The Star's longtime columnist checks in with updates about Christian Koloko's development, Brent Strom's bold move to the Diamondbacks, Caitlin Lowe and Laura Ianello's impressive signees, and Donny Sands' chances of making the Yankees:
Three things have keyed Koloko's transformation
Christian Koloko
Watching vastly improved UA center Christian Koloko score 18 points and grab 11 rebounds in just 19 minutes Friday against Texas-Rio Grande Valley, I was struck by three things.
One, he is a very good free-throw shooter. He is 8 for 10 this season and his fundamental shooting form looks to be right out of a Steve Kerr instructional manual. How far has Koloko come? I remember the hard-to-watch night in February 2020 when Koloko was fouled with one second left in overtime, with Arizona trailing No. 14 Oregon 73-72. His two foul shots were bricks. He shot 35% from the foul line as a freshman. That has changed.
Two, his work in the weight room has transformed his body. His upper body definition and strength make him a different player. After Friday’s game, UA coach Tommy Lloyd said: “He’s taking rim-protecting seriously. If (the other team) is going to go down there against him, it’s not going to be easy."
Three, he’s a scoring threat. He has developed his inside game. He’s a different player. "People are going to have their hands full figuring out what to do with him," said Lloyd.
Koloko is a rarity at the elite level of today’s college basketball. He has stayed in school long enough to change his game, rather than leave for the pros prematurely, as previous Wildcats such as Rawle Alkins, Kobi Simmons and Brandon Randolph did.
After watching No. 2 UCLA’s compelling overtime victory against No. 4 Villanova on Friday, I thought that Koloko has improved enough to be a factor against the Pac-12’s top teams.
My takeaway from UCLA’s victory was that often-listless Pauley Pavilion was sold out. Attendance: 13,659. Do you realize that the Bruins have not averaged more than 11,872 at Pauley since John Wooden retired? Their highest per-game average this century is 10,652.
By comparison, attendance at McKale Center last week was announced at 12,421 against NAU and 11,862 against Texas-Rio Grande Valley. It looked more like 9,500 both nights. Some of it is due to the COVID-19 issues.
It probably won’t change much until Colorado visits McKale on Jan. 13. The schedule Lloyd inherited is almost inexcusably bad, an insult to those who have paid expensive seat premiums at McKale for years.
The Wildcats' final five nonconference home games are against North Dakota State, Sacramento State, Wyoming, Northern Colorado and Cal Baptist.
I asked Lloyd last week if it’s possible to schedule home games against elite teams and he had an encouraging answer. "I’m working on some things behind the scenes," he said. "It would definitely be something on my agenda moving forward."
Good news, for sure.
Arizona coach Adia Barnes and her bench cheer during Friday's 61-59 overtime win over No. 6 Louisville in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
Adia Barnes is no stranger to tough games
In her first six weeks as an Arizona freshman, 1995-96, Adia Barnes had no break-in time. The Wildcats played No. 1 Tennessee, No. 8 Vanderbilt, No. 9 Virginia and No. 15 Florida. And although coach Joan Bonvicini’s Wildcats were not capable of beating Top 25 teams at that point, they adapted, improved and became a Sweet 16 team before Barnes graduated as the Pac-10 player of the year.
Barnes seemed to embrace Friday’s chance to play No. 6 Louisville, and was hardly surprised when the Wildcats won in overtime on a neutral court in South Dakota.
"It was a good game for women’s basketball," she said. "It’s really good for our sport."
Louisville coach Jeff Walz agreed. "If we want to grow the game, you’ve got to be willing to play games like this," said Walz, who coached Louisville to Final Fours in 2009, 2013 and 2018.
Barnes showed professional composure on the sideline in Friday’s game. The officiating was, shall we say, not in mid-season form, for either team. Down the stretch, the missed calls and blown calls never seemed to end. Some coaches — Sean Miller or Bobby Hurley, for example — would’ve been T’d up.
