On Jaden Bradley’s case for Big 12 POY, why Noah Fifita is No. 1 and more | Michael Lev

Current and former Arizona Wildcats are making news. We’ve got views.

News: UA senior guard Jaden Bradley is named Big 12 Player of the Year.

Views: Bradley said he was surprised to have won the award. That makes (at least) two of us.

Not that Bradley didn’t deserve it. He absolutely did.

It’s just that these award races don’t usually go like this.

Bradley didn’t lead the Big 12 in any individual statistical category. He averaged a mere 13.4 points per game, which ranked third on his own team.

But the Big 12 coaches wisely recognized how much Bradley contributed to Arizona’s success. The Wildcats won the regular-season title by two games. Bradley is their undisputed leader.

“I think coaches value different things than stats,” said Tommy Lloyd, who was named Big 12 Coach of the Year. “I think stats are easy for people on the periphery to get enamored with. Coaches really value winning.

“For me ... when you’re figuring out who deserves what award or not, I always go to the first-place team and whoever the most impactful guy is on the first-place team.”

You could make the case that in any given game, other Wildcats are more impactful than Bradley. But he’s been incredibly steady — “And you know how much we value steady around here,” Lloyd said — and always seems to rise to the occasion in big moments. He’s Arizona’s most valuable and most indispensable player.

Disappointingly, the coaches did not use that same approach with the Defensive Player of the Year award. They voted for Kansas’ Flory Bidunga, who led the league in blocked shots by a wide margin. But some routine research — and the eye test — would suggest that Arizona’s Motiejus Krivas was more deserving.

Per Sports Reference, Krivas ranked No. 1 in the league with a defensive rating (an estimate of points allowed per 100 possessions) of 92.2. Bidunga was just outside the top 10 at 96.9. (Krivas’ teammate, Sixth Man of the Year Tobe Awaka, was second at 92.7.)

Arizona and Kansas were both among the best defensive teams in the conference. Per KenPom, the Wildcats were better, sporting a team defensive rating (adjusted for opponent) of 89.4. They’re one of just three teams (Duke, Michigan) under 90. Kansas is ninth at 94.1.

Using Lloyd’s methodology, Krivas was the most impactful player on the first-place defensive team. Therefore, he should have been the Defensive Player of the Year.

News: CBS Sports ranks Arizona’s Noah Fifita as the No. 1 quarterback in the Big 12.

Views: Kudos to author Shehan Jeyarajah for having the guts to make that call.

It would have been so easy to rank new Texas Tech QB Brendan Sorsby No. 1. Or new Oklahoma State starter Drew Mestemaker, who threw for a gazillion yards at North Texas and will be playing for the same head coach and play-caller, Eric Morris, in Stillwater. Or BYU’s Bear Bachmeier after his breakout freshman season.

But here’s the truth: Fifita is the best returning quarterback in the league — and he should be even better in 2026.

The main reason: continuity. Fifita will be playing for the same offensive coordinator and QB coach (Seth Doege) for the second year in a row, for the first time since he became Arizona’s starting quarterback. That’s incredibly important.

Fifita had the same offensive coaches in his first two seasons, but he didn’t become the starter until about a third of the way into Year 2. The relationship between coaches and the backup quarterback isn’t the same as the one with the starter. That’s just how football works.

Fifita is entering his final season working with the same coach in the same system that he was learning on the fly last year. You could sense that Fifita and Doege were becoming more comfortable with each other as the season progressed. Even when the offense scuffled in the Holiday Bowl, Fifita threw three touchdown passes and rushed for a career-high 73 yards. He just about willed the Wildcats to an epic comeback.

UA coach Brent Brennan took the praise a step further recently, dubbing Fifita a “Heisman-caliber quarterback.” Fifita is a literal long shot to win the Heisman Trophy. Arizona would have to have an even more magical season than 2023 or ’25 for Fifita to even garner consideration (despite his being the best returning quarterback in the Big 12).

But if you want to plunk down a little money on Fifita — who’s 100-to-1 on FanDuel alongside the likes of Nico Iamaleava and Austin Simmons, whose résumés pale by comparison — I can think of worse investments.

