Star columnist Greg Hansen discusses the coronavirus shutting down sports for the week and beyond, a local "woulda" list, UA sports and college football arms race.
Pima coach Todd Holthaus stays positive in uncertain week
After days of confusion and anxiety — following the most disorderly week in American sports history — I was looking for encouragement. I called Pima College women’s basketball coach Todd Holthaus.
Bingo.
Five days earlier, Holthaus’ Aztecs made the drive to Mesa Community College to play the favored Thunderbirds in their arena. This wasn’t just any championship game; MCC had played in 12 of the last 13 ACCAC Division II championship games. It won the 2014 NJCAA national championship.
“We had never won at Mesa’s gymnasium with the championship at stake,” said Holthaus.
Consider the weight of that comment: Holthaus’ Aztecs are a national power, finishing in the top five at the NJCAA finals in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2016 and 2019. And yet they had never been able to beat rival Mesa at Theo Heap Gymnasium when it counted.
Pima College didn’t just win, it steamrolled, 76-59.
As Holthaus and his players celebrated, a man from MCC approached Holthaus.
“Do you want to cut down the nets?” he asked.
Holthaus almost did a double-take. “I thought, ‘Is he serious?’” Holthaus said.
The man from Mesa College left momentarily and returned with a ladder.
“Congratulations,” he said.
And so for the first time in Holthaus’ 13 seasons as PCC women’s basketball coach, he and his team climbed the ladder one by one to cut down the nets on an opponent’s home court.
Just before noon on Thursday, Holthaus met with PCC athletic director Jim Monaco and learned his team would not fly to Port Huron, Michigan, on Saturday in an attempt to win a national championship that has been so close to the Aztecs’ grasp for the last decade.
The NJCAA women’s Division II national championships have been postponed to April 20. And maybe it’s being optimistic to think they will be played at all.
“I told the girls to take the week off,” Holthaus said. “When they come back, we’ll have time to get back into shape. We kind of knew this was coming. Characteristic of this team, they accepted the news and the reality of the (coronavirus) situation. I was proud of them.”
A year ago, Holthaus’ Aztecs finished No. 5 in the NJCAA finals. If anyone truly expected them to have an even better team this season — improving from 24-12 to 25-7 — it wasn’t openly recorded.
Two-time consensus All-America point guard JJ Nakai had moved on to play for the Nevada Wolf Pack, and three other starters graduated. Yet Holthaus put the new pieces together and took a step forward.
This isn’t totally unexpected. When Holthaus was hired off coach Joan Bonvicini’s UA women’s basketball staff in the spring of 2007, he stepped into the most daunting coaching job in ACCAC women’s basketball.
The Aztecs were coming off successive seasons of 5-22, 1-26 and 7-22.
“Someone referred to it as the Death Valley of coaching,” Holthaus says now, chuckling. “But this year, like the others, I thought we could make the most of what we’ve got. In a lot of ways it has been a magical season.”
In PCC’s shootaround before Saturday’s title game at Mesa, Holthaus said assistant coach Jim Rosborough noticed the calmness and confidence among the Aztec players.
“He said ‘Coach, we can make history,’” said Holthaus.
For now, Holthaus and PCC strength and conditioning coach Carla Garrett are putting together a plan to keep his team in shape and poised for the trip to Michigan, if it indeed comes to pass.
“If it turns out we don’t go to nationals, we’re going to do something really special for the girls,” said Holthaus. “They’re smart enough to understand some things are bigger than basketball. Whatever happens, they’ll leave with great memories.”
UA women’s chance for NCAA win, sellout crowd tops local ‘woulda’ list
Arizona’s Dominique McBryde (20) and Sam Thomas (14) watch the clock tick off as UA guard Aari McDonald (2) shields the ball on the last play of overtime against Stanford.
Here are five of the most anticipated sports events of the spring that Tucsonans aren’t likely to get a chance to witness:
1. Arizona’s women’s basketball team, 24-7 and ranked No. 13, will not get a chance to play host to the NCAA Tournament and advance to the Sweet 16.
I now think the Wildcats would have sold out McKale Center for a Round of 32 game next weekend because the UA’s price structure would’ve been relatively inexpensive. The NCAA informed Arizona that single session tickets would’ve been $8 for students, $8 for group tickets and $20 for single games.
2. UA senior shortstop Jessie Harper has 10 home runs this season, giving her 76 over her Arizona career. The NCAA record is 95, set by Oklahoma’s Lauren Chamberlain.
Harper would’ve had 33 regular-season games and perhaps eight or 10 postseason games to hit the 20 home runs necessary to break Chamberlain’s record.
