The Star's longtime columnist checks in with his observations on the Olympics, why T.J. McConnell and Andre Iguodala are worth every cent, an intriguing recruit for Jedd Fisch β and which hurdle may keep the Pac-12 from grabbing the Big 12's leftovers:
Tokyo Olympics had Tucson flair
Four observations of the Tokyo Olympics from a well-worn sofa:
1. Steve Kerr is almost sure to be the head coach of America's 2024 Paris Olympics men's basketball team. Why? He wins. Who else would you recommend?
Kerr has now been part of five NBA championship teams as a player and the head coach of the Golden State Warriors' three NBA titles. He won Olympic gold in Tokyo as the lead assistant coach to his NBA mentor Gregg Popovich.
As many might have forgotten, Kerr was the sixth man on Lute Olson's 1986 FIBA world championship team. That's 35 years of championship success like few in basketball history.
Kerr's '86 world championship and his '21 Olympic gold medal ended with completely different feelings. In '86, Kerr tore his ACL in a semifinal upset over Brazil. He spent the night in his Madrid, Spain, hotel, in tears, fearful that his basketball career was done. This time, in Tokyo, he celebrated in a Japanese hotel with a glass of wine, toasting the conclusion of another chapter of his remarkable career.
2. Arizona 1990s golf All-American Rory Sabbatini won a silver medal in the Olympic men's golf competition. It drew mixed reactions. Sabbatini, who grew up in South Africa, gained Slovakian citizenship in 2018, and used that connection to his wife, who is from Slovakia, to represent his very new country.
Slovakia has just 26 golf courses. Sabbatini is ranked No. 204 in the world. Should he have been given such an opportunity?
βThis decision was never made to play in the Olympics,β he told reporters after shooting a final-round 61 in Tokyo. βThis decision was made to support my wife and stepson and to open the door for golf development in Slovakia. I didn't even know I would be eligible.β
Indeed, under Olympic rules, an athlete with dual citizenship can pick which country he represents. But the only true link he had to Slovakia while in Japan was that his wife, Martina, was his caddy.
A six-time PGA Tour winner, Sabbatini hasn't been able to qualify for the Masters since 2012 and hasn't qualified for the U.S. Open since 2013. But he's an Olympic silver medalist. That will be his legacy, whether the golf purists like it or not.
Delaney Schnell competes in the women's diving 10-meter platform preliminary at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Wednesday, Aug. 4, 2021, in Tokyo, Japan.
3. Delaney Schnell made a globally impressive debut on the international stage, winning a silver medal in synchronized diving and finishing fifth in platform diving. The former Tucson High graduate, an All-American at the UA, quickly announced she will soon begin training for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
βAt the end of it all, tears of happiness were shed because I am now able to look back at where I was and see how far I've come,β she said. βI'm so excited to show the world what I have to offer in three years. On to Paris 2024.β
If Schnell returns to Arizona for a final year of eligibility, she should cash in β big time β under the NCAA's new names, image and likeness resource.
4. At the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, I ran into Dan Hicks, who was about to begin his first year as NBC's lead announcer for Olympics swimming competition. He was 34, only a few years removed from being a weekend anchor for KVOA Channel 4, and, of all things, the public address announcer for UA football and baseball games.
βI've learned more about swimming in the last few months than I ever thought possible,β he said then.
βIt's the opportunity of a lifetime.β
Boy, did he take advantage of that opportunity.
The Sabino High School and UA grad has become one of the lead voices of televised sports, immediately identified not only with Olympics swimming, but also the PGA Tour. He has been NBC's lead golf announcer for 21 years.
Hicks, who was a basketball standout at Sabino High School, once interviewed the Clown Prince of Baseball, Max Patkin β you may remember Patkin from the movie βBull Durham'' β for Channel 4. Patkin was so funny at Hi Corbett Field that night that Hicks lost it, almost choking he laughed so hard.
But Hicks turned it into a memorable TV moment β the first sign that he had what it takes to become a Hall of Fame-level broadcaster.