News: UA softball notches eight run-rule wins in a row heading into a series at Texas Tech.

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Views: Is Arizona a team that beats up on inferior opponents but isn’t good enough to compete against the best of the best?

That’s one way to look at this year’s squad. But I’m not sure it’s a fair representation.

Yes, the Wildcats have been on the wrong side of blowout losses against Oklahoma and Texas (twice) — two of the top four teams in the country. Arizona also beat Oklahoma once, lost the rubber match by one run and defeated Stanford, which was ranked No. 10 at the time, at Stanford.

Arizona (20-5) has a lesser record than Texas Tech (25-1), which was anything but content after being the national runner-up last season. The Red Raiders are arguably better this year, are the clear front-runners in the Big 12 and have a legit shot to win it all. They lead the league in just about everything; have five of the top 10 players in OPS; and, of course, still have NiJaree Canady, who’s 9-1 with a 0.98 ERA and 81 strikeouts in 57 innings.

Texas Tech’s résumé isn’t flawless, though. The Red Raiders’ strength of schedule ranks 79th nationally, per Massey Ratings. Arizona’s is 14th.

Massey also has a strength-of-schedule metric that factors in future games. Arizona ranks 15th in that category, Texas Tech 51st. That’s because the Red Raiders can’t face themselves. Come NCAA Tournament time, the Wildcats will have played at least eight games against top-four opponents — plus a road series against LSU. They will have been tested and then some.

Can they take at least one game in Lubbock — or even win the series? We’ll see.

Hopefully, impressive freshman pitcher Rylie Holder will be available after taking a comebacker to the temple and entering the concussion protocol. (This column was filed before Caitlin Lowe’s media availability Tuesday.) She and senior Jalen Adams have formed a potent duo atop the rotation. Heck, they are the rotation.

Arizona’s lineup is both pesky and powerful. But Canady is Canady. And No. 2 starter Kaitlyn Terry, who spent her first two seasons at UCLA, is really good too (11-0, 1.32).

The Lubbock litmus test will be telling.

News: UA baseball sweeps Fresno State before a midweek game at ASU.

Views: Some of the main characters aren’t who we expected them to be, but Arizona actually followed the preseason script in winning its past five weekend games.

The Wildcats’ starting pitchers excelled, authoring five consecutive quality starts (six-plus innings, three or fewer earned runs). That’s what the strength of the team was supposed to be.

It took a minute for those pieces to align, and it sure didn’t help that other areas were faltering. But that critical component has come together at just the right time.

Smith Bailey has been the constant, giving Arizona a chance to win every time he ascends the mound. Less than a month into his sophomore season, Bailey is a quality-start machine.

Bailey has seven quality starts in his past nine appearances, dating to last season. The two that weren’t: 5⅓ innings of one-run ball vs. TCU in the Big 12 Tournament and five innings of two-run ball vs. UConn on Feb. 21. That’ll play.

Owen Kramkowski mostly struggled during his first three outings; he entered this past Friday with an 8.49 ERA.

He then threw six shutout innings with a career-high 12 strikeouts and zero walks against Fresno State, earning Big 12 Pitcher of the Week accolades.

The biggest difference between that outing and the previous one is that Kramkowski was able to put the Bulldogs away with two strikes — relying heavily on his slider — while he struggled to win those battles against Oregon on Feb. 27.

Kramkowski allowed three hits on 0-2 pitches against the Ducks, including a home run and a triple. He notched six strikeouts on 0-2 pitches vs. Fresno and didn’t allow a single hit in that count.

Luc Fladda began the season as a long reliever, but the Sunday starter job is now his until further notice. The left-hander — a fifth-year senior who spent the past two seasons at Tulane — never hits 90 mph on the radar gun. But he’s an elite strike thrower who has posted a remarkable 20-0 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 20 innings.

Only one other UA pitcher, lefty reliever Maclain Roberts, had yet to walk a batter entering Tuesday night’s game at ASU. Some had as many walks as innings pitched; some had more.

If Kramkowski, Bailey and Fladda keep pitching like this, Arizona — warts and all — will have a chance to win every series it plays in the Big 12.