La Paloma golf outing part of Arizona Assist's efforts to keep UA competitive in NIL race

On most days, Paul Volpe is a Tucson businessman and longtime Arizona Wildcats superfan.

This month, in order to help Arizona’s ramped-up NIL efforts via a golf outing at La Paloma, he’s also something else.

“I guess I’m an unpaid intern, to help kind of set some of these relationships up,” Volpe said.

So far, Volpe has helped corral former Wildcats Andre Iguodala, Jason Terry and Mike Bibby to make appearances at an Aug. 29 La Paloma golf event that is one of the Arizona Assist NIL collective’s major fundraisers.

As of Monday, organizers had five foursome spots open out of a maximum of 30, with foursomes priced at $3,750 and individual spots at $1,250. Members of the Arizona Assist’s “Wildcat Village,” a $3,000 club, can get foursomes for $3,750 or individual spots for $1,000.

Breakfast and lunch are included but, if that still sounds pricey, it’s a function of the NIL market driving major college sports today. Organizers declined to discuss the details of the Arizona Assist’s budget, which benefits solely men’s basketball players, but top power conference players are commanding significant six-figure annual amounts in today’s NIL marketplace.

Former Wildcat center Oumar Ballo even reportedly picked up more than $1 million in NIL compensation when he transferred to Indiana this summer.

“Given the NIL landscape that we’re in, this is a way for the program to help generate additional funds, and obviously get the players involved in the community,” Volpe said.

In its attempt to keep the Wildcats competitive in NIL, Arizona Assist is also planning to hold other members-only events around UA’s Red-Blue Showcase games and other get-togethers during the season. Wildcat Village members also receive two tickets for the Dec. 14 UCLA-UA game in Phoenix.

Membership fees and other fundraising efforts are used to compensate players, who are asked to participate in the collective’s events.

“It’s really the have and have-nots in NIL,” Volpe said. “We have, fortunately, group of people in the community that support it and understand that a successful basketball and football team is good for the entire community. They want to keep up with what the market is.”

While NIL collectives must run outside of schools under NCAA rules, Arizona is among the many major programs adding staffers to work as intermediaries. The Wildcats are expected to soon name a general manager/director of basketball operations to oversee the entire non-coaching staff and work as an NIL liaison.

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Arizona is expected to effectively create a spot on its non-coaching staff by moving special assistant TJ Benson to a full-time assistant coaching job, after Riccardo Fois left for the Sacramento Kings earlier this summer.

A day after the Arizona Assist golf event, on Aug. 30, UA has scheduled a dinner and ceremony at La Paloma for its 2024 Hall of Fame class, which will include Iguodala, Terry, former UA team physician Donald Porter and five other former UA athletes: Kenzie Fowler (softball), Lawi Lalang (track and field), Julie LaBonte (track and field), Bob Ralston (baseball) and Nick Ross (track and field).

Terry hosting youth camp

Former Wildcat guard Dalen Terry will hold a basketball camp for youth ages 8-14 this weekend at the Richard Jefferson Gym.

Also having run a camp last weekend in Gilbert in which UA recruiting target Koa Peat helped coach, Terry has been running his first youth camps since becoming a first-round draft pick of the Chicago Bulls in 2022.

The price for the two-day camp is $135. Terry’s father, Al, said about 10 spots remained as of Monday afternoon out of a maximum 50 campers.

Four-star Khamenia to visit

Four-star Southern California forward Nik Khamenia has scheduled a visit to Arizona from Aug. 30-31, over the Wildcats’ Hall of Fame weekend, after naming UA one of his top five choices.

Khamenia, who played for UA coach Tommy Lloyd on USA Basketball’s U18 team earlier this summer, also listed Duke, North Carolina, Gonzaga and UCLA as his finalists. According to On3.com, he has also scheduled a visit to North Carolina on Sept. 6 and Duke for Sept. 13, while 247 has him scheduled to visit Gonzaga on Oct. 6.

During the Section 7 event at Glendale in June, Khamenia said when he did narrow things down, his relationships with coaches would matter.

“Those are the people you’re gonna be with every single day,” Khamenia said. “They’re gonna be your second family. So it matters a lot.”

A 6-7 forward for Harvard-Westlake High School in Studio City, Calif., Khamenia averaged 7.7 points and 6.3 rebounds while shooting 38.5% from 3-point range in USA’s six-game run to the gold medal in the FIBA U18 AmeriCup at Buenos Aires, Argentina, in early June.