Bear Down Wildcats

TheCatInTheHat

That was a perfect outcome. Got the lead, got the game over early, and scattered innings over 9 pitchers. Now, back to conference play.

TheCatInTheHat

Despite the pre-game yapping and in-state rivalry stuff, we're in the hunt for the final Pac-12 Baseball title, up 2 games and playing the other top contenders in the final two series of the season. https://i.imgur.com/pZNluT8.jpeg Our final one-off non-conference game is against somebody we always ...

TheCatInTheHat

I'll put my current 2-deep guess-timate up, but that's all it is. All discussion is obviously welcome, but I won't get involved in endless debates over individual opinions on roster-juggling, whether somebody is listed at 6-1/247 rather than 6-0/245, or in editing this. I try to keep up with it, but...

TheCatInTheHat

Agree that RB depth is still an issue from graduated players, and also agree with Lev that Luke is a great change-up, but he's not built like an every down back. I was earlier responding to the attempted narrative that we're bleeding out via the transfer portal and in dire trouble from it. It looked...

TheCatInTheHat

I try to keep up with roster issues by maintaining a depth chart, and obviously these days it's a more active hobby than it used to be. By my judgment, we've lost six portal transfers off our two-deep: Kevin Green, Jonah Coleman, and Joe Borjon on offense, and Bill Norton, D.J. Warnell, and Ephresia...

TheCatInTheHat

If reports are accurate and Tacario Davis has withdrawn from the portal...that's news. And I'm sure everybody will very vocally celebrate. Ditto for any good news from the Fina family.

TheCatInTheHat

Google 'Cluster B.'

TheCatInTheHat

From a viewer perspective, I think that's the best Spring Game I've seen. Great job by the announcers, and it just came off as a great commercial for Arizona Wildcat Football. The best comment by Desriee Reed-Francois was to mention the $260M (or thereabouts) economic impact of Arizona Athletics on ...

TheCatInTheHat

Just like the other P4 leagues, the Big XII has its share of smaller towns that wouldn't be vacation destinations. We've got Ames and some others, and they've got (among others) Lafayette, Starkville, and Blacksburg (not to forget Pullman and others in the old Pac.) For some reason, Dallas/Ft. Worth...

TheCatInTheHat

And I assume our NIL helped us keep our top CB. If I was an ASU fan, it would be a grim litany of bad news about the latest QB transferring, contempt regarding the previous HC, low prospects for next season, fans nation-wide unimpressed at their stature entering a new league, and no soup for hoops o...

TheCatInTheHat

Don't recall if I've seen this elsewhere, but here's some scheduling info beyond this coming season:

TheCatInTheHat

Since we don't play them in the regular season, it would be pretty cool if we could manage to get to the Big XII title game against Oklahoma St. (But, if it turns out to happen that way, I'd have no objection to facing Utah, Kansas St, or anybody else.)

TheCatInTheHat

Agree we need more, just like we could probably use another physical RB. But note that we've added 3: DE Tre Smith from San Jose St, DT Chubba Mae from UC Davis (both potential starters), and fall arrival DT Kevon Darton from Syracuse.

TheCatInTheHat

Wilner cracks me up. He likes to do on-line term paper research and throw dollar figures around. Within reasonable limits that's okay, as long as you don't pretend to be some all-knowing expert on every school, conference, and media contract with a highly debatable understanding of context. And his ...

TheCatInTheHat

Not to go Greg Hansen on anybody, but I guess I'm about to. I believe he's referring to the 1974 team, which was 58-4 and was ranked #1 in the country at the start of the NCAAs. They were the Bash Brothers, with huge Dennis Haines behind the plate, Marv Thompson at first, Ron Hassey at third, and Da...

TheCatInTheHat

The "don't read too much into spring ball" bit brought back a memory from the Stoops years. For anyone who remembers, we had a fullback named Taimi Tutogi (who some folks either nicknamed, or thought was actually named "Tiny.") He was a bowling ball type with long hair flying out the back of his hel...

TheCatInTheHat

Really glad you got a chance to experience that. Up until now, I've been a little ambivalent about Fisch pulling some of the players he recruited to Seattle, as "all's fair in love, war, and football." But now it's clearly inappropriate tampering/poaching. Living in LA County, I've been looking forw...