3. Cienega High School grad Nick Gonzales, a first-team All-American at New Mexico State last year, was the NCAA leader in home runs (12) and RBIs (36). He had a realistic chance to be the NCAA Player of the Year. Gonzales was scheduled to play against Arizona at Hi Corbett Field on March 24.
4. Arizona freshman golfer Vivian Hou, who is ranked No. 2 among NCAA women’s golfers, had a strong chance to break Lorena Ochoa’s school record of 70.13 strokes per round. Hou is at 70.94.
Like Gonzales, Hou had a reasonably chance to become the NCAA Player of the Year, joining ex-Wildcat All-Americans Annika Sorenstam, Marisa Baena, Jenna Daniels, Erica Blasberg and Ochoa as national players of the year.
5. Tucson High senior first baseman Carlie Scupin, who has signed to play at Arizona, entered the season as the defending Arizona Gatorade Player of the Year, with 41 career home runs and season batting averages of .683, .619 and .553. She could’ve contended for national Gatorade player of the year honors, and set hitting records Tucson softball players would be chasing for decades.
And what about Arizona senior distance runner Carlos Villarreal of Rio Rico? He was scheduled to run for the NCAA indoor championship in the mile Saturday in Albuquerque. Villarreal was the top college finisher at last month’s Wanamaker Mile in New York, breaking the four-minute mile for the third time in his career, at 3:56.77.
On Saturday, Cienega High School principal Nemer Hassey said that he thinks the cancellation of high school sports is “inevitable.”
“Our district leadership and principals are meeting on Tuesday morning, and the AIA is meeting on Monday,” said Hassey. “My gut says that AIA and high school sports will postpone everything with the possibility of canceling, but nothing is official yet.”
Former UA coaches Russ Pennell, Mike Dunlap lose jobs
Then-interim head coach Russ Pennell has words with an official during an Arizona game at Washington on Feb. 28, 2009.
After interim UA basketball coach Kevin O’Neill and Arizona parted ways in the spring of 2008 and Lute Olson chose to retire, the school scrambled to name Olson-chosen assistant coaches Russ Pennell and Mike Dunlap to run the program for 2008-09.
Pennell, the acting head coach, was the right man for the job. He held the Chase Budinger-and-Jordan Hill-led Wildcats together, guiding them to the Sweet 16. Dunlap acted as the key X’s and O’s man on the bench.
This year, both of their head coaching careers went off the tracks.
Pennell, 59, was fired by his alma mater, Central Arkansas, after a 1-8 start and a record of 50-116 since 2014. Dunlap, 62, was let go by Loyola Marymount last week; he went 35-69 in the WCC over six seasons.
How tough is it to survive as a head coach in college basketball? Six assistant coaches who left Olson and Arizona for head coaching jobs were ultimately fired; Ken Burmeister at Loyola-Chicago; Ricky Byrdsong at Northwestern; O’Neill at USC; Jessie Evans at San Francisco; Rodney Tention at LMU and Jay John at Oregon State.
Oregon ups football arms race, once again
Even though Pac-12 sports have been put on pause, it didn’t stop the Oregon Ducks from adding to the ridiculous arms race in college football. Oregon athletic director Rob Mullens last week announced the UO will construct the largest video/scoreboard in college football. The $12 million structure will be 12,408 square feet. It wasn’t that long ago that Arizona athletic director Greg Byrne built the largest video board — 5,352 square feet — in Pac-12 football. That was 2011 and it cost about $5 million. Now the Utah Utes at Rice-Eccles Stadium have a 10,502-square- foot scoreboard. What’s next?
Tucson native, sister of ex-UA golfer shines at Wildcat Invitational
What a week! Overall great performance from start to finish, including @alex_quihuis' top-10 finish! #AggieUp https://t.co/zgRD88nJHg
— NM State WGolf (@NMStateWGolf) March 11, 2020
At the Arizona Wildcat Invitational women’s golf tournament last week at Sewailo Golf Club, Salpointe Catholic High School grad Alexandra Quihuis, a freshman, finished tied for sixth, shooting rounds of 72-71-71, leading New Mexico State to a tie for second place. At Salpointe Catholic, Quihuis finished second in the state finals. Her older sister, Krystal Quihuis, a three-year standout at Arizona and 2011 and 2012 state champ at Salpointe, has full playing privileges on the LPGA Symetra Tour again this year. But the LPGA announced last week that the Symetra Tour won’t resume until May 7, at the earliest. Quihuis and former UA golfers Gigi Stoll, Alejandra Llaneza and Brittany Benvenuto are all affected by the cancellation of April golf events.
