Game Preview: Toledo Rockets

By David Schildhouse

The University of Arizona begins its 2010 season tomorrow night against the Toledo Rockets at the Glass Bowl in Toledo, Ohio. Despite being a mid-major program, the Rockets feature a high octane offense that utilizes the spread formation and favors passing the ball as its first priority. Toledo is not the typical early season cupcake that many higher caliber schools schedule to prepare for conference play as proven by ranking 12^th in total offense last season.

The Rockets will be relying on sophomore quarterback Austin Dantin to fill the vacancy left by Aaron Opelt, who threw for just under 2,000 yards and 16 touchdowns last season. Luckily for Dantin, he will have fellow sophomore wide receiver Eric Page to throw to as his primary target. Page led Toledo’s receiver corps with 82 receptions, 12^th best in the nation, last season and will have to step up his game in order to compensate for the inexperience of Dantin.

Arizona is expected to use more nickel (five defensive backs) and dime (six defensive backs) to counter the spread attack and match speed with speed on the field. The Wildcats’ secondary is anchored by junior cornerbacks Trevin Wade and Robert Golden with support in the two safety positions by seniors Joseph Perkins and Anthony Wilcox. Sophomore sensation Adam Hall is expected to be utilized in the nickel and dime packages along with highly touted freshmen Marquis Flowers, Shaquille Richardson and Jonathan McKnight. If the secondary can keep Page occupied and unable to break free in coverage, the task for the defensive line will be reduced to stuffing the Rockets’ running game and keeping pressure on Dantin in the pocket.

No one has questioned the ability for the Wildcats’ offense to move the ball and score points throughout all of the preseason training camps but the defense has been the biggest question mark.

The linebacker trio of Jake Fischer, Derek Earls and Paul Vassallo have zero starts between them but the addition of an extra defensive back and subtraction of a linebacker in the nickel and dime packages should give them an easier transition to being on the field for an entire game. The defensive line features twin pass rushing specialists Brooks Reed and Ricky Elmore, both of whom will be depended on greatly for collapsing the pocket and hopefully creating turnovers on bad passes or tipped balls.

Arizona should be able to beat Toledo but it may not come as easily as some fans may expect. The margin of victory will depend on the defense’s ability to slow down the passing attack, shut down Eric Page and force Toledo’s young quarterback into making poor decisions.

Pac-10 Nearly A 12-Pac...Ramifications Are Huge

Pac-10 Is Nearly A 12-Pac…And It’s Ramifications

By Lance Epstein

The dominos began to fall earlier this week as reports surfaced that the University of Nebraska would most likely be switching from the Big 12 conference to the Big Ten [ironically they actually have 12 teams now].

On Thursday, the Pac-10 officially announced that the University of Colorado has decided to bolt from the Big 12 and join the Pacific Athletic Conference. The addition of the Buffalos program marks the first time the conference has expanded since 1978 when Arizona and Arizona State completed the current alignment of the conference.

"This is an historic moment for the conference, as the Pac-10 is poised for tremendous growth," commissioner Larry Scott said in a statement addressing the expansion.

One of the reasons that Scott and Colorado President Bruce D. Benson came to an agreement was that Colorado’s academics and athletic department fit the criteria that the conference was has been searching for.

"The University of Colorado is a great fit for the conference both academically and athletically and we are incredibly excited to welcome Colorado to the Pac-10."

"The University of Colorado is a perfect match -- academically and athletically -- with the Pac-10," Benson said in a statement. “Our achievements and aspirations match those of the universities in the conference and we look forward to a productive relationship.”

All that said the main reason that the Pac-10 wanted Colorado to join the conference so bad was because of the Denver market. Now the Pac-10 has four of the top ten television markets in the United States with San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix and Denver. This allows the conference to generate more national exposure and money into the conference.

It also assists the conference in obtaining a Pac-10 championship game in college football [need only one more team for the conference to be allowed to do so]. Additionally, the conference might begin to consider moving the basketball tournament each year among the four big markets, instead of just holding the tourney in the Staples Center.