But Barnes withstood the adversity as her team won with (1) defense, (2) toughness and (3) composure.
"It wasn’t a perfect game," Barnes said, "but there were a lot of positive things."
Ex-Wildcat Willie Hamilton dies
Willie "Tuzo" Hamilton was part of the UA’s famous "1-2-3 Backfield" of the early 1970s, joining No. 1, quarterback Bruce Hill and No. 2, Jim Upchurch, the productive group that led coach Jim Young’s first three Arizona teams to records of 8-3, 9-2 and 9-2.
Hamilton, who overcame more than a decade of substance abuse problems to become a minister both in Tucson and the San Francisco area, died on Nov. 1. He was 69.
In his Arizona career, Hamilton produced three of the greatest runs in school history: a touchdown of 84 yards against Oregon; a touchdown of 80 yards against BYU; and another 80-yard TD run against Iowa. He completed his career in 1974 with 1,545 rushing yards and was a first-team All-WAC running back.
I visited his ministry in midtown Tucson in the mid-1990s and listened to his stories about overcoming drug abuse and finding peace of mind. It was an uplifting story of perseverance and success.
On his final play as a Wildcat in 1974, he ran for the clinching 4-yard touchdown with 32 seconds left in a 10-0 win over Frank Kush and ASU, before a sellout crowd at Arizona Stadium. It broke a nine-game losing streak against the Sun Devils.
"I wasn’t supposed to be in the game," Hamilton told me. "Our offensive coordinator, John Mackovic, was upset at me and took me out of the game. But between plays, I knew I just had to be in there so I ran into the huddle and told (Bruce Hill) to give me the ball. It was a heck of a way to finish your career."
UA coaches turn heads with signings
The two most head-turning recruits signed by Arizona on last week’s national letter-of-intent day were softball outfielder Dakota Kennedy of Sacramento, California, and golfer Julia Misemer of Overland Park, Kansas. Kennedy is ranked as the No. 4 overall prospect in high school softball’s Class of 2022, a left-handed hitting outfielder with size, speed and power. Kennedy hit .581 as a high school junior and actually committed to Arizona a year ago, after attending a Mike Candrea camp. Misemer is another of coach Laura Ianello’s elite-level recruits of the last decade. She became the first golfer, boys or girls, in Kansas history to win four consecutive state championships. Ranked No. 7 overall among USA girls amateurs, Misemer was part of the USA Junior Ryder Cup team. She shot a 64 to win the Kansas prep state championship as a sophomore, and shot a 65 this year in the Justin Thomas USA Junior championships.
Brent Strom makes surprising move to D-backs
After helping the Houston Astros win the 2017 World Series, Tucson pitching coach Brent Strom told me: "I don’t know how much longer I’ll do this." He was 69 at the time. About a month ago, the pitching coach of the Tucson Toros’ epic 1991 Pacific Coast League championship team, told the Astros he was retiring. Strom later told reporters he contacted an old friend, legendary Sandy Koufax, about his decision to retire. Koufax told him to be "careful with your time." Said Strom: "I need to enjoy my life a little bit." But last week, Strom, 73, chose to take on one of the most difficult jobs in Major League Baseball. He reportedly will be the new pitching coach for the Arizona Diamondbacks, possibly the worst team in MLB. Strom has lived in Tucson for 40 years and is married to Carrie Greenfield Strom, daughter of the UA’s first-ever NFL player, Tom Greenfield, a lineman of the late 1930s whose name is in the Ring of Honor at Arizona Stadium.
Top crew calls high school rivalry game
The AIA assigned one of the top football officiating crews to Friday’s long-anticipated Chandler Hamilton-vs.-Chandler showdown in Phoenix. Both teams were 9-0; Hamilton won 21-14. That wasn’t much of a change for the Tucson referees, who all have worked state championship games and many other high-profile prep football games the last decade. The crew included referee Jeff Bell, umpire Bob Bertagnoli; back judge Jeremy Jolles; head linesman James Sims; line judge Guy Giordano; and side judge B.J. Fogltance. A football referee in Arizona is paid $90 a game at the highest level, which is not commensurate with the expertise they give to the game.
