Hansen's Sunday Notebook: Yes, UA men's basketball is still elite — even as 22-year Final Four drought lingers

The Star's longtime columnist on Clancy Shields' masterful job building the Arizona men's tennis program ... the promising future in Tucson for UA hoops recruit Jada Williams ... ex-Wildcat catcher Cesar Salazar making the roster of the defending World Series champs ... what now-ex-UA hooper Kerr Kriisa might be able to expect from the transfer game ... and more.

Wildcats are still elite, but Final Four drought is nagging scar

I listened to a SiriusXM radio interview with Princeton basketball coach Mitch Henderson last week. His explanation of the Tigers’ NCAA Tournament upset over Arizona caught my attention:

“Arizona runs all the Yale stuff," said Henderson. “Those two painful losses (to Yale) really prepared us to slow Arizona down."

It had to be the first time in forever that Arizona’s basketball program has been compared to Yale, or any Ivy League school. Arizona runs all the Yale stuff. Really?

But it’s true. Yale routed Princeton in up-tempo games 93-83 and 87-65, but by the time Princeton met Arizona in the NCAA Tournament, the Tigers fully adapted. They limited Arizona to the fewest points, 55, in any game in Tommy Lloyd’s two seasons.

It has now been 22 years since Arizona last reached the Final Four, which leads to this question: Are the Wildcats still legitimately a first-tier, elite men’s basketball program? I say yes, because Arizona belongs to the 500 Club. Only 15 power programs (this includes Gonzaga, and an argument can certainly now be made for San Diego State) have won 500 or more games from the start of the 2001-02 season through 2022-23.

But there is one gnawing factor: Of those 15 teams, Arizona is the only one not to play in the Final Four since it lost the 2001 national championship game to Duke 22 years ago Sunday. It is a burden, a nagging scar the Wildcats will carry until they break the almost inexplicable 0-for-22-years streak.

Here’s the 500 Club, top to bottom:

• Kansas: 647 wins, 6 Final Fours

• Gonzaga: 637 wins, 2 Final Fours

• Duke: 623 wins, 4 Final Fours

• Kentucky: 580 wins, 4 Final Fours

• North Carolina: 561 wins, 6 Final Fours

• Arizona: 545 wins, 0 Final Fours

• Michigan State: 539 wins, 5 Final Fours

• Villanova: 537 wins, 4 Final Fours

• Wisconsin: 528 wins, 2 Final Fours

• Florida: 524 wins, 3 Final Fours

• Syracuse: 520 wins, 3 Final Fours

• San Diego State: 517 wins, 1 Final Four

• Ohio State: 515 wins, 2 Final Fours

• Louisville: 512 wins, 3 Final Fours

• UConn: 507 wins, 5 Final Fours

The issue isn’t Arizona’s embarrassing first-round losses to Princeton, Buffalo and Wichita State. First-round upsets have proved to be inevitable and an expected piece of the fine Madness.

Duke has lost to Lehigh and Mercer. Kansas has been sent home by Northern Iowa and Bradley. Michigan State has been eliminated by Middle Tennessee State, and Kentucky has been humbled by St. Peter’s.

The issue in March is winning the Big One, and Arizona’s Elite Eight exits — to UConn, Illinois, Kansas and Wisconsin (twice) — get infected and carry on a basketball disorder that has lingered for 22 frustrating years.

Shields is the master rebuilder

When former UA athletic director Greg Byrne hired Clancy Shields away from Utah State in the spring of 2016 there was little or no reaction locally. Men’s tennis? Yawn.

At the time, the Wildcats had lost 63 consecutive matches to USC, winless since 1981. Arizona had similarly hapless records against Stanford and UCLA. One of the reasons TV analyst Bill Walton repeatedly refers to the Pac-12 as the “Conference of Champions" is because of its dominance in sports like tennis. Pac-12 men's tennis teams have combined to win 72 NCAA championships, including 21 by USC, 34 by UCLA and 17 by Stanford.

The Trojans will play Arizona Sunday at 1 p.m. at the UA’s Robson Tennis Center and, my, have times changed.

Shields’ No. 19 Wildcats are the reigning Pac-12 champions and have beaten No. 9 USC in back-to-back seasons. It’s not that the Trojans have declined; they have beaten No. 12 North Carolina, No. 13 Georgia and No. 15 Florida. Losses? USC has lost to No. 1 TCU, No. 2 Kentucky, No. 3 Texas and No. 4 Michigan.

