Greg Hansen's guide to the 2022-23 college basketball season

The Star's longtime columnist on who and what to watch for in both men's and women's college hoops this season:

UCLA rules NBA numbers, but Arizona is a true NBA Factory

When the NBA season began Oct. 18, Arizona had 10 former Wildcats on opening day rosters. exceeded only by UCLA's 12 among Pac-12 schools.

But perhaps Arizona deserves consideration as more of an NBA Factory since it has seven former coaches/players on NBA coaching staffs: Steve Kerr, Luke Walton, Mike Dunlap, Joseph Blair, Jesse Mermuys, Bret Brielmaier and Damon Stoudamire.

Here are the numbers of Pac-12 players on opening day NBA rosters:

UCLA (12): Lonzo Ball, Zach Lavine, Kevin Love, Jrue Holiday, Russell Westbrook, Aaron Holiday, Kyle Anderson, Johnny Juzang, Norman Powell, Moses Brown, Kevon Looney and Trevor Ariza.

Arizona (10): Christian Koloko, Bennedict Mathurin, Dalen Terry, Josh Green, Zeke Nnaji, T.J. McConnell, Aaron Gordon, Lauri Markkanen, Deandre Ayton and Andre Iguodala.

USC (9): DeAnthony Melton, DeMar DeRozan, Evan Mobley, Isaiah Mobley, Nikola Vukovic, Taj Gibson, Jordan McLaughlin, Chimeze Metu and Kevin Porter Jr.

Oregon (5): Chris Boucher, Dillon Brooks, Bol Bol, Payton Pritchard and Chris Duarte.

Washington (5): Matisse Thybulle, Isaiah Stewart, Dejounte Murray, Terrence Ross and Markelle Fultz.

Stanford (5): Brook Lopez, Robin Lopez, KC Okpala, Dwight Powell and Ziare Williams.

Utah (3): Kyle Kuzma, Delon Wright and Jakob Poeltl.

Arizona State (3): James Harden, Luguentz Dort and Josh Christopher.

Colorado (3): Jabari Walker, Spencer Dinwiddie and Derek White.

OSU (2): Gary Payton II and Drew Ewbanks.

Washington State (1): Klay Thompson.

Cal (1): Jaylen Brown.

UCLA's Cronin enters Euro market

College basketball’s recruiting market has changed dramatically in the last decade. This season, Pac-12 men’s teams open with 41 foreign players and Pac-12 women’s teams have 42 foreign players.

No one in the league has taken advantage of the European market more than Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd, whose second UA roster includes foreign players from Mali, France, Sweden, Estonia (two), Serbia and Lithuania. It should be noted that UA assistant Jack Murphy, then coaching for Sean Miller, was the lead recruiter when the Wildcats landed Europeans Kerr Kriisa and Azuolas Tubelis.

One of Lloyd’s notable assets is that he has three mainstream European recruiters: Himself, Murphy, whose background includes significant European scouting/recruiting and assistant Riccardo Fois, the only NCAA coach employed at last summer’s FIBA EuroBasket 2022 championships.

Fois, from Italy, was an assistant coach for his home country’s team.

I wondered when another Pac-12 coach would realize how important it is to have deep European connections. It turned out to be UCLA’s Mick Cronin.

Last summer, Cronin hired Ivo Simovic as an assistant coach; Simovic has coached in Spain and Serbia and it wasn’t long after Simovic was hired that the talent-blessed Bruins added 6-foot 6-inch Italian forward Abramo Canka to the roster. Canka played on the Italian national team last year.

Fois had been the only full-time Pac-12 assistant coach from Europe, just as UA women’s basketball assistant coach Salvo Coppa is the league’s only women’s assistant coach from Europe. The Wildcat women’s team has Spain’s Helena Pueyo, a key off-the-bench combo guard the last three seasons.

If you can’t regularly sign Top 100 American recruits, why go for No. 147 or No. 214 when you can get the equivalent of a Top 100 prospect from a foreign land? That’s partly how Oregon coach Dana Altman has thrived; the Ducks have deployed elite-level Canadian players Dillon Brooks, Chris Boucher and Dylan Ennis in recent years. The Ducks have three Canadians this year.

Now, Pac-12 bottom feeders such as Oregon State – the Beavers have players from Cameroon, Belarus, Sudan, Argentina and Germany this season – and Washington State, with players from Senegal, France, Macedonia, France and the Dominican Republic, are meeting their recruiting needs overseas.