Ex-teammates meet for title
Arizona head baseball coach Jerry Kindall, left, with wife Georgia, won the NCAA baseball championship with the Wildcats in 1980.
At the 1980 College World Series, Arizona trailed Cal 10-9 entering the bottom of the ninth inning of an elimination game in Omaha, Nebraska.
The Wildcats rallied for two runs to win, keyed by pinch-hitter Alan Regier's single followed by shortstop Clark Crist reaching base on an error. They scored the deciding runs on a walk-off double. A day later, Arizona won the national championship.
On Monday, Regier and Crist, baseball lifers, will oppose one another for the championship game of the Appalachian League.
Crist, a Palo Verde High School graduate who has been in pro baseball for 41 years, is manager of the Pulaski River Turtles. Regier, who came to Arizona from a California junior college and has been in pro baseball for 25 years, is manager of the Greeneville Flyboys. They are part of Jerry Kindall's remarkable Class of 1980, in which eight Wildcats went on to lifelong baseball careers: Crist, Regier, Terry Francona, Johnny Moses, Wes Clements, Scott Stanley, Jeff Morris and Casey Candaele. The Appalachian League, which is sponsored by Major League Baseball, will play its title game in Greeneville, Tennessee. I asked Crist if he and his old UA teammate will wear their College World Series rings.
βThey don't fit any longer,'' he said with a chuckle. But the memories remain.
Iggy's team-first approach pays off
Andre Iguodala won an Olympic gold medal in 2012, was the NBA Finalsβ most valuable player in 2015 and earned NBA titles with the Golden State Warriors in 2015, 2017 and 2018.
Andre Iguodola is expected to sign a free-agent contract to return to the Golden State Warriors in 2021-22, which is a testament to the team-first value of professional athletics. Iguodala isn't a shooter. He hasn't averaged more than 6.7 shots per game since 2015. He's a passer, a defensive ace, and now, at 37, a willing mentor to younger teammates. Even at Arizona, Iguodala only shot 27% from 3-point distance, yet he has been paid $184 million in his NBA days. That's the highest total by a UA athlete in any pro sport. Gilbert Arenas ($163 million), Richard Jefferson ($118 million), golfer Jim Furyk ($72 million), pitcher Mark Melancon ($78 million) and quarterback Nick Foles ($78 million) can't match Iguodala's paystubs.
T.J. McConnell cashes in
Indiana Pacers' T.J. McConnell, left, and Cleveland Cavaliers' Collin Sexton reach for the ball during the first half of an NBA basketball game Wednesday, March 3, 2021, in Cleveland.
If there is any former UA basketball player who has followed Iguodala's team-first style it's point guard T.J. McConnell, who signed with the Indiana Pacers last week for about $35 million over four years. McConnell isn't a 3-point shooter, either. Of his 274 field-goal attempts this season, only 15 were 3-pointers. Instead, McConnell, who has only started nine of his last 292 NBA games, wins with defense, hustle, intensity and by limiting mistakes. As the UA's best player on its 2015 Elite Eight team, McConnell had more steals, 83, than turnovers. The day McConnell's NBA career ends, he'll be snapped up to begin a coaching career in about 10 seconds.
Strange rookie year for Aari McDonald
Atlanta Dream guard Aari McDonald defends during a May game against the Chicago Sky.
Aari McDonald's rookie year in the WNBA has been, shall we say, not as expected. The coach and GM who drafted her No, 3 overall both left the club before she played a game. She is only averaging 13 minutes and 5.9 points per game. And then the season shut down July 11 for a month's break for the Olympics. McDonald's Atlanta Dream resumes action Aug. 15 at the Phoenix Mercury. During her down time, McDonald signed with Hungary's Uni Gyor franchise, and will open the Hungarian League season the first week of October. Uni Gyor will play a 22-game regular-season schedule.