It’s doubtful any Pac-12 team, in any sport, has played a more difficult schedule than USC’s men’s tennis team this season. Playing Arizona on Sunday won’t create intimidation.

Two things about today’s showdown at Robson: One, get there early if you want a seat. When I arrived Friday for Arizona’s victory over No. 26 UCLA, the seating area was overflowing. There must’ve been 75 UA football players alone, with coach Jedd Fisch and offensive coordinator Brennan Carroll sitting up close. It was loud and energizing.

Two, Shields' rebuilding job puts him in a small and elite group of master rebuilders over the last 50 years of UA sports, at the top with Lute Olson, Frank Busch and Adia Barnes.

One warning: The day seems sure to come that a longtime NCAA tennis blueblood, in search of a coach, will target Shields. Enjoy this while you can.

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Jada Williams is the real deal

By the time Arizona’s recruiting classes of 2023 — 19 sports — arrive in Tucson for fall semester in August, it’ll be difficult to imagine anyone more valuable and highly ranked than women’s basketball point guard Jada Williams.

In the first 10 minutes of last week’s McDonald’s All-American basketball game, Williams, from La Jolla, California, passed the eye test. She doesn’t have the defensive strength and speed of 2021 All-American point guard Aari McDonald — who does? — but I believe Williams is the top freshman women’s basketball recruit to Arizona ever. (McDonald was a transfer from Washington).

Williams scored 16 points in 19 minutes against a team of McDonald’s All-Americans, fearless, swishing 3-pointers from several feet behind the 3-point line. Her on-court vision and ability (and willingness) to get the ball to an open teammate was a wow factor.

When 2022 McDonald’s All-American guard Paris Clark of New York recently announced she was transferring from Arizona, my initial reaction was that it was a significant loss. Now? Not so much. I can also see why Clark and junior guard Madi Conner may have entered the transfer portal: Williams is going to run the show, a pure point guard with charisma and firepower.

Short stuff: UA alumnus Harlan of Utah nation's top AD, Mathurin excellent as a rookie, Harvey's teams on track in '23

Longtime Arizona athletic department associate (and UA alumnus) Mark Harlan last week was selected the nation’s athletic director of the year by the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics. He will be honored at NACDA's annual convention this summer. Harlan is about to enter his fifth year as Utah’s AD, a period in which the Utes have transitioned from Pac-12 pushover to an athletic department with national powers in football, gymnastics, women’s basketball and, of course, skiing.

Through Friday, Utah’s softball program was No. 1 in the Pac-12, almost unthinkable five years ago. Having a top-10-type football program covers up for a lot of failures in baseball, swimming, golf, men’s basketball and a few other non-revenue sports, but Harlan is on pace to complete Utah’s move from the Mountain West Conference to the Pac-12 in all areas. He is one of the rising stars in college athletics.

The Pac-12 is often loaded with terrific ADs. Washington State’s Patrick Chun was the NACDA athlete director of the year in 2019, and Oregon’s Rob Mullens earned the same honor in 2022. Harlan prepped under Arizona’s Jim Livengood for a decade; Livengood was the NACDA award winner in 1999 and 2006. ...

• • •

Former Arizona baseball pitchers Pat Anderson and David Jacome, both 1960s all-city Tucson prep ballplayers, are staging an Arizona baseball alumni gathering and pregame social before the UA-ASU game April 19 at the Randolph Golf clubhouse from 3-5 p.m. Tickets for the ASU game are free for participants.

Dozens of former Wildcats baseball standouts such as Rich Hinton, Jay Rokey, Jerry Stitt, Eddie Leon, Kenny Kurtz, Terry Dewald, Mike Paul, Don Leeand and Tim White will be at the event. Those who plan to attend should contact Jacome at (520) 425–6522.

“There will be an emcee and an open mic; we want to hear baseball stories and testimonies of the glory days," Jacome said. ...

