Arizona basketball coach Tommy Lloyd last week got a commitment from 6-10 Dwayne Aristode of the Brewster Academy in New Hampshire. Rivals.com ranks Aristode, originally from the Netherlands, an elite outside shooter, as the nation’s No. 11 prospect.
The only former Wildcats ranked higher than Aristode the last 20 years were DeAndre Ayton (No. 3), Stanley Johnson (No. 4), Aaron Gordon (No. 6) and Allonzo Trier (also No. 6.)
As far as I can research, the highest-ranked UA basketball recruit ever, No. 1 in 2003, was 6-11 Ndudi Ebi, who entered the NBA draft and did not play college basketball. Ebi was an NBA bust, playing just 19 games. He did, however, play 17 seasons in the EuroLeague.
Dwayne Aristode played for Netherlands in the FIBA U16 European Championships in 2022 and the youth club of Spain’s Juventut Badalona.
Before rankings were created by online recruiting services 20 years ago, the top UA recruits were probably, in no particular order, Leon Wood, Bob Elliott, Damon Stoudamire and Mike Bibby, although no one arrived at McKale Center with higher expectations than 1990s transfers Chris Mills, Bison Dele, Ben Davis and Loren Woods. ...
• At last week’s press conference introducing the 2024 Class for the Pima County Sports Hall of Fame, former Amphitheater High School and UA distance runner Virginia Pedersoli Sanchez told a terrific story about how she prepared for an elite running career: “Before high school, we would sometimes ride our bikes on summer days from the Amphi area at Stone and Glenn to Catalina State Park. So it was very natural for me to become a distance runner.’’
At Amphi, Sanchez won the state championships in the 800, 1600 and 3200 meters three years in succession, which has never been duplicated in Arizona. She also won back-to-back state titles in cross country.
Amphi's Virginia Pedersoli on a run in 1990.
She will be inducted into the PCSHOF on Nov. 17 with, among others, ex-Sahuaro High golfer Rich Barcelo, a three-year regular on the PGA Tour, and the 1978 Pueblo High boys basketball team, 28-0, winners of back-to-back state championships. ...
• Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra gave ex-Wildcats Pelle Larsson and Keshad Johnson an extended tryout in Friday’s final preseason game. Larsson started and played 32 minutes but went 5 for 17 from the field.
Johnson played 26 minutes and scored eight points. Both were expected to be moved to the Heat’s G-League roster before this week’s season opener.
The other ex-Wildcat on the bubble of making an NBA team, center Christian Koloko, did not play in any Los Angeles Lakers preseason games. He has not been cleared by team doctors to play after a year-long respiratory issue. ...
• After 10 years, former Mountain View High School baseball standout Brian Huie, now the principal of Mission Manor Elementary School in the Sunnyside School District, has closed his highly successful baseball school — BNL (Baseball Next Level). It is probably the most successful such baseball preparatory school in Tucson history.
More than 275 players coached by Huie and his staff earned berths on college teams. Two of his players, Cienega’s Nick Gonzales and Sahuarita’s Manny Barreda, reached the major leagues.
Somehow, Huie also found time to be a New York Yankees area scout. In 2005, Huie coached Sahuarita High School to the state championship. He will now be able to more closely follow his son, Nathan Huie, who is a baseball player at Cochise College. ...
This entry is part of longtime Star columnist Greg Hansen's weekly notebook. Looking for more? Find updates and Greg's archive at Tucson.com/Hansen.
• Arizona will open its men’s basketball season Monday night with an exhibition game against Eastern New Mexico. You’d think that over the last 100 years, Arizona and ENMU would’ve played one another a few times. I mean, ENMU has played ASU 11 times.
But this will be just the second game ever between the schools.
Perhaps that’s because when the Wildcats and Greyhounds did play, in Dec. 1960 at Bear Down Gym, Arizona set a school record with 118 points, winning 118-66. Monte Clausen, son of ex-UA athletic director Dick Clausen, scored 19 points in that game, a career-high. And that UA team wasn’t very good, finishing 11-15. By the way, UA coach Fred Enke missed that game, recovering from a minor surgery.
Jedd Fisch's '$20 million roster' perspective anything but 'really cool' | Greg Hansen's NotebookGreg Hansen's Notebook: It was disappointing when former Arizona coach Jedd Fisch said recently: “The new world order of college football will allow us to be able to spend what other programs are spending. It will make it really cool to see what football looks like.’’
Greg Hansen's Notebook: Playing at the birthplace of golf in Scotland was a "once-in-a-lifetime" event for many surrounding the Arizona women's and men's golf teams. It's a testament to the power the UA golf brand still yields.
Greg Hansen's Notebook: Saturday's blowout to Colorado proved what we all probably already knew: If Arizona can't get the football into T-Mac's hands more often, the Wildcats are doomed.
