MAY 2011 ISSUE 24 INSIDE NBA Playoffs Feature Eight Former Wildcats THIS ISSUE Pac-12 Media Deal The Pac-12 negotiates record-setting deal Home Court Dominance McKale Center remains one of the best venues in the nation Cats in the News National media previews 2011-2012; Arizona the team to beat Derrick Says Goodbye Arizona s Derrick Williams expected to be top three pick in 2011 NBA draft X s and O s Motion Ballscreen Iverson Cut Ballscreen Actions - Handoff - Horns Book of the Month The Game They Played By Stanley Cohen ALTHOUGH THE 2010-2011 SEASON IS OVER for the current Arizona Wildcats, this time of year is usually the busiest and most meaningful for Wildcat alum. With the most draft picks of any school since 1988, Arizona features more than half of their current NBA players in the 2011 NBA Playoffs, including two on NBA coaching staffs. Gilbert Arenas (Orlando), Mike Bibby (Miami), Andre Iguodala (Philadelphia), Richard Jefferson (San Antonio), Jason Terry (Dallas) and Luke Walton ( Los Angeles Lakers) all represent the former Wildcats on NBA rosters, while former Wildcat great Damon Stoudamire works as an assistant coach for Memphis and Bret Breilmaier is on San Antonio s coaching staff. Approaching the Conference Finals, Terry and Bibby are the last of the Wildcat players remaining in this year s playoffs. Terry, who is the second longest tenured player in Dallas (after Dirk Nowitski), has been one of the best players in the 2011 Playoffs. Terry is averging 18.3 points, two rebounds, and 3.8 assists per game in his 11th NBA season. Even more remarkable, the former NBA 6th Man of the Year is averaging his numbers coming off of the bench. Terry had arguably the most impressive individual game of the playoffs this year when he scored 32 points while hitting a playoff-tying record 9 of 10 three pointers in 25 minutes off the bench to blow-out the defending champion L.A. Lakers on Sunday. Terry and the Mavs hold home-court advantage as they await the winner of the Oklahoma City/Memphis Grizzlies match-up for the right to represent the West in the NBA Finals. Mike Bibby and the Miami Heat try to close out a series against the Celtics to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals. A Terry vs. Bibby Finals match-up would be very interesting, as the two were teammates when the Wildcats won the National Championship in 1997.
Pac-12 Reaches Agreement for Landmark Media Contract The new Pac-12 Conference finalized the details of a landmark media contract last week, giving the conference the most lucrative deal in all of college sports. Pac-12 Commissioner Lary Scott announced that the conference will partner with ESPN and FOX Sports as well as start its own company in the Pac12 Media Enterprises which will allow for the creation of the Pac-12 Network to carry broadcasts of those games not covered by ESPN and FOX Sports. The deal, which is worth $2.7 billion over 12 years, is to start in the 2012-2013 season. Perhaps the most significant part of the contract is the equal revenue sharing which will start immediately in 2012. For the first time, all 12 schools will receive the same cut of revenue. Arizona Did You Know The Pac-12 now has the richest media contract in collegiate athletics. The conference is expected to make $225 million a year; $5 million more than the previous-highest SEC. It is a historic deal for the conference and our university, Arizona athletic director Greg Byrne said. It gives us a much-needed revenue stream and at the same time improves our ability to compete on a national level for many years to come. The normal Thursday/Saturday scheduling model that was used for Pac-10 conference games for years will become more flexible in 2012. Conference games will be played Wednesday through Sunday on ESPN. In the 2009-2010 season, Arizona Basketball brought in $19.2 million in revenue. It is the 4th most profit made in college basketball in that year, and the most in the Pac-10. Arizona Basketball Attendance Ranks in Nation s Elite for 25th Consecutive Year Arizona Athletics Arizona men s basketball fans have long considered their program to be one of the nation s elite and more than proved that with their consistently excellent support. The NCAA released the 2010-11 men s basketball attendance figures Wednesday and Arizona ranked 20th nationally in average attendance, posting a 13,680 mark in 17 home dates. The Wildcats national ranking rose even higher among the country s 20 top draws when looking at the percentage of listed capacity filled, as UA s average of 13,680 fans per game was 94 percent of the McKale Center s listed capacity of 14,545. When ranking those top-20 NCAA Division I basketball attendance leaders, Arizona s 94 percent of capacity ranks ninth nationally. It marks the 25th consecutive year in which Arizona has been ranked in the nation s top 20 in terms of attendance. I really can t say enough about our fans, said Arizona head coach Sean Miller. They all come here to be a part of something that is so special, and we really appreciate their passionate support. Additionally, Arizona was the top drawing program in the Pac-10 Conference for the 27th straight season, easily outdistancing league foes by better than 4,000 fans per game. No other Pac-10 program averaged better than 9,650 fans per game. During Pac-10 play this season, Arizona averaged 14,472 fans per contest.