TheCatInTheHat

Another tip of the cap set of kudos to Justin Spears with another nice summary of personnel. You can't read too much into the weekly ups and downs of two-deeps in spring ball, but frankly, it's the real story and the real interest, particularly as the team develops with a new coaching staff. That'll...

TheCatInTheHat

My primary interest in re-introducing a media thread was to provide a box for this kind of discussion, so here it is. The forced changes to the media landscape from conference realignment and expiring contracts are topical and impactful, and anyone who touches on Arizona Athletics is fair game, rega...

TheCatInTheHat

Norton hurts. Don't know if any aspect of this is about making an announcement hoping to stir the local NIL waters to bump up the enticement to stay, or "gauging interest" and "setting your value." Regardless, it's now quite the mercenary world among the players who've proven themselves, and very su...

TheCatInTheHat

I'm just waiting for our Spring Game in two weeks to downgrade a tier and pull the plug on the Pac-12 Network. They aren't doing much coverage of our spring sports down the final stretch anyway. I've noticed that Big XII baseball gets on the ESPNs with fair frequency. Beyond that, there'll be ESPN+ ...

TheCatInTheHat

With Pulido sitting out spring ball for about a week with a (temporary, we hope and assume) injury, I believe Spears said Borjon was getting plenty of reps at LT, so I believe he was expected to play, at least some.

TheCatInTheHat

Naturally, the Lexington newspaper is spinning it as a good thing:

https://www.kentucky.com/sports/

TheCatInTheHat

In all cases, what I suggested is like a tenth (or less) of a teardown. If there's concern about the visitor locker room, including it in the list of renovations wouldn't add significant cost.

TheCatInTheHat

The media personalities thread got pretty thoroughly hijacked, so rather than resurrect it, I guess I'll put this here. Based on the Robbins financial fiasco, Greg Hansen bemoaned the fact that the west side of Arizona Stadium now probably won't be torn down and rebuilt for ten years or more. Consid...

TheCatInTheHat

I think I only went to a Taco Cabana maybe once in San Antonio for some quick takeout, so I don't remember much about it, except the food was pretty good. IIRC, Two Pesos was fairly big, with a lot of tables, and also decent food. They had kind of a big switchback to get to a long counter, and a tro...

TheCatInTheHat

Was two pesos where stray cat was? Or was it the place at 6th and speedway? They were about the same concept. I believe the margarita machine was at Euclid and University. It was on Speedway and Euclid. (Kidding... ayyy .) Yeah, it's where the Visitor Center is now. Best thing about that is they we...

TheCatInTheHat

Dooley's used to be a church, Methodist then Baptist. https://i.imgur.com/ZR8ceam.jpeg Believe this is the location where it was. https://i.imgur.com/ej8V58D.jpeg It was on the north side of Speedway a little west of Euclid. I think Dooley's was the most awesome bar Tucson ever had. The interior li...

TheCatInTheHat

Another thing I like about this coaching staff. They changed their naming/numbering system to fit what the players are already familiar with and successful with. Most (or many) staffs think when they show up, it's Day One of the entire known universe and Their System is the only thing. How about the...

TheCatInTheHat

The Cats are 16-13, but 9-5 in conference. Gotta give Vance credit and recognize that it can take a little time to get a new approach going. Pitching's been encouraging. Finale at Cal tomorrow, but still miles to go, as the saying goes.

TheCatInTheHat

Interesting how he put in place a new athletic director and football coach before stepping (being pushed) down. Probably didn't anticipate this at the time. He may still be around for some time, if the ABOR decides it's cheaper to keep him on as the "interim", rather than pay him off and bring in so...

TheCatInTheHat

After the unexpected sweep of UCLA, we're basically done with the LA schools in (regular season) Pac-12 play of consequence. (We'll play at UCLA softball at the tail end of the season, but that rarely bodes well, and we seem to be kind of in the wilderness in softball these days.) So, out of curiosi...

TheCatInTheHat

I've enjoyed Arizona women's hoops since Joan Bonvicini arrived in the early 90s. Under Adia Barnes, with the WNIT title in a sold-out McKale, and one Aari McDonald buzzer beater from an NCAA title, it's obviously gone to a new level. Based on attendance and media coverage, it's our number three spo...

TheCatInTheHat

The announcer, Brian Webber, says he was going to a sunrise Easter service with his family, which almost sounds like a good excuse, if it's even true. But, I'm pretty damned sure he could have worked it out with later flights, regardless. And he's responsible for making those overly tight arrangemen...