The Pac-12 teams with the fewest foreign players? Arizona State’s Bobby Hurley has just one, from Canada, the same number as Stanford (one, from France) and Colorado (one, from Germany).

Wildcats women battle history

Arizona opens the 2022-23 women’s season with a career record of 545-545 as a Pac-12 member. How crazy is that?

Out of 1,090 games since joining the league in 1986, the Wildcats are exactly .500.

It points to the climb coach Adia Barnes has made in her six seasons. Barnes inherited such a mess in 2016 that her Arizona coaching record is just 49-56 in league games even though the Wildcats have reached the national championship finals and been a Top-25 program for three years.

Barnes must go 13-5 this year just to crack .500, which would leave her at 62-61.

Pac-12 women’s basketball has been so strong at the top, with Stanford and Oregon notable Top-10 programs, that Barnes has not been selected Pac-12 Coach of the Year yet.

Games to watch in Pac-12 women’s basketball

Stanford is the No. 1 draw in Pac-12 women’s basketball, and it shows in marquee non-conference games.

The Cardinal will play No. 1 South Carolina on ABC on Nov. 20; it will play No. 5 Tennessee on ABC on Dec. 18; and the Cardinal will play No. 21 Creighton on Dec. 20 on the Pac-12 Networks.

Arizona’s leading nonconference game is an ESPNU telecast against Baylor on Dec. 18, to be played in Dallas. Oregon plays No. 12 North Carolina and most likely No. 8 Iowa State in a Thanksgiving weekend event in Portland on Nov. 24-27, but neither game is scheduled for national TV.

Arizona’s most anticipated weekend at McKale Center is a Jan. 6 showdown against Oregon State and a Jan. 8 battle against Oregon that will be broadcast on ESPN2.

But the single-most appealing game at McKale will be a rare Thursday night tussle on Feb. 9 against Stanford, which will be broadcast on ESPN at 7:30. Pac-12 women’s games are almost strictly Friday/Sunday games, but the league moved the UA-Stanford game to Thursday for ESPN.

That might be the first time in history that more viewers watch a UA women’s game than the UA-Cal men’s game, also played on Feb. 9 beginning at 9 p.m. on Pac-12 Networks.

Oregon State battling (bad) history

A year ago, Oregon State's men's team opened the Pac-12 season 1-2 and then lost 17 consecutive league games to finish a historic 1-19 in the conference.

It didn’t break the record of 0-18 set by OSU’s 2007-08 team, coached by Salpointe Catholic High School and UA grad Jay John. But thanks to the league’s new 20-game conference schedule, it set a record for most losses in a season.

Until last year, the worst season in league history was probably viewed as Arizona’s 4-24 season of 1982-83, under one-year coach Ben Lindsey. The four wins were the fewest in league history until OSU’s team last season.

The ’83 Wildcats went 1-17 in conference play.

Oregon State removed Lindsey from the record books by finishing 3-28 under coach Wayne Tinkle last season, clearly the worst season in modern league history, or at any time in league history.

Tinkle was not fired, almost surely because he signed a lucrative, guaranteed contract extension through 2027 a year earlier. But he made scapegoats out of his assistants, firing long-time lead assistant Kerry Rupp and demoting assistant coach Stephen Thompson to a non-coaching role. Rupp was soon hired by Detroit-Mercy.

The Beavers have taken steps to avoid another three-win season by scheduling a series of cupcakes in nonconference play this season, including Florida A&M, Bushnell, Wisconsin-Green Bay, Portland State and Denver.

Pac-12 women set transfer record

In a furious off-season restocking campaign, Pac-12 women’s basketball teams filled their rosters with what is now 37 transfers via the NCAA transfer portal.

It was such a busy year for transfers that three ex-Arizona players are now at new Pac-12 schools; Koi Love at USC, Aaronette Vonleh at Colorado and Bendu Yeaney at Oregon State.

Arizona even pursued and acquired rival ASU’s best player and leading scorer, Jade Loville, voted to the preseason all-conference team this year.

Here’s where each Pac-12 school has gone to get its current transfers:

Arizona (3): Oklahoma State, West Virginia, Arizona State.

Arizona State (5): Delaware, Kentucky, Holy Cross, TCU, North Carolina.

Cal (4): Texas, Harvard, Utah, Colorado.

Colorado (3): Georgetown, Arizona, Washington.

