Hansen's Sunday Notebook: Allonzo could become Cats three-er

Incoming Allonzo could become Cats three-er

When the analytics people finish with the Final Four, they will find one telling number from the Arizona-Wisconsin Elite Eight series: In two fascinating games, the Wildcats shot 46.5 percent and the Badgers 46.2 percent.

Almost everything was equal: turnovers 17-17; free-throw attempts, 47-43 in favor of UA; rebounds 61-59 in favor of UA.

Basketball forensics don’t lie. The only true difference was that Wisconsin made 18 of 35 three-pointers and Arizona just 7 of 18. Thus, the Badgers reached two Final Fours and Arizona, sadly, none.

Don’t look for the 2014 national junior college player of the year Kadeem Allen to make up that difference next year. Allen made just 36 three-pointers in 33 games at Hutchinson Junior College during the 2013-14 season.

Redshirt forward Ryan Anderson was a terrific player at Boston College a year ago, but he’s not a “stretch 4” as many have suggested. He made just four three-pointers as a BC junior.

Combo guard recruit Justin Simon of Brewster Academy is a lot of positive things, but shooting — especially distance shooting — is not one of them.

It will fall on freshman guard Allonzo Trier to improve Arizona’s three-point shooting capacity. Trier attempted 6.4 threes per game this year at Las Vegas’ Findlay Prep. Arizona’s top three-point shooter, Gabe York, attempted 4.5.

But to get those open three-pointers that Wisconsin’s Sam Dekker, among others, made to bury Arizona, it won’t be simply Trier casting away (often without getting open) as he did in three ESPN telecasts last week.

As Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan said after beating Arizona at Staples Center “most times it was the pass before the pass (to Dekker) that gave us an open look.”

That’s a coach’s code for saying that before Trier bails Arizona out of its three-point shooting deficit, someone has to replace T.J. McConnell at point guard.

Flowing Wells grad Nicholson is back on the field

Stephanie Nicholson is one of the top softball figures in Tucson history. She helped Flowing Wells High School win two state championships; she set a season home run record at Oklahoma State; she returned home and coached Canyon del Oro to the 2012 state championship.

Her three CDO teams went 94-19.

A year ago, she made the Team USA roster for the World Championships in Japan. That’s right. The USA women’s baseball national team.

Seeking a new challenge, Nicholson this year went to Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles where she was interviewed and auditioned to be one of four “ball girls” who sit on the field every night and field foul balls for the Dodgers. She got the job.

Beginning Tuesday against San Diego, Nicholson will be on the field at Dodger Stadium for 81 home games (and playoffs, if necessary). That puts her father, Tucson mechanic Mike Nicholson, in an odd spot. He is a San Francisco Giants fan.

Capel hire wouldn't intimidate Pac-12 coaches

Over the next 48 to 72 hours, Arizona State is likely to announce the hiring of Duke assistant Jeff Capel as its new basketball coach. That would be OK. No sitting coach in the Pac-12 would look on in fear. Capel is only 40 and has been a head coach for nine seasons (at VCU and Oklahoma). The gamble ASU athletic director Ray Anderson would take is whether he’s blinded by Capel’s Duke pedigree and has fully researched why Capel went 27-36 in his final two Oklahoma seasons and was fired (13 of those wins were later vacated over NCAA sanctions). Whatever, the job market is so thin that if ASU can get someone better than Capel, Anderson will be viewed as a very smart man. 

UA's ability to recruit survives potential hit  

Arizona’s recruiting future survived potential damage last week when new St. John’s coach Chris Mullin acted fast to hire Brooklyn native and Iowa State assistant Matt Abdelmassih as his lead recruiter. Some insiders suspected Mullin’s first target would be UA assistant Book Richardson, whose New York City roots go back to his boyhood days in Harlem and the Bronx. 

Coach Miller's tweet doesn't do much damage  

Sean Miller’s late-night tweet — “Go cheer for ASU” — to those disgruntled by three Elite Eight losses had a brief 24-hour life on the social media cycle. It didn’t compare to the most profound declaration by a UA coach. After losing a game with Rose Bowl ramifications to UCLA in 1985, Larry Smith said, “If you don’t like it, stay home.” And so they did. Attendance dropped from 57,779 against UCLA to 35,779 a week later against Oregon. 

Butts watches top recruit Graham win title  

UA women’s basketball coach Niya Butts was at California’s CIF state championships last week at Cal’s Haas Pavilion. Her top recruit, 6-3 Destiny Graham, led Eastside College Prep of Palo Alto to the state title game against La Jolla Country Day School. Graham averaged 16.2 points. She appears to be one of the top prospects recruited by UA women’s basketball in years.

Quartet of Cats could be impact players in Pac-12

The editors of Athlon’s college football magazine last week asked me to vote for the 2015 preseason All-Pac-12 team. I nominated Arizona linebacker Scooby Wright, left tackle Freddie Tagaloa, punter Drew Riggleman and receiver Cayleb Jones. By November, I wouldn’t be surprised to see safety/LB Will Parks in that category. 

RichRod hopeful to nab Notre Dame transfer Hegarty  

Rich Rodriguez has one significant opening on what should be a capable and above average offensive line. He is hopeful that Notre Dame 2014 starting center Matt Hegarty, who has a year of eligibility left but will leave Notre Dame upon graduation next month, chooses Arizona over Florida State. As a high school senior in 2010 at Aztec, New Mexico – a small town about 100 miles from Albuquerque near the Colorado border – Hegarty was recruited by Florida State defensive coordinator Mark Stoops and by UA head coach Mike Stoops. Small world. Hegarty’s progress at Notre Dame was stalled when he suffered a mini-stroke in 2012. He recovered and started in 11 of 13 games for the Irish last year. 

