul shots and 47 percent on jump shots.
Miller plays the percentages, as did Lute Olson, whose teams paraded to the foul line year after year, an edge that Pac-12 opponents rarely foiled.
Get this: Arizona finished the disappointing 2015-16 season by losing four of its final seven games. What happened? More than anything, it was Arizona’s inability to draw fouls and shoot free throws at its normal frequency.
In those losses to Colorado, Utah, Oregon and Wichita State, Arizona was out-shot at the foul line 87 to 67. Over the rest of the season, in which the Wildcats went 25-5, the get-to-the-line strategy worked: Arizona out-shot its opponents 796 to 519 from the foul line in that 25-5 stretch.
One thing you might have forgotten about Arizona’s triumph at the 1997 Final Four: the Wildcats made 45 free throws in those wins over North Carolina and Kentucky, which combined for 17.
Now, as Miller begins the school’s Cupcake Campaign, a long series of McKale Center games against teams nicknamed Roadrunners, Antelopes and Pioneers, the real suspense is whether Allonzo Trier is allowed to play.
I suspect Trier’s eligibility will be determined early this week.
Abdi Abdirahman turns 40 on New Year’s Day and the four-time Olympian from Pima College and the UA is not planning to retire.
He earned $65,000 last week when he was the first American to finish the New York Marathon, third overall, a compelling comeback from a leg injury that kept him out of the 2016 USA Olympic Marathon trials.
“A lot of people thought Abdi was over the hill,” said his coach, Dave Murray, the UA’s former head track and field coach. “But he became the oldest runner ever to sit on the podium (the top three) at the New York Marathon.
Abdirahman got a laugh from reporters when he told them about his conversations with fellow runners before and after the race.
“I was telling those guys I was in the Olympics in 2000,” he said. “They were looking at me like, ‘Really?’”
Pat Nugent’s 12-0 Cienega Bobcats will play 12-1 Peoria Centennial on Friday night in the state 5A semifinals at Tucson High. Cienega has been a state football power for a decade, and has a 122-37 record dating to 2004. But that almost pales next to Centennial’s 135-15 since 2006, which includes five state championships. Centennial enters Friday’s game with 12 straight victories yet was only seeded No. 5 in the playoffs. Seems a bit off to me, but no one ever said winning a state championship would be easy.
The AIA did no favors to Catalina Foothills for the 4A state semifinals. They are sending Jeff Scurran’s Falcons to an alleged “neutral site” game at Williams Field High School. That’s 2.9 miles from Higley High School’s campus in Gilbert. One of these years the AIA should consider more fairness and schedule some of these neutral site games in Casa Grande. Cienega High is 23 miles from Friday’s game at THS.
When Salpointe Catholic travels to Scottsdale Desert Mountain High for Friday’s 4A semifinal against powerful Scottsdale Saguaro — that’s 10.7 miles from the Sabercats’ home field — it might be the best team Lancers coach Dennis Bene has ever faced. Bene knows excellence: Salpointe is 87-19 with a state title the last nine seasons. But in the same time, Saguaro is 107-14 with six state titles. As accomplished as Cienega, Salpointe, Sabino and Catalina Foothills have been this season, I think there would be great interest if those four teams played at Arizona Stadium for the Tucson City Championship. Maybe next century.
Ironwood Ridge football coach Matt Johnson completed the season 9-3, which boosts his career victory total to 98. He should become the 12th prep football coach in Tucson history to join the 100 Club next September. After Johnson, Flowing Wells’ Mark Brunenkant has pushed his total to 94 victories at Flowing Wells, Douglas and Foothills.
Four-time MLB all-star Ian Kinsler, a Canyon del Oro High School grad and second baseman for the Detroit Tigers, won his first Gold Glove last week. At 34, Kinsler has positioned himself to get in the conversation for the Hall of Fame. Of course, he’ll need at least four more Kinsler-type seasons to get there, but he already has 1,696 hits, 212 home runs and has scored 1,059 runs. Pittsburgh second baseman Bill Mazeroski got to the Hall of Fame with 2,016 hits and 796 runs. White Sox second baseman Nellie Fox became a Hall of Famer after 2,663 hits and 1,279 runs. Upon learning of his Gold Glove award last week, Kinsler told MLB Network that his foundation as a fielder started at Oro Valley’s Dennis Weaver Park, where his father, former Tucson prison warden Howard Kinsler, often took him to play “pepper.” Said Kinsler: “I’m not sure how many kids play pepper these days, but it sure helped me.”
