– Bob Elliott, the UA's career-leading basketball scorer when he completed his Arizona eligibility in 1977, awoke last Sunday to disturbing news. Some knucklehead on Facebook fabricated a dispatch saying Elliott had died, using inaccurate data and photographs. Unfortunately, several hundred people responded to the fabrication by sending prayers and best wishes to Elliott's family. By midday, a minister at Elliott's church phoned the family to say they honored Bob's memory at that morning's church service. "It's very disturbing that people can do that," said Ellilott, who led Arizona to the 1976 Elite Eight and played five years in the NBA. "It's just sad how many people got sucked in and believed all those lies. But there's nothing you can do about it."
Former University of Arizona basketball star Bob Elliott, right, talks with UA Associate Vice President Chris Kopach and facilities management staff at the African American Museum of Southern Arizona inside the University of Arizona Student Union.
– Former Rincon High School football standout Beyah Rasool is back in the NFL. He lost his job as a Las Vegas Raiders defensive backs coach when Pete Carroll was fired in January, but was hired to fill a similar position by the Philadelphia Eagles last week. Rasool's career includes stops at Arizona, Florida, Bowling Green and Pima College.
– Sahuaro High School's 2014 all-state baseball player Alex Verdugo signed with the San Diego Padres last week and is in the Pads' minor league camp. Verdugo, an outfielder who turns 30 in May, has played 856 games and hit 70 home runs for the Yankees, Dodgers, Red Sox and Braves in a nine-year MLB career.
– Arizona's first-year women's basketball coach Becky Burke finished the season 0-9 in true road games. It's the first time in school history a women's basketball team didn't win a road game. Adia Barnes' 6-24 team of 2018 went 1-11 on the road, Niya Butts' 5-25 team of 2014 went 1-12 on the road, and June Olkowski's 6-25 team of 1991 won three road games. Burke will require another year or more to dig out of the mess she inherited from Barnes, but there is hope. In 1982-83, Arizona's men's basketball team under coach Ben Lindsey went 0-14 on the road. After Lindsey was fired, Lute Olson required just five years to get Arizona to the Final Four.
– More on Barnes. Her first team at SMU finished 9-21 and did not qualify for the ACC postseason tournament. Worse, Barnes' Mustangs lost February games to Duke 95-36, North Carolina 94-42, Stanford 87-57 and Cal 78-34, or an average of 45 points per game. Barnes' building job at SMU appears more daunting than the one Burke inherited at McKale Center.