TheCatInTheHat

He had a great quote explaining that he's a little more aggressive than Johnny Nansen. "I'm a little more vertical than just sitting on the line of scrimmage. Let's just say we're covering the run on the way to the quarterback." Love that.

TheCatInTheHat

We're done with the pussywillow Pac-12 approach, which existed at the behest of the out-of-touch presidents, who from their suburban and Ivy League backgrounds apparently were terrified about the potential for "an incident." So, I think there needs to be a certain amount of re-calibration for our ne...

TheCatInTheHat

Just a couple of notes. When a zone is extended to the three point line, it basically isn't a zone anymore, and you need to drive to a mid-range shot before the rotation can draw a charge. Considering how often we see it, that should be bread-and-butter for us. And about two rushed outside shots in ...

TheCatInTheHat

Just a note of kudos to Justin Spears. He's picking up where Lev left off in his spring coverage. Prior to Lev's coverage, somebody would wander out to practice apparently without bothering to make up a numeric roster off the web. Unless somebody handed a sheet to them at the gate, they seemed to ju...

TheCatInTheHat

Is SMU actually a better job than USC? If so, USC is much, much lower in the hoops pecking order than I realized. Big Ten school in the Los Angeles market. That should put it, at a minimum, equal to something like Ohio St hoops. SMU's old-money Dallas, and they've been coming on of late in football...

TheCatInTheHat

I think, as a fan, it's perfectly fine to appreciate the genuine excitement of GCU fans having a chance to get out on the big stage. My experiences with their alumni and campus personnel is that they're generally pretty nice people. That said, we're certainly under no obligation to give them a helpi...

TheCatInTheHat

Nice! Nothing remotely easy from here on out, but I assume LA-area alumni will snap up the $200 tickets at the Crypt (Vivid or AXS), and hopefully we'll get a little bit of the boost we've gotten in Vegas.

TheCatInTheHat

They made a noble effort, considering how short-handed they are. They definitely coulda, and maybe shoulda, beaten Syracuse. But, this year, with a pretty low ceiling anyway, I think it may have been better to go out in an admittedly frustrating, but very competitive, game than deal with the likely ...

TheCatInTheHat

If anybody thinks we've got a cake walk to the second weekend with 7-seed Dayton, I don't see it. They were pretty battle-hardened in the A-10. They went 15-0 at home, but none of the wins there particularly jump out at you. On the road, they beat SMU, Duquesne, and Saint Louis, while losing at Nort...

TheCatInTheHat

I just wanted to post this now before the Tournament starts. (I want to do this now, as I usually need to stay away from the boards for a little while if we happen to face an early exit) This year was awesome and I've watched almost every game. Except for about 4 or so games- this team has looked g...

TheCatInTheHat

I'm less than thrilled with what seems to be Chip's laissez-faire approach. It's not the MLB 162-game season, and the importance of each college game at this level is multiplied. I've followed the team since some kid had to stand in sweltering heat flipping metal plates on a manual scoreboard above ...

TheCatInTheHat

We all know ASU sucks. Ugly campus, generally crappy school with endless false self-promotion, and mediocre to bad athletics for at least a quarter century. And then, your rival does much better, kicks your ass in everything that matters, and it's just too much to take. So here are a couple of gutle...

TheCatInTheHat

They've lost 2 of 3 since they won the Pac12 regular season title while also playing one of their best games of the season. Hopefully the NCAA tournament will give them fresh motivation to play their best ball. They will need to bring it every game This has been a head-scratching up-and-down team t...

TheCatInTheHat

The studio shows weren't worth much post-Nieuheisel, the announcers were often biased and mediocre at best (Ted Robinson, etc.), and they goose-stepped to whatever the uninformed-naive-idiot league presidents thought might be nice, rather than inform them what was needed to draw eyeballs. And for wh...

TheCatInTheHat

Some of that amazing exposure in the West … https://twitter.com/latbbolch/status/1768492762423603460 They don't have FS1 either. So the only game of the tournament you can watch in the hotel is the championship game. But I'm sure that Apple deal totally would've solved everything! That irony is ama...

TheCatInTheHat

I like discussions based on objective marketing data and our national brand’s fit within it, rather than feelings. Seems like the people who won’t acknowledge the benefits of being on a national platform are just still pissed at ESPN for the Sean Miller/Deandre Ayton bullshit, which I understand. B...

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