Arizona baseball coach Jay Johnson is a polished recruiter, which stems from his outstanding ability as a public speaker. His pitch to the 14 recruits who signed with the Wildcats last week is simple: The college path to pro baseball is more enjoyable and just as quick and effective as going to Rookie League and short-season Class A. Six of Arizona’s baseball signees were drafted by MLB but chose Johnson’s “college path.”
As UA volleyball coach Dave Rubio signed three top-100 recruits in the Class of 2017 last week, his third consecutive nationally-ranked recruiting effort. There was one notable prospect who got away: Kalen Owes, an elite-level player at Phoenix Desert Vista High, committed to USC for the Class of 2018. Owes is the daughter of former UA basketball standout Ray Owes and one of Rubio’s foundational volleyball players at Arizona, Laura Bartsch Owes.
Pima College infielder Anthony Felix — part of CDO’s 2015 state championship team that included future Division I players Max Smith, Nick Ames and Tristan Peterson — will sign to play at Washington State. Felix hit .390 for the Aztecs last year and is expected to be one of the leading players in the ACCAC in 2017. His former PCC teammate, Ryan Ramsower, is in his first season at WSU.
If you watched any of UCLA’s season-opening basketball victory over Damon Stoudamire’s Pacific Tigers, you had to be impressed. I think the Bruins could get to the Final Four. Steve Alford has given control of his offense to dynamic freshman point guard Lonzo Ball, who operates a run-and-shoot offense similar to the Golden State Warriors; incredibly, UCLA took 30 3-pointers and has as much firepower as the Oregon Ducks. On Friday, Ball almost had a triple-double in his college debut, with 19 points, 11 assists and eight rebounds. The Bruins only drew a small crowd — 8,743, though it was closer to 5,000 — but by New Year’s I can picture sellout after sellout at UCLA. The Ducks drew a sellout crowd of 12,364 at Knight Arena for Friday’s opener against Army; it was the largest opening night basketball crowd in UO history in what looks to be one of the top years for Pac-12 basketball in memory. Even ASU drew 7,398 for Friday’s opener against Portland State.
Catalina Foothills grad Austin Nehls, now the starting shooting guard at Division I Central Connecticut State, scored a team-high 18 points Friday in a victory over Hartford. Nehls swished four 3-pointers.
Golf’s fickle nature: Salpointe Catholic and UA grad Jonathan Khan, in position to advance to the championship round of the Web.com Qualifying School last week, shot rounds of 65-71-71 but then shot an 80 at the worst possible moment to miss advancing by four strokes.
When OB Sports took over day-to-day operations of Tucson’s five city golf courses, it inherited a notable deficit. The bunkers (sand traps) at Silverbell Golf Course had become unplayable after decades of neglect. Golfers avoided Silverbell and paid to play elsewhere. It is at the point the city might consider selling Silverbell to an independent party. But first, the city will pay about $70,000 to install proper drainage systems at Silverbell. If that works, and play increases, the city might consider repairing the similarly below-standards bunkers at El Rio, Randolph and Dell Urich. More golf: There has been chatter that the Tucson Conquistadores Classic, a PGA Champions Tour event, be moved to Randolph North. It would be more of a community event at Randolph, but the locker room facilities and parking issues are significant. Also, one year remains on the Conquistadores’ contract with Omni Tucson National. A bigger issue is whether the Conquistadores can sign a title sponsor.
Last week was the NCAA’s fall signing period for most Division I sports, at Arizona and elsewhere, a time that 1975 Amphitheater state championship football linebacker Steve Doolittle remembers well.
“Arizona’s head football coach then was Tony Mason,” Doolittle said Friday, in town to watch his alma mater, Colorado, play at Arizona Stadium. “He came into my living room wearing this loud, checkered suit, and it just seemed over the top to me.”
Doolittle did not get the wine-and-dine treatment that 21st century recruits do; Arizona recruits are lodged at the Westin La Paloma. “When I visited Colorado,” he said, “we had to stay in the dorms.”
Doolittle, an Amphitheater High School standout, said he was intrigued by UCLA, which sent then-defensive coordinator Dick Tomey to Tucson to watch Doolittle play basketball. But the Bruins weren’t as aggressive as Doolittle hoped, and his college choices were narrowed to Colorado, Arizona State and New Mexico.
Ultimately, Doolittle chose CU on the advice of his mother, a single mom who worked at Furr’s cafeteria and was a house cleaner.
“She told me, ‘go away and become a man,’” Doolittle remembers. “My father died when I was 10. Leaving Tucson was the right choice.”
At CU, Doolittle made 231 career tackles, was the team captain in 1980, and later played in the USFL for Memphis and New Orleans, among other pro teams. He became an actor.
For Doolittle, a man his teammates and friends call “Dewey,” letter-of-intent day 40 years ago became a career home run.
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