Ex-Cat Carey's status with Bears uncertain  

Ka’Deem Carey’s status with the Chicago Bears was apparently diminished last week when the Bears signed free agent tailback Jacquizz Rodgers from Atlanta. Carey had just 36 carries a year ago as the No. 2 tailback behind standout Matt Forte. If Rodgers gets those 36 carries (plus more), especially as a third-down blocker and receiver, Carey isn’t likely to play much. Perhaps there will be a draft-day trade. 

UA women's golf has potential to win championship  

Arizona’s best chance to win an NCAA championship this season will be in women’s golf. The No. 7-ranked Wildcats aren’t sleeping on that idea. When I arrived at the Randolph Golf Complex at 5:45 a.m. Thursday, the entire UA women’s golf team and coach Laura Ianello were already on the driving range. The sun had not yet risen. UA freshman Krystal Quihuis of Salpointe Catholic has quietly become one of the Pac-12’s top golfers; she has finished fourth, sixth and ninth overall in Arizona’s spring tournaments and has a per-round stroke average of 73.47, challenging UA veterans Lindsey Weaver (73.45) and Manon Gidali (73.09) for the team lead.  

Former walk-on Kingery could make UA baseball history

Arizona junior second baseman Scott Kingery was a walk-on from Phoenix two years ago. Through Saturday, he led the NCAA in hitting at .477. The school record is .484, set in 1952 by Lloyd Jenney, which seems like a fantasy. For someone to challenge Jenney’s record 63 years later is intriguing. Kingery had 60 hits through Saturday. If he can get to 100 it would surely mean he’d finish well above .400. Dave Stegman had 111 hits in 1976, an Arizona record. Baseball America does not project Arizona in its NCAA tournament field of 64 teams, which, if true, would almost eliminate Kingery from getting to 100, requiring 40 hits in just 24 remaining regular-season games. 

CDO baseball could finish regular season 29-1 

Canyon del Oro’s talent-blessed baseball team is 17-1. My prediction of the week: I think coach Keith Francis’ team will win its final 12 regular-season games and enter the state playoffs at 29-1. If so, it would join the 25-0 Tucson High team of 1972 and the 28-2 Tucson High team of 1988 as among the top squads in modern city history. Both won state titles. 

Incoming UA softball pitcher McQuillin throws third no-hitter 

Incoming UA softball pitcher Taylor McQuillin, the 2014 Gatorade National Player of the Year, pitched her third no-hitter of the season Friday. She struck out 16. Her team, Mission Viejo (California) has outscored opponents 75-6 and is undefeated (15-0). If you’ve seen a video of McQuillin, it’s remarkable how similar she is to the Pac-12’s current best pitcher, Oregon’s Cheridan Hawkins. Both are lefties, and strongly resemble Oklahoma Sooners’ 2013 NCAA championship pitcher Keilani Ricketts. 

Palo Verde grad Cotton knows basketball talent  

Palo Verde High School grad Bryce Cotton, now playing for the Utah Jazz, last week tapped out a Twitter message that said “Tucson around 2010 might have had the best overall talent our city has ever seen.” He knows. Eleven players from his days as a Tucson ballplayer reached Division I: Terrell Stoglin, Maryland; Michael Perez, Nevada; Sama Taku, Pacific; Tim Derksen, San Francisco; Lester Medford, Baylor; Jan Maehlen, Pepperdine; Ajak Magot and Andre Hatchett, Idaho State; Brandon Burnett, Indiana State; and the Arizona Wildcats’ Matt Korcheck. Cotton played at Providence. 

Sabino, UA grad Farhang wants swagger in Tucson's step 

Tucson’s pursuit of a college football bowl game involving teams from Conference USA and the Mountain West Conference is a result of the work of Sabino and UA grad Ali Farhang. An attorney, Farhang watched unhappily as Tucson lost the Copper Bowl, spring training, the Pacific Coast League, the LPGA Tour and on and on. “The plan is to utilize this game to put a little swagger in our step as a community,” said Farhang. He has on his agenda a hope to someday get Triple-A baseball in Tucson. In whatever “free time” he has, Farhang is on the Salpointe Catholic football coaching staff.

My two cents: Time to change Ring of Honor criteria

McKale Center’s rules for the Ring of Honor mean that Stanley Johnson’s name will appear in the rafters next season. He was the Pac-12 Freshman of the Year. That is an automatic qualifier.

The rules someday need to be tweaked. That’s because Solomon Hill’s contributions to Arizona basketball are far greater than a one-year player like Johnson. Hill does not qualify under current rules.

Hill played four seasons, was twice an All-Pac-12 first-team selection, scored 1,430 points, and did much of the heavy labor as Sean Miller built a Pac-12 champion.

Here’s how I look at it: Hill’s senior season, 2013, was superior to Johnson’s only (most likely) Arizona season.

Hill averaged 13.4; Johnson 13.8. Hill played 33 minutes per game; Johnson 28. Hill shot 46 percent afield; Johnson 44. Hill had fewer turnovers and more assists, and played a leadership role. Johnson was a complementary player.

Nothing against Stanley Johnson — for six months, he was a good-to-very-good college basketball player. But is that good enough to have your name in the rafters with those like Sean Elliott, Damon Stoudamire and Luke Walton?

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