Now that Colorado has already stating their intentions and Nebraska more than likely leaving the conference [as earlier as Friday,] expect more movement from teams in the Big 12. A week ago Pac-10 conference officials met in San Francisco and various reports came out that they were going to extend invitations to not only Colorado, but Texas A&M, Texas, Oklahoma, Texas Tech and Oklahoma State as well.

If those other teams abandon the Big 12 conference like Colorado and Nebraska, then it would leave teams such as Baylor, Iowa State, Missouri [rumblings about them joining the Big Ten as well], Kansas State and Kansas in the dust. Ultimately those five teams would be forced to find a conference willing to accept their universities and programs.

This should not be a problem for the Kansas University because of their historic basketball program or Missouri who has been flirting with the Big Ten for a couple of weeks now. The real issue is for Baylor, Iowa State and Kansas State who might have to join a non-BCS conference such as the Mountain West or Conference USA. Interestingly, Baylor has stated on multiple occasions that even if the Big 12 conference fades away that they still want to be in the same conference as Texas and Texas A&M.

Nevertheless, Big 12 commissioner Dan Beebe said he was well informed about Colorado’s decision to accept the Pac-10’s invitation. He is currently devising a plan to keep the Big 12 together in some kind of capacity.

"I continue to work through the process that was agreed upon last week by our Board of Directors to address membership issues, and are working tirelessly towards the long-term viability of the Big 12," Beebe said.

Things should really begin to heat up on Friday or early next week, when Nebraska announces their intensions to become a member of the Big Ten. In addition, Texas and Texas A&M officials are scheduled to meet on Thursday at an undisclosed location to talk about what the future holds for their athletic programs since the Big 12 might be falling by the waist-side according to ESPN.com.

However, it is widely known that University of Texas athletic director DeLoss Dodds yearns to keep the Big 12 together and not have other conferences pick apart the conference like vultures.

Yet, one Big 12 coach told ESPN.com that unless Nebraska has a last minute change of heart and does not unite with the Big 10 conference that the Big 12 would go the way of the dinosaurs, which would be extinction.

The landscape of college athletics is changing and in the upcoming months and years fans might not have the same rivalries or foes. They probably won’t recognize historic matchups or the traditions that come with them since they will only happen once in a while.

Furthermore, this is just the beginning of collegiate sports turning into four or five mega-conferences. No one should expect the Southeastern Conference to stay put as the Pac-10 potentially gains two college football powerhouses in Texas and Oklahoma. Moreover, the Big Ten is getting a huge moneymaker in the Cornhuskers. As expected, rumors have already begun to swirl that the SEC will attempt to raid the ACC. The teams that are believed to be flirting with the idea are Florida State, Miami, Georgia Tech and Clemson.

If the SEC were able to acquire those four teams, ACC would be left in shambles like the Big 12. On the other hand, it might benefit the Big East, who would love to get their hands on the historic and tradition filled basketball programs of Duke, North Carolina and Maryland. Furthermore, the Big East would be able to get back two teams that were entrenched in their conference’s history. Ironically, Virginia Tech and Boston College bolted for the greener pastures of the ACC a couple years back and now their best option could be the Big East.

Ultimately by the time next year’s collegiate season kicks-off, many fans will be wondering who exactly is their rival, but more important who is exactly on their schedule.

Others like University of Arizona football fans might be wondering if they will ever make a Rose Bowl. With the likes of Texas and Oklahoma potentially in the same division, it is nearly impossible to out recruit or even put out a better product on the field.

At the end of the day, super conferences and capitalizing on the cash cows are the ways of the future even if it means fans lose tradition, rivalries and hope.

No More Big 12?…How About A 16-PAC Instead?

No More Big 12?…How About A 16-PAC Instead?

By Lance Epstein

This upcoming weekend, the Pac-10 Conference is set to have its annual meetings in San Francisco to discuss a variety of topics. However, none of the issues that will be discussed at the meetings are bigger or more compelling than the conference inviting six Big 12 teams to join the conference.

In a stunning and bold move, the Pac-10 is preparing to invite Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech and Colorado to join their conference. If those teams choose to accept the offer it would transform the perception of west coast sports. More importantly, it would give a conference that could rival the powerhouse Big East.