Oregon (5): Arizona State, New Mexico, USC, Clemson, Texas.

Oregon State (2): Texas Southern, Arizona.

Stanford: None.

Washington (4): Rice, Cal, Lehigh, Baylor.

Washington State: None.

UCLA (2): Wake Forest, Oregon.

USC: (6): Arizona, Oregon, UC Irvine, South Carolina, TCU, Purdue.

Utah (3): UT-Martin, USC, Montana.

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Ex-Wildcats dot NBA, college rosters

Here’s an updated list of where former UA and Tucson basketball players find themselves in October 2022:

Emanuel Akot: He is a sixth-year senior at Western Kentucky after leaving Boise State.

Brandon Williams: He was waived by the Portland Trail Blazers on Oct. 7.

Jemarl Baker: He is a sixth-year senior at Fresno State.

Jordan Brown: He is a fifth-year senior at Louisiana-Lafayette.

Kim Aiken: He is a sixth-year senior at New Mexico State.

Daniel Batcho: He is a third-year forward at Texas Tech.

Tibet Gorener: He is a third-year forward at San Jose State.

Terrell Brown: He was No. 7 overall pick in the G League draft this month, taken by the College Park Skyhawks, an affiliate of the Atlanta Hawks.

Justin Kier: He was the No. 36 overall pick in the G League draft, taken by the Austin Spurs. Kier was selected four spots ahead of ex-ASU and Kansas point guard Remy Martin, who now plays for the G League’s Cleveland Charge.

Majok Deng: The Salpointe Catholic High School grad is a fourth-year junior at Pepperdine.

Ira Lee: The former UA backup center sat out the 2021-22 season at George Washington while injured, then announced he would transfer to College of Charleston. Lee, however, is not listed on the Charleston roster.

Sam Beskind: After four years playing for Stanford, the former Catalina Foothills High School guard is now a grad transfer at Colorado School of Mines.

Arizona’s newcomers have big-game numbers

It could be that Arizona women’s basketball newcomers Jade Loville, Maya Nnaji and Paris Clark are the most highly-coveted 1-2-3 punch to enter the school’s basketball program simultaneously.

The 6-4 Nnaji became the second McDonald’s All-American — senior forward Cate Reese was the first in 2017 — in the history of UA women’s hoops. She played for perennial midwestern power Hopkins High School, a suburban Minneapolis school that went 95-2 in Nnaji’s years, in which she had scoring averages of 24.5 and 19.5 points per game.

Nnaji was Hopkins’ second-leading scorer as a sophomore when the school produced the nation’s No. 1 overall recruit, Paige Bueckers, who signed with UConn and played against Arizona in the 2021 national championship game.

Loville, a forceful shooting guard, began her career at Boise State and was a first-team All-Pac-12 player at Arizona State last season, averaging 16.6 points. Loville, a senior, scored 1,094 points in her days as a Bronco and Sun Devil. She averaged 37.1 points as the Washington state player of the year at Skyline High School near Seattle.

Clark, a 5-9 McDonald’s All-American guard, averaged 24.2 points for Long Island Lutheran, a powerhouse that played a national schedule last season, with games against teams from Maryland, California, Jamaica, Washington D.C., and Virginia.

At most schools, Clark would be considered the prize of any recruiting class. But at Arizona this season, she’s part of a 1-2-3 punch in the Class of 2022 unprecedented in scope.

Wildcats' streak grows to 33 straight

Arizona’s women’s basketball team has won 33 consecutive nonconference games since losing to Loyola Marymount in November 2018. 

The Wildcats have a chance to grow that streak to 44-0 this year, especially because the first nine nonconference games appear to be cupcakes: Northern Arizona, Cal State Northridge, Loyola Marymount, Long Beach State, Cal Baptist, UC San Diego, New Mexico, Kansas and Texas Southern.

The Wildcats then play powerhouse Baylor on Dec. 18 in Dallas, possibly with a 42-game nonconference winning streak. UA closes its nonconference schedule against UT-Arlington.

Arizona’s all-opponent team includes potential SEC Player of the Year

Although the UA men have a relatively weak non-conference home schedule — the only ranked opponent is Tennessee — it can stack up its nonconference road/neutral games schedule against any team.

