Hansen's Sunday Notebook: What got into Wildcats on Friday? Blame stage fright

The Star's longtime columnist explains why the Arizona Wildcats struggling in the first round of the NCAA Tournament isn't unordinary, how the UA women's basketball team was able to host the first round, and why Jedd Fisch has a promising quarterback room. 

SAN DIEGO — Something seemed amiss in Arizona’s first-round NCAA Tournament victory over Wright State. Something like the Wildcats committing turnovers (19) on 25.1% of their possessions.

That matched a season high — or season worst. Only three times this season did Arizona commit turnovers on 25% of its possessions: in blowout victories at ASU and WSU and in a home rout against Washington.

“We had a lot of turnovers from everybody,” said Arizona center Christian Koloko.

So what happened Friday against Wright State? Was it the absence of injured point guard Kerr Kriisa? Or could it have been, of all things, stage fright?

The Wildcats haven’t played with fear all season, but Friday’s game was a rarity for Arizona basketball. With the exception of Gonzaga transfer Oumar Ballo, no Wildcat had ever played in an NCAA Tournament game. But Ballo truly didn’t know what it was like to play in an NCAA Tournament game, either. At Gonzaga last season, he was inserted into blowout victories over Creighton and USC with less than a minute to play.

In effect, no Wildcat had played in an NCAA Tournament game. Wright State faced the same issue.

Moreover, when Arizona plays TCU on Sunday in the Round of 32, the Horned Frogs will be in a similar position. Until Friday’s impressive victory over Seton Hall, none of coach Jamie Dixon’s players had appeared in an NCAA Tournament game, either. In fact, TCU had only appeared in two NCAA Tournament games since 1987 — losses in 2018 and 1998.

Sunday’s game will essentially be Newbie vs. Newbie.

Until Friday, only three Arizona teams with no prior NCAA Tournament experience had stepped on the court. All three had similar first-game errors. Check this out:

In 1951, Fred Enke’s first NCAA Tournament team fell behind Kansas State 36-19 and couldn’t quite get out of that hole, losing 61-59.

In 1976, Fred Snowden’s first NCAA Tournament team committed 30 turnovers — yes, 30 — and still beat Georgetown 83-76. To make up for those 30 turnovers, Arizona shot 56% and had 24 more free-throw attempts than the Hoyas.

In 1985, Lute Olson’s first Arizona NCAA Tournament team lost 50-41 to Alabama, shooting a season-worst 29%.

So maybe there’s something to break-in time at the Big Dance. Either way, Arizona and TCU should have moved past the wide-eyed stage by Sunday.

Arizona's choice as NCAA host went against the books

In the final NET rankings of the women’s college basketball season, Arizona was No. 19. That appeared to doom the Wildcats’ chances of hosting this weekend’s first-and second-round games at McKale Center.

But the women’s basketball selection committee granted Arizona a host spot over No. 11 BYU, No. 12 Oregon and No. 15 UCF. It was a considerable surprise that No. 35 Oklahoma was also granted permission to be a host. The other team not ranked in the top 16, Tennessee (18), was the third outlier to become a host.

What happened?

It wasn’t about the money; Oregon led the Pac-12 in women’s basketball attendance, 7,751, a shade ahead of Arizona’s 7,648. I suspect it was the professionalism and diligence of the UA event/facilities management staff, led by senior associate AD Suzy Mason, of putting together an impressive plan of everything from hotel availability to locker room space to strength of WiFi at McKale Center. Mason and her staff began preparing their plan in December.

What turned a few heads inside women’s basketball was that only twice in the last five seasons has a team ranked below No. 4 in NET rankings hosted first-weekend games: No. 7 seed Kansas State was a host in 2017, when No. 2 Stanford did not bid to be a host.

In 2016, No. 5 seed Mississippi State became a host when No. 4 seed Michigan State did not bid.

Not surprisingly, discussion has begun on whether women’s basketball has grown enough in popularity to no longer allow tournament teams to play home games. (The men’s NCAA Tournament ended that practice in 1988).

Oregon coach Kelly Graves last week told reporters: “I’m going to go ahead and say it and get it out there — I think it’s time for our tournament to stop with the top four seeds hosting.I think we’re at a point now where we can do better.”

Graves will eventually be correct. The growing popularity in women’s college basketball is such that neutral sites might soon draw enough fans to eliminate host teams. My guess is that it’ll happen by 2025.

At Friday’s eight opening-round sites, only Stanford and Maryland didn’t draw well. Stanford drew 3,648 at Maples Pavilion and Maryland drew 4,776 fans.

Cats' QB situation promising

Through the magic of YouTube, it’s possible to review the post-practice interviews of Arizona football coaches during spring practice. The one Q&A session that most impressed me was Arizona quarterbacks coach Jimmie Dougherty’s assessment of Washington State transfer QB Jayden de Laura. Said Dougherty: “Jayden came in with no ego, no arrogance to him, just kind of a workmanlike attitude and an ‘I’m just gonna earn the respect of my teammates’ attitude.

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It happened naturally. And to the guys’ credit that have been here, they understand that this is a competition. The best guy’s gonna play, it doesn’t matter who that guy might be. And they’ve all kind of done a great job so far of just kind of embracing it.” As it looks so far, this is the best QB situation at Arizona since Matt Scott and Nick Foles battled for the starting job in 2009.