With the additional six teams, the Pac-10 would be divided into two divisions of eight teams. One division would consistent entirely of the old Pac-10 regime. It would include USC, UCLA, CAL, Stanford, Oregon, Oregon State, Washington and Washington State.

In the other eight-team division, the six Big 12 teams would team up with Arizona and Arizona State.

Ultimately by adding the six teams into the mix, it would mean the conference could finally hold a championship game in football. The NCAA does not allow any conference to hold a championship game unless they have 12 participants. Like the Big 12 conference currently does with their championship game, the site could change from year-to-year [in fact, the Big 12 has been discussing the site of this year’s Big 12 Championship Game at their conference meetings in Kansas City this past week]. Some venues that could support a championship game are the University of Phoenix Stadium, Qualcomm Stadium, the Rose Bowl and etc.

More importantly, if the Pac-10 can manage to pull in Texas and Oklahoma along with already having USC as part of the conference, it would have three of the top and most historic programs in the history of college football.

Besides football, the college basketball slate would have nearly a premiere matchup on almost every single night. Texas, Oklahoma State, Texas A&M and Oklahoma teamed up with Arizona, UCLA, Washington and California would allow for major networks like ESPN or Fox Sports to offer an insane contract for the rights to the conference at the next TV renegotiation rights after the 2011 season. After the last couple of years of Pac-10 basketball, the conference could use the national powerhouse of Texas to put it back on the television map.

Furthermore, if the schools came together to create this union then the conference would have six of the country’s top 20 TV markets in Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Francisco, Houston, Seattle, Dallas, and Seattle. With that kind of lineup, it would bring mega bucks for the newly constructed super conference.

Nevertheless, the reason that the Pac-10 yearns for this and the six Big 12 might check the attending box on the invitation is because of the establishment of a “Pac-16” Network. According to various reports, Fox Cable Network [who is a key operating partner with the Big Ten Network] wishes to establish a Pac-16 Network to go along with the Big Ten Network.

Additionally, the potential Pac-16 Network is extremely beneficial to the teams of the conference as well. According to multiple reports, the Big Ten Network’s TV revenue distributed $14 million to the schools of the conference in its first fiscal year [06-07]. In the second fiscal year of 2007-08, the revenue jumped to $22 million. With the extra money for each school, the teams can recruit better and build better facilities.

Even with all the positives there are some negatives to think about. First, the Pac-10 would lose a lot of the rivalries that have built up over the years. For nearly a decade Arizona, Stanford and UCLA have been the perennial powers in basketball and atop of the Pac-10 standings.

If the realignment is accepted, fans might only get to see the squad’s face-off against each other once a year. Moreover, fans would only get a home game against their bitter rival once every other year.

All this is assuming the schedule has every team facing one another at least one time per season. There could be the factor that teams will not face each other every year. In football, it will be impossible for every team to face each other since the maximum allowance of games is 12 [not including bowl games]. So while everyone would be pumped for a USC versus Oklahoma or Texas, it might only happen once every two or three years. Not every season like fans will demand.

Another potential downfall is the time zone difference. The conference would have to deal with three different time zones. The biggest problem would be with basketball and baseball games times [since football is played on Saturday there is not a major concern]. For example, if a USC-Texas game started at 6 p.m. in Austin [assuming the part of the year where there is a two hour time difference], fans in Southern California might not be off work in time to watch their beloved team. Of course, the conference would probably figure out a way around this impending hurdle.

On the other hand, by the Pac-10 being able to start games a bit earlier, they would get more national exposure on the east coast. This could provide a boost in east coast recruiting.

So where does this proposal stand? Right not it is just preliminary and the six Big 12 teams have not accepted and the Pac-10 hasn’t officially proposed the offer.

Still, if this indeed goes down, it changes the landscape of college sports. The west coast might finally get the national publicity it has been searching for all these years. On top of that the 16 teams would bank in a boatload of extra cash.

Even though the conference gains the most out of this potential alliance, it could be the fans that benefit the most. They would be receiving matchups they could have only dreamt. Now they could be a realistic possibility.