Here’s a look at the UA’s probable all-nonconference opponent team of 2022-23:

• Santiago Vescovi, Tennessee. The 6-3 wing averaged 13.3 points for the Vols last year and is a potential SEC Player of the Year.
• Trayce Jackson-Davis, Indiana. In his sophomore year at IU, Jackson-Davis made the All-Big Ten team by averaging 18.3 points and 8.1 rebounds per game.
• David DeJulius, Cincinnati. The Bearcats' point guard was an all-ACC choice last year, averaging 14.5 points per game.
• Ryan Kalkbrenner, Creighton. If Arizona and powerhouse Creighton meet in the winner’s bracket of the Maui Invitational, it’ll have to slow down the 7-1 Kalkbrenner, who averaged 13 points and seven rebounds per game last year.
• Jubrile Belo, Montana State. If you are planning on skipping the Dec. 20 UA-Montana State game at McKale, think again. The Bobcats won the Big Sky last year, 27-8 overall and are picked to do so again. MSU will deploy Big Sky Player of the Year Belo, the league’s top defender who averaged 13 points per game last year.

Pac-12 predictions, men's edition

1. UCLA (17-3): Bruins have two super seniors, Jaime Jaquez and Tyger Campbell, who are the league’s top 1-2 punch.

2. Arizona (15-5): The Wildcats will be, as Tommy Lloyd says, "a tough out."

3. Oregon (14-6): If freshman 7-footer Kel’el Ware is as good as advertised, the Ducks could win 16 or 17 league games.

4. USC (13-7): The Trojans are Top-25 caliber again.

5. Stanford (12-8): This is Jerod Haase’s best of seven Stanford teams.

6. Colorado (11-9): Playing the Buffaloes in Boulder is a pack-your-lunch day.

7. Washington State (9-11): Kyle Smith cobbled together a team that could be on the NCAA Tournament bubble.

8. Arizona State (8-12): Hard to tell what Bobby Hurley has with so many unfamiliar transfer portal players.

9. Washington (7-13): This could be coach Mike Hopkins’ last season in Seattle.

10. Utah (6-14): Rebuilding the Utes will require more than two years for Craig Smith.

11. Cal (5-15): Playing at Haas Pavilion used to be a dreaded engagement; not anymore.

12. Oregon State (3-17): Was it really only two seasons ago the Beavers won the Pac-12 Tournament?

Pac-12 predictions, women's edition

1. Stanford (15-3): Since the league began in 1986-87, Stanford has won 25 conference championships. No one else has more than five.

2. Arizona (14-4): Do you realize Arizona has never had a player lead the league in 3-point shooting percentage? Oddly, Oregon transfer Taylor Chavez led the league as a Duck in 2020 (at .474). But during her one season at Arizona last year, Chavez shot just .341.

3. Oregon (13-5): The Ducks are loaded again but the league has improved around them.

4. Utah (11-7): Climbing quickly, the Utes are a factor for the first time as a Pac-12 school.

5. UCLA (10-8): Freshman guard Kiki Rice could be the league’s top player in her first year. She is that good.

6. Washington State (9-9): As long as the Cougars have do-it-all guard Charlisse Leger-Walker, they will be an NCAA Tournament contender.

7. Colorado (9-9): The Buffaloes make the mountain trip to Utah and CU as tough as any in the league.

8. Oregon State (8-10): It was only six years ago that the Beavers went to the Final Four.

9. USC (7-11): Remember, USC is a football school and Cheryl Miller graduated decades ago.

10. Cal (5-13): The Golden Bears' Jayda Curry became the first freshman to lead the league in scoring last year.

11. Washington (4-14): Ever since Adia Barnes left the UW staff six years ago the Huskies have been a bottom-feeder.

12. Arizona State (3-15): No wonder coach Charli Turner Thorne retired after 25 years. Cupboard: empty.

Men’s Final Four

Gonzaga. If not now, when?

UCLA. If you can’t get to the Final Four with seniors Jaime Jaquez and Tyger Campbell, something has gone very wrong.

Tennessee. Check out the Vols on Dec. 17 at McKale Center. Get some rest. Tipoff isn’t until 8:30 p.m.

Creighton. Love the underdogs more than another ho-hum North Carolina or Kentucky pick.

Women’s Final Four

South Carolina. This is getting predictable.

Stanford. Could this be coach Tara VanDerveer’s last Final Four? She is 69.

Arizona. From players No. 1-10, this is the UA’s most talented roster ever.

Iowa. Hawkeyes guard Caitlin Clark may be the nation's best player.