New Mexico prep star has Tucson ties
As Jedd Fisch works toward the UA football season opener Sept. 4 against BYU, he and his staff continue to stay deeply involved in recruiting. One of those who has popped up as a “must pursue" for the Wildcats is Stratton Shufelt, a 6-foot-2-inch, 220-pound linebacker from Cleveland High School in Rio Rancho, New Mexico. MaxPreps.com last week named Shufelt as the No. 1 prospect in New Mexico, even though he is only a sophomore. Shufelt has strong connections to Tucson; his father, Pete Shufelt, was a Canyon del Oro High School standout in the late 1980s, playing at UTEP before reaching the NFL with the New York Giants. Shufelt, who owns a 22,000-square foot machinist operation in Albuquerque, is one of 35 players from a Tucson high school to reach the NFL.
Could Michigan State pursue UA AD?
UA athletic director Dave Heeke, right, could be a candidate for Michigan State's vacancy.
It wouldn't be a surprise if Michigan State strongly considered Arizona athletic director Dave Heeke to fill a similar role for the Spartans. Heeke is a Michigan man, sort of. Born in East Lansing, a former three-sport athlete at East Lansing High School, Heeke certainly is familiar with the town and MSU's campus. He's only 57 and in the prime of his career. Heeke has been through the fire like few ADs in Pac-12 history since arriving on campus in the spring of 2017. He has weathered the meltdown of the UA's football and men's basketball programs β he did hire Kevin Sumlin, however β but proved to be an ambitious, get-things-done AD, rebuilding the softball and swimming facilities and spending almost $50 million to renovate Arizona Stadium and build the Davis Indoor Sports Center. Heeke's resume includes 18 years with the Oregon Ducks, rising to the No. 2 man in the department, and 11 years as Central Michigan's AD. Michigan State is replacing retiring AD Bill Beekman. The perceived No. 1 candidate to replace Beekman is MSU deputy AD Alan Haller, who is a former Spartan football player, but Heeke would appeal to most Power 5 schools seeking an AD.
Ex-Wildcat Grant Jerrett resurfaces in NBA Summer League
One of the many recruiting misses of Sean Miller's Arizona years was 2012 McDonald's All-American Grant Jerrett, a 6-foot-10-inch shooter with 3-point range who played under tight restrictions in Miller's offense. Jerrett left Arizona after the 2013 Sweet 16 and was the 40th selection in the NBA draft, although he only played three NBA games, all in 2015. Now 28, Jerrett is on the Detroit Pistons' Summer League team after a productive season with Darussafaka of the Turkish pro league. He was teammates with another one-year UA player, Ryan Luther. Jerrett averaged 11.8 points per game; Luther 9.0. Jerrett has played in China, Germany, Japan and in the NBA D and G leagues.
NCAA drops ball β again
When the NCAA last week announced that the Independent Accountability Resolution Process (IARP) was going to speed up its investigations of the Arizona, Louisville, Kansas, LSU and NC State basketball programs, it was greeted with skepticism, at best. βThe oversight committee, which has expressed concerns about the delay in the resolution of cases referred to the independent process, determined that much of the delay is the result of efforts by the Complex Case Unit to 're-investigate' cases that the enforcement staff thoroughly investigated,β an NCAA release said. What? They couldn't have thought of that a year ago? New UA coach Tommy Lloyd and the fans that support Arizona basketball are paying for the NCAA's incompetence.
My two cents: Big 12 leftovers don't make grade
One thing many overlook when speculating about possible Pac-12 expansion β perhaps as important as adding revenue potential β is the academic status of the Big 12 leftovers like Baylor, TCU and Texas Tech.
None are AAU institutions β American Association of Universities β upon which the Pac-12 prides itself. There are only 66 AAU universities of the more than 4,000 degree-granting colleges in America. That's 1.7%.
The Pac-12 has nine: Arizona, USC, UCLA, Stanford, Cal, Oregon, Washington, Utah and Colorado.
That's part of why adding Utah and Colorado 10 years ago was so attractive to the presidents and chancellors who make the decision on expansion. The only Big 12 schools that belong to the AAU are Kansas and Iowa State, and neither of those schools would add to the Pac-12's bottom line.
Call it academic elitism, but it's a huge factor β and it's essential to any discussion about Pac-12 expansion.