UCLA Bounces Cats from Pac-10 Tourney and NCAA Hopes

No NCAAs for First Time In 25 Years

By Lance Epstein

TUCSON, Ariz.—The only chance the Arizona Wildcats (16-15, 10-8) had at making the NCAA Tournament field for the 26th straight year was to win the Pacific Life Pac-10 tournament. That pipedream quickly vanished as the UCLA Bruins ended those hopes by beating the Wildcats 75-69 on Thursday afternoon at the Staples Center.

It is over. Done. Fineto. Gone. Terminado. C'est fait. O-V-E-R. However you want to say it or whatever language, the nation best 25 straight NCAA tournament appearances have come to a screeching halt in the Pac-10 quarterfinals. This marks fourth straight year the Wildcats have been eliminated before reaching the second round.

"Everybody knew from the beginning of the season that it would be tough,” said Nic Wise, one of three returning players who contributed to Arizona’s Sweet 16 team last year. “We barely made it last year, so it would be even tougher this year. It's just been a great accomplishment, and it's tough to have it end this year."

While UA fans sit in disappointment as this March they will not be able to participate in the madness. Even with the dismay of missing the NCAAs for the first time in a quarter decade, the Wildcats are still expected to receive a bid to the NIT tournament.

"Unfortunately, it's not the NCAA tournament, but we're going to take what we can get," junior forward Jamelle Horne said.

With that said, Arizona has no one to blame but themselves who allowed the Bruins to shoot 64 percent from the field in the first half and Reeves Nelson to dominate the glass.

At halftime, the Wildcats were lucky to find themselves only down by four points, 37-33. As the second half played out, the Cats had numerous opportunities to take control of the game but failed to get any closer than three points.

Every time the Cats made it into a one-possession game, Nelson countered with an easy put back or Roll nailed a clutch shot. Even worse, when the Wildcats played good defense for most of the 35-second shot clock, they were called for fouls.

For UCLA they have denied the evitable by moving onto semifinals, where the Golden Bears are most likely going to demolish them.

But this afternoon, the Bruins survived to live another day mainly because of the return of Nelson. He chipped in 19 points on 8-of-9 shooting and added 11 rebounds.

For the past two weeks, the Bruins played without Nelson who was recovering from surgery that repaired a torn retina. During that span, the Bruins lost three of four games.

Although against the Wildcats, Nelson in his protective glasses, which he obtained from the hometown Los Angeles Lakers, appeared to transform into UCLA’s modern version of Kareem Abdul Jabbar.

His grittiness and toughness lifted the Bruins to their first victory over Arizona in their third try this season.

"My legs were all right,” Nelson said. “When I first came in, they were really tired, but I got my second wind pretty quickly.”

Besides Nelson’s dominance, his sidekicks Roll and Nikola Drgovic each contributed 18 points but more importantly Roll led the inspiration charge.

"As I was telling the guys, 'I'm just really not ready to go home,'" Roll said. "Being out there is fun."

For Arizona its two All-Pac-10 players, Wise who put in 16 points and Derrick Williams who finished with 14 led them.

The Wildcats attempted to make a comeback against the Bruins with 8:10 left to go in the second half. Freshman forward Solomon Hill made 1-of-2 free throws to cut the Bruins lead to three at 58-55.

On the following possession, Jamelle Horne fouled out of the game and the tide again turned in UCLA’s favor. A three-point discrepancy eventually expanded to a seven point lead for the Bruins as UCLA’s Malcolm Lee hit a three pointer. The three put UCLA’s up 64-57 with just over five minutes left to play.

The Wildcats made one last push to catch the Bruins with 1:55 minutes left in the game. Hill stole the ball, went coast to coast and jammed the Wildcats to within five points.

Unfortunately for Arizona, Kyle Fogg, Williams and the Wildcats had their chances to pull within two but just could not knock down a three pointer.

After the loss, Miller talked about the streak Lute Olson started and being left out of the NCAA selection show for the first time since 1985; a year in which Miller stated he was learning how to drive.

