Hansen's Sunday Notebook: Wildcats' Deandre Ayton has skills, drive to be Arizona's Answer in March

In the winner’s locker room Thursday night at Wells Fargo Arena, Sean Miller sent a reinforcing message to Deandre Ayton.

“If you ever needed a reminder of what makes us great,” Miller said in a video released via Twitter, “we were going to the rim, we were throwing it inside.

“Andre, you took over the game. Your effort was amazing and as this team goes, you go, and as you go, this team goes. You set the standard: Every big rebound, every big play, you were there and everyone fed off it.”

It’s clear that Miller wants Ayton to fully believe and accept that he is the straw that stirs the drink. Sometimes it appears that neither Ayton nor the Wildcats get the message, and isn’t that why they’ve struggled periodically?

In the first 13 minutes of the second half at Wells Fargo Arena, Ayton was not much of a factor. He took just three shots and scored four points. The Sun Devils forged into the lead. Incredibly, the Wildcats didn’t make it a priority to get Ayton involved.

He didn’t take his first shot of the second half until 13:59 remained.

But in the final seven minutes, Ayton was The Answer.

He scored 13 points and had eight rebounds. ASU coach Bobby Hurley later said Ayton is the best big man he’s seen in college basketball.

Why wait so long for Ayton to be The Answer every game? Is it as simple as him asserting himself?

When Shaquille O’Neal was an LSU freshman in 1990, he attempted 9.8 shots per game; Ayton is at 12.7. A year later, as Shaq got more comfortable being the go-to guy, he almost doubled his shots-per-game average to 17.9.

Look, Ayton isn’t the best to ever play at Arizona, no matter what the analysts say. Sean Elliott could score off the dribble, create a shot in traffic, hit a 3-pointer at any time and, perhaps most impressive, he was the best clutch shooter in UA history, big game upon big game. He wanted the ball when the Pac-10 championship was on the line at Pauley Pavilion.

Elliott was the basketball equivalent of baseball’s five-tool player. His instincts for the game set him apart.

Ayton isn’t a five-tool player. But he is the most physically imposing man in college basketball, able to run the court with guards, shoot from 3-point distance and, I’m guessing, win a pick-the-quarter-off-the-top-of-the-backboard contest.

If Miller’s message ever fully sinks in — if Ayton chooses to play the first 13 minutes of the half the way he played the last seven Thursday night — it won’t really matter what seed Arizona gets in the NCAA Tournament.

The Wildcats will have The Answer for everyone.

When UCLA was in Tucson a week ago, the Bruins’ top recruiter, David Grace, went to Salpointe Catholic High School to evaluate sophomore point guard Evan Nelson, who is popping up on the recruiting radar of top-25 teams.

But because Nelson missed the first half of the Lancers’ season, gaining eligibility after a transfer from Mountain View, the player-of-the-year race in Tucson might be a one-man contest: Cholla senior point guard Marcel Dean.

Dean completed his high school career last week with a 21-point scoring average. More importantly, he helped the Chargers to an 81-24 record in his high school career, scoring 1,314 points.

A better story might be that he played for his father, Cholla coach Masai Dean, who has gone 143-52 in just seven seasons, establishing Cholla as one of Southern Arizona’s leading basketball schools.

Marcel and Masai Dean join a more select group among father-son combos in Tucson prep basketball history. Here’s the company they now keep:

• Coach Jim Flannery and son Sean Flannery, Salpointe Catholic, 1989-1992. Jim coached more than 300 victories; Sean was a two-time all-state selection.
• Coach Dick McConnell, a four-time state champion, and son Rick McConnell, Sahuaro, 1971-74.
• Coach Bud Doolen, a four-time state champion of Tucson High, and son Buddy Doolen, of Catalina. Coach Doolen died before his son entered high school in 1958. Buddy played on the 1961 state championship team at Catalina.
• Coach Dick King and son Steve King of Rincon. Coach King, a state champion in 1965, retired from coaching before his sons reached high school age in 1973. Steve played in the 1976 state championship game.
• Roland LaVetter and Lance LaVetter, Rincon, 1984-86. LaVetter coached back-to-back state championships at Pueblo, 1977-78.

Arizona coaches scouted Bakersfield basketball player Edward “Squid” Turner in California last week. Sound familiar? His father, Joe Turner, was the sixth man on Arizona’s 1988 Final Four team, a Foothill High School alumnus and its former basketball coach. With a 7-foot-3-inch wingspan, the 6-7 “Squid” is averaging 15.5 points and 11.3 rebounds at Foothill. Though he is being recruited mostly by middle-tier programs, he has a legacy to Arizona like few others. His sister, Jade Turner, was a rotation player for Arizona volleyball coach Dave Rubio last year.

It's time to welcome WR Tre Adams to the #ATeam18 family!#ATeam18 | #BearDown pic.twitter.com/qpZ6G5G6yy

— Arizona Football (@ArizonaFBall) December 20, 2017

Talking about athletic legacies: Texas prep receiver Tre Adams, who signed with Arizona in the football class of 2018, has an impressive family athletic background. His mother, Jenni Ruff Adams, led the Pac-10 in scoring, 23.6 points per game, at Washington State in 1996. His father, Kearney Adams, was one of WSU’s star receivers in the Ryan Leaf years in the 1990s. Tre’s grandparents, Gary and Sally Haslett, live in Saddlebrooke.

