Hansen's Sunday Notebook: Happy Wildcats lead Pac-12 in wins — and smiles, too

The Star columnist shares how imperative Tommy Lloyd's team-first culture has been for the Arizona Wildcats, how Azuolas Tubelis' injury compares to other notable setbacks, and a basketball-heavy Sunday for the UA. 

If you ask Tommy Lloyd to choose a favorite quote from his first 16 games as a head coach, my guess is that it wouldn’t be about being ranked No. 3 or averaging 88 points per game.

It would be substitute center Oumar Ballo’s all’s-well statement after the Wildcats beat Stanford 85-57 on Thursday. Said Ballo, who scored 21 points: “They were happy for me, because every time someone has a great night, everyone is happy for them. That’s the best thing about our team, just being happy for each other.”

Arizona is near the NCAA lead in points scored and victories, but its leading statistic is probably “happy faces,” a category no one ever tracks.

If a college basketball coach can avoid chemistry problems, jealousy issues and me-first shooters, it’s as valuable as knowing X’s and O’s or successfully recruiting from a list of Top 100 prospects.

So far, so good for Lloyd, who doesn’t have to look far to see how the other side lives.

Three years ago, Memphis hired alumnus and four-time NBA All-Star Penny Hardaway to coach the Tigers. Although he was a high-profile hire, Hardaway’s only head coaching experience was at Memphis East High School. Hardaway immediately took advantage of his name, signing five top-50 prospects.

But it hasn’t worked. Memphis hasn’t reached the NCAA Tournament. Its leading recruits have since transferred to USC, Oklahoma State and Mississippi State or jumped into the NBA draft. Memphis has lost this season to Murray State, UCF and East Carolina. Hardaway blew his stack after a loss at SMU last week.

“The main reason we have these losses is the veterans don’t want to take the young guys under their wings. They want it to be about them,” Hardway said in a profanity-laced press conference.

“Everybody’s trying to get to the NBA off the ranking we had, but nobody is willing to sacrifice minutes, touches, anything. It’s been miserable. I’m going to have to be a complete (jerk) from this point on and only play the players that care.”

A year ago, Arizona State was the Pac-12 example of Memphis. ASU’s Bobby Hurley assembled what looked to be a 2020-21 conference title contender, voted No. 18 in the AP preseason poll. But the Sun Devils imploded, finishing ninth in the (bad) Pac-12.

Me-first shooters Remy Martin transferred to Kansas, Josh Christopher turned pro and Alonzo Verge went to Nebraska; even Jalen House, son of former ASU scoring champion Eddie House, bailed out, signing with New Mexico.

Lloyd has thus far created a team-first culture. As long as he can produce smiles, they are as important as 3-pointers.

Wildcats' tennis victory ranks with the best

Until Friday, I had not attended a college tennis match for 20 years or longer. So when I took a seat at the Robson Tennis Center — No. 5 Texas at No. 14 Arizona — it became an enlightening experience. Arizona won 4-3.

Three observations:

What an intimate and comfortable facility. The shade-blessed bleachers were packed. There was no room for the late-arriving UA softball team to sit down. The fans were loud and energetic. The scoreboards at the 32-year-old facility are of high-tech quality. Even a tennis dummy like me could easily see all the scores at all times. The Robson Center hasn’t been a place to see championship-level tennis since the UA’s women’s teams (Alix Creek, Vicki Maes, Banni Redhair) of the mid-1990s. That has changed.

I had no clue the skill level of college tennis is so advanced. I don’t know a thing about elite tennis except for what I watch during Wimbledon, but this isn’t your grandpa’s college tennis. What was it that PGA Tour commercial used to say: “These guys are good”? That’s what I discovered about Clancy Shields‘ Wildcats. They are legit, having beaten seven top-25 teams last year and reaching the NCAA’s Sweet 16. The bar has been raised to a level not seen at the UA since the 1960s.

All UA tennis recruits should receive a video of Friday’s highlights: The packed grandstands, the sun on a 70-degree January afternoon, and the tenacity with which the self-described “Saguaro Soldiers” play. It’s no longer a stretch to think Shields’ program can compete eye to eye with Pac-12 mega-powers UCLA, Stanford and USC.

No, it wasn’t the grandest victory in UA tennis history. The Wildcats finished No. 3 in the NCAA finals in 1962 and 1967. But if Shields’ team gets that far this season, it won’t be much of a surprise.

UA's ‘22 season debuts with Alumni Weekend

When first-year Arizona baseball coach Chip Hale was a sophomore infielder, batting No. 2 in Jerry Kindall’s 1985 lineup, the Wildcats staged an Alumni Weekend for the ages.