Aztecs return to national tournament
Pima College men’s soccer coach Dave Cosgrove returns to the NJCAA Division II national championships Monday in Wichita, Kansas. The Aztecs are seeded No. 2 and shouldn’t be awed by the surroundings. PCC has played in the NJCAA finals four consecutive seasons, winning the national championship in 2018 and finishing in the Final Four in 2017 and 2019. The Aztecs will have to win Monday and Wednesday to reach the Final Four on Friday. Pima is 15-1-1 this season.
Good week for ex-Cat Julius Holt, family
It was a good week for Julius Holt and his Tucson family. Holt, who was a starting defensive lineman at Arizona in 1981 and 1982, making 77 tackles with nine sacks, was a very proud father when his daughter, Canyon del Oro High School senior softball pitcher Julia Holt, signed a letter of intent to play at Howard University in Washington, D.C. Howard is four blocks from Holt’s hometown school, Cardoza High School; Kinyon went 9-3 at CDO last season.
Ex-Cats, Tucsonans dot G League rosters
The NBA G League opened play last week and just three Tucson-connected players are on G League rosters: Sahuaro High School grad Nate Renfo, who is playing for the Austin Spurs and played 19 minutes in the club’s opener. Former Arizona guard Gabe York of the Fort Wayne Mad Antz did not score in nine minutes in Fort Wayne’s opener, and ex-UA guard Brandon Williams, who left school to deal with a knee injury, played 35 minutes and scored 14 points for the Westchester Knicks in its opener. Ex-Wildcat Allonzo Trier, who last played for the G League’s Iowa Wolves, is not listed on any G League roster this season.
Salpointe shortstop Donny Sands (13) waits for Sunnyside's Joseph Molina (4) to get to the bag during a 2015 state playoff game.
My two cents: Donny Sands could be wearing pinstripes soon
The New York Yankees last week added former Salpointe Catholic High School catcher Donny Sands to their 40-man roster, elevating him over former second-round draft pick Josh Breaux, a sign that Sands has a realistic possibility to get to the major leagues.
What a story that would be. Sands’ journey to the Yankees’ roster is hard to believe.
Spending most of his childhood in Ciudad Obregon in Sonora, Mexico, Sands and his mother moved to Tucson in 2012 when his father,
The New York Yankees last week added former Salpointe Catholic High School catcher Donny Sands to their 40-man roster, elevating him over former second-round draft pick Josh Breaux, a sign that Sands has a realistic possibility to get to the major leagues.
What a story that would be. Sands’ journey to the Yankees’ roster is hard to believe.
Spending most of his childhood in Ciudad Obregon in Sonora, Mexico, Sands and his mother moved to Tucson in 2012 when his father, Roger, died of a heart attack. His mother struggled to make a living and, while at Salpointe in 2015, Sands said he periodically lived alone in his car for almost a year.
The Yankees drafted him in the eighth round in 2015 as a third baseman, and gave him a $100,000 bonus, ending his homeless period. Sands struggled in the low minor leagues, hitting only eight homers in six seasons, over more than 1,300 at-bats as he converted to catching.
But last season, at Triple-A Scranton-Wilkes-Barre and Double-A Somerset, Sands hit 18 home runs and batted .261. He is also a contact hitter, a skill that's in increasingly short supply in big league baseball. The Yankees thought enough of Sands that to put him on their 40-man roster, they paid a $500,000 buyout to relief pitcher Joely Rodriguez to drop him from the roster.
Now Sands will go to spring training with the Yankees behind veteran catchers Gary Sanchez and Kyle Higashioka. That’s a long way from living out of your car, living alone, wondering how you will pay for your next tank of gasoline.