Dozen-plus Pac-12 officials receive big dance nod

Officiating in Pac-12 basketball, which, like most conferences, is strongly criticized by fans in its footprint. That’s the nature of the game. But 16 Pac-12 officials were selected to work in the ongoing NCAA men’s tournament. Those spots are awarded on merit-based evaluations. Tucson’s Chris Rastatter, who worked in the Final Four last season, opened the tournament calling the Texas-Virginia Tech game. Other Pac-12 officials who have been hired to work the NCAAs are: John Higgins, Tony Padilla, Eric Curry, Mike Greenstein, Dave Hall, Michael Irving, Verne Harris, Larry Spaulding, Tommy Nunez, Greg Nixon, Nate Harris, Kevin Brill, Frank Harvey, Deldre Carr and Mike Reed.

Tucson native returns to roots to scout baseball players

Jimmy Johnson, who was an All-City baseball player at Rincon High School in 1965, and former manager of the Tucson Toros (1980-82) before working for decades in various capacities for the Colorado Rockies, New York Yankees, Houston Astros and Los Angeles Dodgers, will return to Tucson next month doing what he does best — evaluate baseball talent. Now 74 and living in Scottsdale, Johnson is the manager of the Single-A Grand Junction Rockies. He will be part of the Arizona Pro Showcase April 1-4 at the Kino Sports Complex. Managers from 10 Pioneer League teams will evaluate those considered to be elite prospects. When Johnson returned to managing last year, he went against the book of modern baseball analytics and home runs.

“I’m going to bunt this year, I’m going to steal if I’ve got a guy who can steal,” he said. “I want to play the game like it used to be played. I want to hit line drives, stay up the middle, and home runs will come on hanging curveballs.”

My kind of guy.

Former RichRod OC lands analyst gig at Penn State

Rod Smith, who was Arizona coach Rich Rodriguez’s offensive coordinator — in title only; Rodriguez ran the offense — has survived since being fired in 2017. Smith, who washed out with Lovie Smith’s staff at Illinois in December 2020, last week became an offensive analyst at Penn State, which is a role typically filled by a beginner or a bounce-back coach hoping to return to an on-field coaching job. College football coaching isn’t for everyone. It’s a bounce-around profession like few others.

'Dudd gets his due'

Tucson’s Tom Duddleston, who served as Arizona’s sports information director from 1993-2013 and worked in the athletic department for 31 years during the golden years of UA sports — an associate of Mike Candrea, Lute Olson, Dick Tomey, Rick LaRose, Jerry Kindall, Frank Busch and Joan Bonvicini, among others — will be honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the College Sports Information Directors of American group the last week of June at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.

Duddleston, a former swimmer at Palo Verde High School, began working in the Arizona SID office in 1983 and helped to produce so many high-ranking media professionals — from Las Vegas Bowl executive director Dave Hirsch; Mike Marley, executive director of NBC golf; Danette Leighton, the new CEO of the Women’s Sports Foundation; and Kevin Grigg, senior VP of public relations for the Detroit Pistons — that it almost became a blur. Talk about a well-deserved honor. 

Tucson High product Levi Wallace inks with Steelers

Tucson High grad Levi Wallace last week signed a two-year free-agent deal with the Pittsburgh Steelers for an estimated $8 million. A former walk-on cornerback at Alabama, Wallace started all 52 games he played in for the Buffalo Bills the last four seasons. He will earn a base salary of $1.04 million this year, plus pocket a signing bonus of $2.96 million. His base salary increases to $4 million in 2023. Last Christmas, Wallace returned to Tucson to make a donation to the TUSD African American Student Services Department through the Educational Enrichment Foundation to support 100 food boxes along with Walmart gift cards. He also helped to provide over 460 meals to TUSD families for the Holidays. 

Kevin Sumlin prepares for first coaching gig since dismissal at Arizona

I listened to a Fox Sports Houston radio interview with former Arizona football coach Kevin Sumlin and wondered what the USFL’s Houston Gamblers might be thinking about not only making Sumlin their head coach, but also their general manager. The Sumlin we saw at Arizona from 2018-20 was not what you’d call a program-builder or sustainer.

Said Sumlin: “I think in whatever you do, whatever your trade or profession, your craft, ultimately, you want to be at the highest level. And to take the next step into professional football, the situation for me was exciting — is exciting.”

Good luck with that, Gamblers fans. The USFL season begins next month and Sumlin has had some difficulty building a coaching staff. His running backs coach, J.D. Runnels, spent the last four years coaching high school football in Oklahoma. His defensive coordinator, Tim Lewis, has coached at the Pinecrest Academy, and with the Birmingham Iron and St. Louis Battle Hawks the last six years.

Trenton Bourguet fighting for starting role at ASU

Marana High School grad Trenton Bourguet is sharing first-team quarterback reps at ASU’s spring practice. Bourguet is a lot like ex-Catalina Foothills High and UA backup quarterback Rhett Rodriguez — about 5 foot 11 and 180 pounds — but with more arm strength. The Athletic’s Doug Haller last week reported: “It’s not a surprise that Bourguet is in this position. First, he backed up starter Jayden Daniels last season, and second, he’s earned it. He’s smart and he throws a nice, catchable ball.” No kidding; Bourguet threw for 7,612 yards and 89 touchdowns at Marana. But he’s facing a very difficult task of winning the No. 1 job from Alabama transfer Paul Tyson.

My two cents: Pima to host NCAA soccer finals, finally