One of the reasons why Steve Kerr said he pledged $1 million to UA is that Arizona is "a huge part of me."
Apparently, the same goes for a lot of his Golden State Warriors staff, too.
Not only is Kerr coaching standout wing Andre Iguodala (2002-04) but he hired Luke Walton (1998-2003) to be an assistant coach and former teammate Bruce Fraser (1984-87) as a player development coach for guards. Advance video scout Kelly Peters also attended some UA classes.
"They're calling us the Golden State Wildcats," Kerr said with a laugh. "We've got a pretty heavy connection. We have a good time with it."
Seriously, though, Kerr said he's off to a good start as a head coach for the first time in a broad-ranging career within game. Kerr has been a television analyst, and advisor and GM with the Suns, since his 15-year NBA playing career ended.
"It's been great," Kerr said. "I love it. I'm enjoying practice every day. We have a good team and good players who are really coachable."
Of course -- with guys such as Iguodala, Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson -- the Warriors are expected to be good in Kerr's first season with them. ESPN projects them as the fourth-best team in the Western Conference.
"It’s pretty rare to be able to inherit a team like this, especially in my first coaching job," Kerr said.
Ivan Rabb is scheduled to cut down to five schools this weekend, and he appears unlikely to attend the Red-Blue Game.
I asked Rabb's coach at Bishop O'Dowd High School, Lou Ritchie, recently via email if Rabb might attend the Red-Blue and he said Rabb had not yet determined when he would set his official visits.
Ritchie also said it was undetermined whether Rabb would sign in the fall or spring.
"He is planning to sign when he knows where he wants to go," Ritchie said via email. "He hasn’t put a time limit on it. It could be tomorrow or it could be later on."
UA will officially place Aaron Gordon and Nick Johnson into its "Ring of Honor" this weekend.
Both automatically qualified last season because of their Pac-12 awards, with Johnson winning Pac-12 Player of the Year and Gordon winning the conference's Freshman of the Year award.
Jordan McLaughlin and his USC teammates are trying to push the pace in practice.
Colorado's Tad Boyle is taking a chance on a sleeper guard. Xavier Johnson says he's trying to be a good influence as an upperclassman.
Jamelle Horne averaged 6.0 points and 5.3 rebounds over his first four games in Japan (thanks Ed for the link).
