It has been a rough couple of weeks for the Cats basketball program. The worst moment has to be their abscence in the second half against WAZZU. The lose seemed to contribute to the Cougar confidence as they went on to beat ASU on Saturday. They are now within a 1/2 game of the cats for the 5th spot in the Pac-10. Meanwhile, Arizona lost a close game in Seattle when an early questionable call forced the refs to call every minor moment of contact for the rest of the game. The officiating quickly led to the foul trouble of the big three and an eventual loss. Consequently, we were named the last team in the tournament by Joe Lunardi. ASU Herb Sendeck benevolently stated that we deserved to be the tournament. The coach of the Sun Devils is taking pity on the Cats (I think i'm going to puke). And now it seems that the tiny self-reported recruiting infraction that happened in 2006 may lead to wider investigation.
I did some more reading on this recruitment violation stuff and came across this from the Tucson Citizen,
The six UA players who participated in the Cactus Classic as high school standouts — Zane Johnson, Jamelle Horne, Kyle Fogg, Alex Jacobson, Garland Judkins and Brendon Lavender — were questioned in November.
But the players appeared unconcerned, saying they didn't receive anything more than playing in any other event.
Horne said in November he didn't pay anything for reinstatement, and wondered why the NCAA did not question the other hundreds of players in the tournament.
"They only came after us," Horne said. "I think it was a Lute thing or something."
Lavender, a freshman from Phoenix, said in November that having to pay back $60 would be a worst-case scenario.
"We didn't even know. We weren't taking anything," Lavender said. "I guess it was the little van trip from the hotel to here. They paid for the gas, I guess. And the pizza they gave out to us. But every person got it, so I don't know why (they asked us). It was a weird situation."
To me this indicates that the investigation will not turn up anything damaging. The real tragedy is that the NCAA attention may cause possible coaches to be cautious, thus delaying the hire of a big impressive name.
Things get worse on Thursday night as the Cats are in a must win game at home against Cal. I have said over and over that the GoldenBears are a big match-up problem for the Cats. I am even more nervous that their primetime loss against UCLA will fuel their motivation. The Cats need a sweep this weekend and I am counting the hours till Thursday night.
I think the cats have to get out of the zone against Cal. For me that is the key to the game.
What are your keys to the game?
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteIf the Cats can start quickly and get some steals and easy baskets as they did during their win streak they will get the crowd into the game. I like our chances if the crowd is with them, we beat Washington and UCLA when the crowd got going. Both of those teams are better than Cal. So it's on you Tyler and Glenn. Since you guys aren't good enough to play then you better get to the game and mess with the Bears confidence.
ReplyDelete