Former Pima standouts earn NAIA postseason bid
Congrats to former @PimaMens_bball players Robert Wilson (Salpointe Catholic HS) @robbyw_19 and Travis Walker (Sabino HS) on winning the GSAC Conference Tournament with Arizona Christian University @ACUMBB. Photos courtesy of Robby Wilson. #PimaBasketball pic.twitter.com/T27PlCanKJ
— PimaAthletics (@PimaAthletics) March 8, 2020
Trey Clarkson, a standout basketball player at Salpointe Catholic during the Brian Peabody years, helped coach Arizona Christian University to the NAIA men’s championship tournament last week. ACU won the Golden State Athletic Conference Tournament but the NAIA canceled the championship finals, which had been held yearly since 1937. Clarkson, who played at Western New Mexico and helped ACU reach the Elite Eight a year ago, recruited and coached former Salpointe players Robby Wilson and Travis Walker this season at ACU. Wilson, a starter, averaged 10 points per game.
Stoops reunion in Lexington
Defensive coordinator Mark Stoops, center, brother of head coach Mike Stoops, far right, reunite and swap former roles at Kentucky.
Former Arizona football coach Mike Stoops last week declined an opportunity to join his brother, Mark Stoops, on the coaching staff at Kentucky. Mark was the UA’s defensive coordinator from 2004-2009 before leaving to become defensive coordinator at Florida State. As Kentucky’s head coach for seven years, Mark Stoops is 44-44. Mike Stoops, who is 58, chose to remain as an analyst on Nick Saban’s staff at Alabama rather than move to Kentucky and be a secondary coach.
Allonzo Trier's minutes decay in sophomore season with Knicks
New York Knicks guard Allonzo Trier (14) dribbles during the second half of a preseason NBA basketball game against the Washington Wizards in New York, Friday, Oct. 11, 2019. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)
Before the NBA season was paused, former Arizona shooter Allonzo Trier had struggled mightily in his second pro season. Playing for the New York Knicks, Trier’s minutes had diminished from 1,459 as a rookie to 291 this season. He either did not play or was not put on the active list for 19 of the Knicks’ last 23 games. The future? Trier is being paid $3.5 million this year, but his contract expires and the Knicks have the option.
My two cents: Cancellation befits UA’s bizarre season
Arizona guard Nico Mannion (1), left, and forward Zeke Nnaji (22) head for the Wildcats huddle during a time out in the game against Oregon at McKale Center, February 22, 2020 Tucson, Ariz.
The empty feeling that accompanies the void of March Madness is not necessarily all bad in Tucson.
Arizona’s men’s basketball team went out on a high note, beating last-place Washington in the Pac-12 Tournament. Or at least a not-so-bad note. The good feelings from that would’ve vaporized had Arizona lost in a Thursday game to USC, or in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
That’s one way to look at a 21-11 season. It wasn’t as disappointing as last year’s 17-15 finish or the first-round exit against Buffalo two years ago.
Next year? According to early national championship odds from SportsBetting.ag, Gonzaga and Virginia are the teams to beat. Arizona is not ranked in the Top 25.
Now Sean Miller really steps into the unknown. If freshmen Nico Mannion, Zeke Nnaji and Josh Green enter the NBA draft, Arizona’s 2020-21 season, on paper, would appear to be another wait-until-next-year operation.
And if Mannion, Green and Nnaji do bolt for the pros, what kind of return did the Wildcats get on this year’s crew of one-and-done players?
Over the last 15 seasons, six college basketball teams had at least three one-and-done freshmen selected in the first round of the draft. Here’s how they finished compared to Arizona’s 21-11, fifth-place-in-the-Pac-12 season:
Duke 2018-19 (32-6, Elite Eight finish). One-and-dones: Zion Williamson, RJ Barrett, Cam Reddish.
Kentucky 2016-17 (32-6, Elite Eight finish). One-and-dones: Malik Monk, De’Aaron Fox, Bam Adebayo.
Kentucky 2014-15 (38-1, Final Four finish). One-and-dones: Karl-Anthony Towns, Willie Cauley-Stein, Trey Lyles; Devin Booker.
Kentucky 2011-12 (38-2, NCAA champions). One-and-dones: Anthony Davis, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Marquis Teague.
Kentucky, 2009-10 (35-3, Elite Eight finish). One-and-done: John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, Eric Bledsoe, Daniel Orton.
Ohio State, 2006-07 (35-4, national runners-up). One-and-dones: Greg Oden, Mike Conley, Daequan Cook.
That’s an average record of 35-4, with each team advancing to at least the Elite Eight.
It’s not a good comparison for the Wildcats, although I suspect by June’s NBA draft that both Green and Nnaji might fall from first-round mock drafts.
