In the long gulf of closed practices between the Red-Blue Game and Arizona's exhibition game, there isn't often much publicly to judge the Wildcats on.Β
UA will face St. Mary's on Saturday in Phoenix but that scrimmage is closed and the Wildcats won't be on full display until their Nov. 1 exhibition against Chico State.
But the program announced Monday that freshman forward Zeke Nnaji has taken the gold jersey from Devonaire Doutrive, who wore it for the previous two weeks.
Devonaire Doutrive (@Devonaire23) earned the gold jersey for week 1 & 2 of practice. The week 3 jersey goes to Zeke Nnaji (@ZekeNnaji_Hoopz)! pic.twitter.com/UbgxoxrvjR
— Arizona Basketball (@APlayersProgram) October 14, 2019
The gold jersey is given to the player who accumulates the most overall practice points in a wide variety of measures. Most stats are counted as one point but here's a rundown of some examples (courtesy of Ryan Reynolds, UA operations director):
-- Two-point shot made is +2, a two-point missed is -1.
-- 3-pointers made are +3, a 3-point missed is -1.
-- Assists are +2, turnovers are -2.
-- Charges taken are +2.5, fouls are -1.
Doutrive didn't wear the gold jersey at all last season and it's not common for a freshman to wear it, so Nnaji's emergence is a positive sign for the Wildcats' frontcourt.
Arizona's Nico Mannion was left off the Naismith's Bob Cousy watch list of top point guards, though the Pac-12 had three representatives: Payton Pritchard of Oregon, McKinley Wright of Colorado and Remy Martin of ASU.
FWIW, I was asked to vote for this one and did include Mannion. Here's the ballot I submitted:
Cassius Winston, MSU
Markus Howard, Marquette
Tre Jones, Duke
Nico Mannion, Arizona
Cole Anthony, UNC
Kihei Clark, Virginia
Andrew Nembhard, Florida
McKinley Wright, Colorado
Devon Dotson, Kansas
Laquincy Rideau, South Florida
James Akinjo, Georgetown
Quade Green, Washington
Anthony Cowan, Maryland
KJ Feagin, San Diego State
Daejon Davis, Stanford
Zavier Simpson, Michigan
Ayo Dosunmu, Illinois
Jordan Ford, St Maryβs
Ashton Hagans, Kentucky
Payton Pritchard, Oregon
Rivals says four-star 2020 forward Dawson Garcia is down to Indiana, Marquette, Memphis and Minnesota, so Arizona appears to be eliminated (the Wildcats were among his top 7).