Stanley Johnson, the 2015 Pac-12 basketball Freshman of the Year, attended Thursday’s UA-ASU game at Wells Fargo Arena. For whatever reason, he wore an ASU-gold sweatshirt. It was inappropriate, especially since he spent time in the UA locker room before and after the game. What happened? My guess is that Johnson spent so little time at Arizona, about eight months, that he truly didn’t know what ASU’s school colors are. He only played one game in Tempe, and ASU was not good that season, 18-16. The Sun Devils later fired coach Herb Sendek. I would guess that Johnson, now with the Detroit Pistons, couldn’t tell you the school colors of Cal, Oregon State and Washington State, either. That’s college basketball in the one-and-done era.

Lauri Markkanen reached the NBA All-Star break averaging 15.3 points and 7.7 rebounds per game for the Chicago Bulls. So much for transitioning from college to the NBA: At Arizona last season, Markkanen averaged 15.6 points and 7.7 rebounds. He averaged 30 minutes per game as a Wildcat and now 30 per game as a Bull. Almost identical totals across the board. The one difference is that he’s being paid $3.4 million. While in Los Angeles for the All-Star gala, Markkanen went to Long Beach State to watch former UA assistant coach Joe Pasternack’s first UC Santa Barbara team beat the 49ers and reinforce their first-place standing in the Big West Conference. The Gauchos are 20-5 overall.

Pueblo High School’s girls basketball team, 29-2, reached the Class 4A Final Four with a playoff victory Friday night. It’s the first time in school history the Warriors have reached the girls basketball Final Four, and it isn’t a shock. Izzy Galindo‘s club has gone 73-9 the last three seasons. It hasn’t been easy this season; the club’s top scorer, senior Alicia Reyes, who once scored 57 points in a game as a sophomore, has missed the last 17 games with a finger injury. While Reyes sits out, Galindo’s daughter, Ilyssa, Summer Fox, along with Jasmine Belt and Mariah Clark, have combined to average 42 points per game. The showdown with Flagstaff, which is also 29-2, will be at 2:15 p.m. Friday at Grand Canyon University in Phoenix.

As NAU All-American and Salpointe Catholic grad Andy Trouard prepares for next month’s NCAA Indoor championship in the mile run, he continues to add to his impressive career. Last week at the Iowa State Classic, he won the 3,000-meter championship, beating reigning NCAA 5,000-meters outdoor champion Grant Fisher, posting the nation’s second-fastest time this season.

Amanda Beard will become the first of Frank Busch’s many All-American swimmers at Arizona to be inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame, May 20, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Beard, who swam at Arizona in 2000-01, will be joined by Busch at the ceremony. He will receive the 2018 Paragon Award for his contributions to competitive swimming. Beard becomes the sixth Wildcat to be inducted into the Hall of Fame, joining Rick DeMont, 1990; synchronized swimming Olympic gold medalist Tracie Ruiz, 1993; swimmer/water polo star Tim Shaw, 1989; Amy Van Dyken, 2007; and Dick Jochums, 2017, Arizona’s head swimming coach in the 1980s.

How much would beer sales mean at McKale Center? Last week, New Mexico State drew 12,985 for a game against Grand Canyon. Athletic director Mario Moccia said that concessions sales from the game were $20,611 for food and $14,130 for alcohol — or $32,545 total. That means two things: Most people at NMSU didn’t eat at the arena, given that they spent an average of about $1.75 per person. Nor were beer sales prolific, barely $1.10 per person. Given Arizona’s larger arena, it suggests that if the UA begins beer sales in 2018-19, it might not reach $500,000 in a season.

Catalina Foothills grad Chaz Mack appears to be the top choice as the ACCAC’s player of the year at Cochise College. Mack, a forward, leads the league with a 19.8 average and is second in rebounding, at 9.8 per game. Last week, his reputation reached Ithaca, New York. Cornell coach Brian Earl offered Mack a scholarship for 2018-19. Well done.

Neither Arizona nor Oregon have announced a start time for Saturday’s basketball game at the UO’s Matthew Knight Arena, but ESPN lists it at 8:15 p.m., Tucson time.

That means Bill Walton is the likely analyst, which would be the 11th Arizona game he has worked this season.

That might bring groans from many UA fans, but not from Tucsonan Peter Eckerstrom, chief judge of the Arizona Court of Appeals, Division II.

While having lunch downtown during Walton’s break between Arizona’s games against USC and UCLA a week ago, Eckerstrom saw Walton at a nearby table.

“I’m in the ‘love him’ camp,” Eckerstrom said.

Before the judge left the restaurant, he decided to ask Walton if he would talk to his son, Lars Eckerstrom, 17, a Rincon/University High School junior who suffered a head injury in a summer league game last year and has since been unable to play or attend school. Lars continues to suffer from dizziness and headaches, although physicians expect him to make a full recovery.

“One becomes less polite when advocating for one’s children,” said Eckerstrom. “So, I interrupted Walton’s quiet lunch with his wife and told him about my son’s predicament. I asked if he would offer a few words of encouragement on my cell phone that I could later play for Lars.”

Walton did just that.

“He graciously proceeded to give my son a kind, wise and inspirational talk that lasted several minutes,” Eckerstrom said.

Unfortunately, Eckerstrom soon realized he had hit the wrong button on his cell phone and the message did not properly record. So he returned to Walton’s table and asked if he could record a second message.

“Without hesitation, he enthusiastically did,” Eckerstrom said. “You do learn more about people when the TV cameras aren’t rolling. So, in the debate about whether one loves or hates Bill Walton, my son and I have our answer.”