• • •

Bennedict Mathurin has four games remaining in his rookie regular season with the Indiana Pacers. He is second among all NBA rookies in scoring, 16.6, trailing Duke’s Paolo Banchero of Orlando, who is averaging 19.9. The only ex-Arizona Wildcat to become the NBA Rookie of the Year was Damon Stoudamire for Toronto in 1996; Stoudamire averaged 19 points. No other ex-UA player has averaged as much his rookie year as Mathurin. Deandre Ayton averaged 16.3 in his first year in Phoenix, followed by Lauri Markkanen at 15.2 and Mike Bibby 13.2 as NBA rookies. ...

• • •

Few head coaches at Arizona are having a better 2022-23 season than Fred Harvey, the school’s head track coach. The Wildcats are currently ranked No. 12 nationally in the men’s USATF poll and Harvey’s women’s team is ranked No. 16. Harvey’s upcoming home schedule has international relevance. April’s Desert Heat Classic is ranked No. 83 in the world, and April’s Jim Click Shootout is ranked No. 126 globally. May’s Tucson Elite Classic is ranked No. 32 worldwide. Those events, packed with national and international standouts, should well prepare Harvey’s Wildcats for the Pac-12 and NCAA tournaments. ...

• • •

Sahuaro High School grad Cesar Salazar didn’t have eye-opening numbers in his three years as Arizona’s starting catcher. He hit a cumulative .299 with just six home runs as a Wildcat. Yet during his 2018 junior season I wrote that Salazar would someday get to the big leagues. His defensive ability, calm demeanor and baseball instincts were always impressive.

Salazar made the opening day roster of the Houston Astros. He may spend time in Triple-A this season, but I suspect he’ll be in the big leagues for more than just a cup of coffee. He told Houston reporters that making the Houston roster “is an unreal feeling ... I couldn’t believe it. I thought it was a dream. I’m an emotional mess."

Salazar becomes the 51st high school player from Tucson to reach MLB, the fourth catcher — joining Tucson High’s Ron Hassey, Rincon’s Tom Pagnozzi and Salpointe’ Donny Sands — and the seventh Sahuaro grad, joining Tom Wiedenbauer, Sammy Khalifa, John Butcher, Jim Olander, Pat McCoy and Alex Verdugo. ...

• • •

Salpointe and UA grad Trevor Werbylo has quietly made the cut in eight consecutive PGA Tour events, which is uber-impressive for a rookie playing with the world’s best golfers. Werbylo, whose best finish was 27th at the Valspar Classic in Florida (earnings: $53,190), has now earned $195,256. To protect his future playing privileges, he’ll need to get a few six-figure paydays this spring, climb into the top 150 and challenge for a top-10 finish sometime soon. 

My two cents: Kriisa likely will get more shots, but at what price?

As has been reported in Nebraska and West Virginia, Arizona point guard Kerr Kriisa has made recruiting visits to Lincoln and Morgantown. At first that seemed like a step down or two: Nebraska is a bottom feeder in the Big Ten, and West Virginia has produced just one winning Big 12 season in the last five years.

Why would Kriisa leave Arizona? My guess is that it’s about NIL money, or the lack of it. That’s college basketball, 2023. Nebraska’s vast revenues from football makes it possible to turn the head of someone like Kriisa and offer him name, image and likeness opportunities probably not available at Arizona (that's assuming Kerr can get an NIL deal; it's still a murky issue for international student-athletes).

In addition, Kriisa would probably get more shots at Nebraska and West Virginia than he would at Arizona. Isn’t that why so many college basketball players transfer?

I compared the statistics of all 12 Arizona’s point guards who started as juniors, 1988-2023, and this is how Kriisa’s junior season ranks:

• Points: Kriisa, 9.9, which is ninth, ahead of Parker Jackson-Cartwright’s 5.9, Kadeem Allen’s 9.8 and T.J. McConnell’s 8.4.
• Assists: Kriisa, 5.1, which is fifth, trailing Damon Stoudamire’s 5.9, Matt Muehlebach’s 5.7, James Akinjo’s 5.4 and McConnell’s 5.3
• Field-goal percentage: Kriisa, .372, which is 12th, last.

One cautionary tale: 2010 point guard Lamont "MoMo" Jones left Arizona after his sophomore season, averaging 9.7 points with 8.2 average shot attempts per game. He went to Iona, where his numbers jumped quickly to 13.0 shots and 15.7 points as a senior.

But MoMo was at Iona, not Arizona.