"Any coach that comes to Arizona is going to find he's a paranoid coach," said Miller. "The reason I came to Arizona is to rebuild our program. We have a possibility to get a NIT bid. It's a terrific tournament. I feel very, very good about what we've been able to accomplish."

Senior Wise will never have another chance to make a run at the National Championship, but young players like Momo Jones are taking a positive outlook on the situation and know hope springs eternal next year.

"That's what everybody talks about," Jones said. "That's the history of the program and the culture of the program, and we just have to understand that.

“Unfortunately, we're not going to make it this year, but I guarantee we're going to get back there next year."

Losing is never easy for Cats fans to accept and certainly they will be upset and frustrated for the next seven months. Despite the doom and gloom, Jones has provided a silver lining for the Wildcat faithful. Making that kind of a guarantee is a good thing.

Jones appears to have become the vocal leader and heir apparent to Wise. He anointed the pressure squarely on the shoulders of himself and his teammates to get better this offseason.

How can the Wildcats get better? Miller’s short press conference words on his team’s struggles sums up the first place they should start.

"We're not a good defensive team," Miller said. "We'll be better in the future."

Of course the freshmen will become sophomores and that will indeed help to improve the team defense. Meanwhile the growing pains they endured this past season are daily reminders for the players coming back next year.

Permitting the Bruins to shoot 64 percent in the first half cost Arizona a chance to be dancing. Also, Lee nailing the pivotal three-pointer to practically seal the game at 64-57 will linger in their thoughts.

Those growing pains will stay in their psyche. They will motivate the talented but youthful Cats to work harder in the off-season to develop into a superior defensive team.

Another area that was a visible weakness for the Wildcats was their transition defense. Looking at the box score, the shocking stat is UCLA committing four more turnovers than Arizona (15-to-11). More stunning, Arizona only committed two turnovers in the second half.

A problem with stats is that they do not tell the whole story. Even though Arizona had four less turnovers, UCLA outscored the UA in points off turnovers, 16-6. Players like Horne, Williams and even Wise were slow to get back in transition, which provided the Bruins easy baskets and killed any momentum the Wildcats built.

Another one of the key issues that consistently befuddled Arizona throughout the course of the season was rebounding. There are two ways this is going to be fixed.

First, Arizona must land either a JUCO center/power forward or a young talented high school player by the name of Kadeem Jack out of New York.

Jack is a 6-8, 210 pound power forward, much in the mold of Pac-10 Freshmen of the Year Williams. No high school player in the country has seen his stock raise over the last couple months like Jack. On a nightly basis, he has dominated some of the top inside players coming out of high school.

Arizona started recruiting Jack before his explosion onto the scene, but now the competition for his services have become stiffer. UCLA, Florida, Pittsburgh and West Virginia have recently entered the picture. Yet, Arizona is still considered to be the favorite to land Jack.

Second, Kyryl Natyazhko has to develop. Natyazhko was a late addition to the Arizona recruiting class but was considered to be a top 100 prospect according to Scouts.com.

At times this past season Natyazhko exhibited glimpses of his talent, but is still very raw. He must get stronger to take up space in the paint, work on his post moves and improve his defense so he can be a shot blocking presence.

However, the only thing that the Wildcats cannot work on and improve is experience. Unfortunately as we saw this season, experience in Miller’s offense and in college basketball just comes with time.

For years fans took for granted Lute Olson’s ability to mold young teams and consistently make the tournament. This is what happens in normal programs; there is a drop off. In retrospect, that 1997 team that won with a freshman point guard in Mike Bibby looks even more remarkable.

Arizona has a bright future ahead of them, with seven players who are freshmen and sophomores playing significant minutes. Yes it stings right now to be a Wildcats fan and see your in-state rival, Arizona State possibly make the NCAA Tournament (probably not after ASU lost to Stanford…the night got a little better—called this upset in my Pac-10 preview).

Consider this, last April Arizona was desolate and depleted with Chase Budinger, Jordan Hill declared for the draft and Wise being on the fence about returning. Now the future of Arizona basketball is on the right path with up and coming stars like Momo Jones and Williams carrying the torch into Miller’s second season as head coach.