The celebrity manager for the UA alumni team was Pete Rose, then five months shy of breaking Ty Cobb‘s all-time hits record of 4,191. Rose not only managed a team of ex-Wildcats with MLB experience such as Terry Francona, Ron Hassey, Brad Mills, Johnny Moses, Craig Lefferts and Greg Bargar, but he hit second in the order, batting five times, including sliding hard into second base to break up a potential double play.

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A crowd of 4,952 attended that Alumni Weekend game at Sancet Field. Hale’s first Alumni Weekend as Arizona’s coach will be Friday and Saturday at Hi Corbett Field, and although there is no official game scheduled against ex-Wildcats, it will continue a legacy that Hale will probably never forget. He hit a triple in that ’85 game.

What made Rose’s appearance on the UA campus so special is that he refused the $3,000 appearance fee offered by Kindall, asking instead to be presented with a UA letterman’s jacket.

Former Arizona pitcher Tod Brown of Sabino High School, now in his first season as head coach of the New Mexico Lobos, kicked off his first UNM season in a big way this weekend. He arranged for 10-time baseball All-Star Steve Garvey to be the guest speaker at the Lobos’ First Pitch Banquet. Brown and Hale hooked up to schedule a home-and-home series this season; the Lobos will play in Tucson on March 8 and Arizona will play in Albuquerque on March 23.

Simultaneous Sunday for UA men, women

For one of the few times ever, Sunday’s Arizona’s men’s and women’s basketball games will be televised simultaneously on the Pac-12 Networks. The UA-Colorado women’s game begins at noon on Pac-12 Mountain. Arizona’s men’s game at Cal begins at 1 p.m. on the main Pac-12 Network.

“We don’t want to play at the same time,” UA coach Adia Barnes said. “It’ll cost us some fans.”

The only other conflict this season will be Thursday, Feb. 24, when Barnes’ team plays at home against UCLA on Pac-12 Los Angeles at 7 p.m. The UA men’s team follows at 8 p.m. at Utah on Fox Sports 1. 

Tubelis injury could be costly for Cats

Arizona sophomore forward Azuolas Tubelis‘ ankle injury isn’t the first to cause significant concern among Wildcats fans. At the outset of the 2002-03 season, No. 1 Arizona lost shooting guard Salim Stoudamire for six weeks, from late October until early December. Stoudamire missed two games and returned as an off-the-bench player for three games, his job filled by both Hassan Adams and Will Bynum. Stoudamire didn’t return as a starter until a Dec. 21 game at LSU, a game Arizona lost, knocking it from No. 1 after a six-week run.

Tucson native joins NY Mets coaching staff

Tucson High grad Craig Bjornson, part of the Badgers’ 1987 state championship baseball season, is back in the major leagues. Bjornson was the bullpen coach for the 2017 World Series champion Houston Astros and 2018 world champ Boston Red Sox before leaving Boston in 2020 and sitting out the ’21 season. He was hired last week to be the New York Mets’ bullpen coach.

Ex-Wildcat Sorenstam set to return to Old Pueblo

Arizona’s 1992 NCAA women’s championship golfer Annika Sorenstam hasn’t played competitively in Tucson since she won back-to-back Ping/Welch’s LPGA championships at the Randolph Golf Complex in 2000 and 2001. They were Sorenstam’s 19th and 24th LPGA victories; she went on to win a record 72 LPGA titles.

Sorenstam will return to Tucson on Feb. 26, a Saturday, to play in the PGA Tour Champions’ Cologuard Classic Celebrity Shootout. The field for the Cologuard Classic will include 1999 Tucson Open champion David Duval, 50, who said last week his rookie year on the Champions tour will include a stop in Tucson.

UA men's golf team debuts TCC

Arizona’s defending Pac-12 champion men’s golf team will debut at the new home course of UA golf, the Tucson Country Club, for the Monday-Tuesday Arizona Intercollegiate. UA coach Jim Anderson arranged for elite programs Duke and Arkansas to be in the field; the Razorbacks’ roster includes John Daly Jr., who is in his freshman season at Arkansas, the alma mater of his father.

Arizona opens at home ranked No. 36 by Golfweek, which trails just ASU and Stanford in the Pac-12.

Tucson product Trevor Werbylo hits Korn Ferry Tour

UA and Salpointe Catholic High School grad Trevor Werbylo, winner of the PGA Tour’s Forme Tour last season, made his Korn Ferry Tour debut last week, finishing 33rd in the Bahamas Exuma Classic, earning $4,538. Werbylo, a first-team All-Pac-12 selection, plans to spend the next five weeks playing in Korn Ferry events in Colombia, Panama, Florida, Louisiana and Georgia.

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