Arizona the Team to Beat in Early Pre-Season Previews It s never too early in college basketball to look ahead at the next season. Media outlets start making predictions about the next year immediately after the nets are cut down in April. A month after the end of the 2010-2011 season, here s a look at what experts are saying about the defending Pac10 champion Arizona Wildcats. Pre-season Top 10 #3 - Arizona Wildcats Even without the return of Sophomore Derrick Williams, the Wildcats return eight of its top 10 scorers and bring in one of the elite recruiting classes in the country. Andy Katz - An Early Look at My 2011-2012 Pre-season Top 25 #10 - Arizona Sean Miller had quite a complimentary crew that returns eight of their top ten players from a 2011 Elite Eight team and added even more with the seventhranked recruiting class in 2011. Arizona lost Derrick Williams to the NBA draft, but the Wildcats are still deep with Lamont Jones, Kyle Fogg, Solomon Hill, and Kevin Parrom, making the Wildcats the team to beat in the new Pac-12. Derrick Williams Declares for NBA Draft Arizona sophomore Derrick Williams has declared for the NBA draft and will forgo his final two season of eligibility as a Wildcat. The 2011 Pac-10 Player of the Year and All-American avereged 19.5 points and 8.3 rebounds this season, leading the Wildcats to their 4th ever 30-win season while advancing to the Elite Eight and capturing their 12th Pac-10 regular season championship- the most of all-time. Williams is projected to be a top-three pick in June s NBA draft. Arizona has had un-matched success when it comes to sending players to the next level. Since 1988, no other school has had as many players drafted than Arizona. Williams will most likely be Arizona s third lottery pick in the last four drafts. Derrick is a special player and rightfully should be considered to be one of the all-time great Wildcats, said Arizona head coach Sean Miller. As good of a player as he is, he is an even better person. Williams was on of the biggest surprises of college basketball, the last two seasons. The La Mirada (Cal.) native was not ranked in the top 150 players of 2009, according to rivals.com. Williams was the Pac-10 Freshman of the Year and later went on to become the Pac-10 Player of the Year, a first-team All-America selection for Sports Illustrated, second-team All-America by the Associated Press and National Association of Basketball Coaches, and a finalist for the John. R. Wooden Award. We are all very excited to follow his journey to the NBA, and I have no doubt he will be very successful as an NBA player, said Miller. We wish him all the best and know that he will be a part of our basketball family forever. The 2011 NBA Draft is scheduled for Thursday, June 23.
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BOOK OF THE MONTH: THE GAME THEY PLAYED By Stanley Cohen It happened in the 1949 50 college basketball season. The unranked City Collegee team ( five street kids from the City of New York three Jews and two blacks ) outstripped the competition from the Midwest to take the titles in both the NCAA AA championship and National Invitation Tournament. The feat was unprecedented, and never again duplicated. Sadly, the scandal that followed it and ended with the indictment of twenty players (for shaving points) s) as well as fourteen fixers left New York bereft of big-time college basketball. Cited by Sports Illustrated as one the twenty-five best literary sports books ever published and the basis for the award-winning HBO documentary City Dump, which has been optioned for a major film, The Game They Played comprises both a history story of the fixed and dumped college basketball games from the late 1940s to the early 1960s and nd a morality alit tale that contemplates the nature of justice in America. It poignantly tells the story, too, of dreams that were lost, illusions broken, and kids betrayed by the sad truths of greed and corruption. - Amazon.com Sean Miller Day Camp 11 Arizona Team Camp Dates 2011 Sean Miller Day Camp #1 - June 13 - June ne 16 Sean Miller Day Camp #2- June 20 - June e 23 Arizona Team Camp- June 24 - June 26 Day Camp is open to all boys entering grades ades 2-9. Team Camp is accepting applications for the first 64 teams that apply. Call the Arizona Basketball office with any y questions at 520-621-2430