SB Nation User Blog: joenewby4040

Azdesertswarm Bowl Pick'em

joenewby4040 — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 21:20:47 -0000

There is still time to join if you haven't!

I have created a bowl pick'em league in yahoo for our readers to challenge each other on the bowls. Please join the group and make your picks. It's going to be a fun December.

Group page

Group ID#: 28472
Password: foles

Winner will receive an Arizona nike visor from the U of A bookstore.

Arizona Quick Hits: December 16, 2009

joenewby4040 — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 01:26:55 -0000

Stoops and his team have been working on their class of 2010 for almost a year now. They have 18 commitments, including 3 four stars committed. As this article states, Stoops doesn't care much for star ratings. He recruits for talent and then develops at will.

Jim Livengood is currently one of three finalists for the AD at UNLV. He visited the school on December 15, 2009 and UNLV will make its decision in the next few days. I'm not really sure how I feel about this. I love the Sean Miller hire and Livengood has been good to all Arizona programs. I think I'll miss him if he goes.

Arizona has moved quickly to replace defensive coordinator Mark Stoops, who left for Florida State last week. The Cats will replace him with Greg Brown who was the secondary coach at the University of Colorado. I fully trust Stoops on this decision. Brown will make it to the Holiday Bowl and help the Cats play against Nebraska. Rumor also has it that Stoops will name Tim Kish as the co-defensive coordinator for this year and the 2010 season. Rumors, rumors, rumors.

Go on over and visit Corn Nation for all of the prep work Nebraska will be putting in during the next two weeks. The Cats and Cornhuskers will face off on December 20, 2009 at the Holiday Bowl. I hope you have your tickets because the Arizona and Nebraska allotment have been sold out. That does not mean that the game is sold out, but you'd better get on it!

If you haven't heard, "The streak is very much in jeopardy." Not good. This article also hits on Kevin Parrom is still out of practices and now the Cats may be without Jamelle Horne who suffered an ankle sprain in the San Diego State game.

Washington State is 8-2 overall. Klay Thompson is averaging 25.1 points per game. Wow! Look out Pac-10.

Arizona Falls to San Diego State: 63-46

joenewby4040 — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 14:25:41 -0000

More photos » by Lenny Ignelzi - AP

4 days ago: Arizona's Derrick Williams dunks against San Diego State during the first half of a NCAA basketball game Saturday Dec. 12, 2009 in San Diego. (AP Photo/Lenny Ignelzi)

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The Wildcats woes on the road continue as they fell to San Diego State 63-46. The Cats were all tied up at 14 when Aztecs went on a 9-0 run and never looked back. Derrick Williams was his usual self with 13 points, 9 rebounds, 1 assist and only 1 turnover. Jamelle Horne must have had the green light last night because he would not stop shooting. He ended an abysmal 3-11 with 5 and ended with 6 points. He also missed both of his free throw attempts. Nic Wise wasn't much better. He shot 2-9 from the floor, had 4 assists and 2 turnovers. He finished with 4 points.

A lone bright spot for the Cats was Lamont Jones who came off the bench and scored 11 points on 4-6 shooting and had 1 steal. The Aztecs went into the break up 33-20 and kept the pressure on in the 2nd half, outscoring the Cats 30-26. Miller has got to figure out what our identity is and make these guys buy into the system. The Wildcats had 16 turnovers and have no rhythm on offense. Compare that to only 10 assists. The Cats were out-rebounded 36-22.

Next up: Lipscomb University on December 21, 2009.

Arizona vs. San Diego State Open Game Thread

joenewby4040 — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 22:22:50 -0000

Next Game

Arizona Wildcats
@ San Diego St. Aztecs

Date: Saturday, Dec. 12, 2009

Time: 7 p.m. PST

Location: Viejas Arena at Aztec Bowl (12,414), San Diego, Calif.

Radio: IMG College/Wildcat Radio Network (Brian Jeffries/Matt Muehlebach)

TV: MountainWest Sports Network (Joe Cravens/Rich Cellini)

Follow on Gametracker

Complete Coverage >

MARK Stoops to Florida State

joenewby4040 — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 22:14:41 -0000

Mark Stoops is headed to Florida State.

View full size photo »

Arizona's defensive coordinator Mark Stoops has been hired by the Florida State as their defensive coordinator and will help out Jumbo Fisher to try and restore the Seminoles back to the perennial powerhouse of the 90's. This is a huge loss for Arizona. No word yet on who will replace Stoops or be calling the defense for the Holiday Bowl.

Quick Hits: December 8, 2009

joenewby4040 — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 13:34:29 -0000

More photos » by Amy Gutierrez - AP

Be Afraid. Be VERY Afraid!

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Arizona took down USC on Saturday 21-17 with some late heroics by Juron Criner catching a 36 yard TD from Nick Foles with 3:14 left in the game as the Cats beat the Trojans for the first time in Mike Stoops' tenure. Nice way to finish the season

After the win, the Cats were officially invited to play in the Holiday Bowl against Nebraska on December 29, 2009. Nebraska won the Big XII North and nearly knocked off Texas in the Big XII Championship. If you don't know who Ndamukong Suh is you need to look at some video. Our offensive line has their work cut out for them.

The basketball team fell to Oklahoma on Sunday night 79-62. The Cats are displaying their youth by traveling to Oklahoma to play their first real road test and were never in this one. Back to the drawing board for Coach Miller.

Mike Stoops hit some nice benchmarks this year by having 8 wins and being ranked No. 20 in the final BCS standings. These two feats gained the coach $80,000.00 in bonuses to finish out the regular season. I have no complaints.

The Pac-10 has seven teams that are bowl eligible this year. Pac-10 Rivalry has them all at your fingertips and will continue to update all Pac-10 fans throughout the bowl season.

Arizona did not have one player on the all conference team this year. Colin Baxter, Adam Grant, Earl Mitchell, Xavier Kelly, Cam Nelson, and Trevin Wade all made the 2nd team. Trevin Wade was not a first teamer? Ridiculous.

Arizona vs. USC Open Game Thread

joenewby4040 — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 17:37:04 -0000

Next Game

Arizona (7-4, 5-3 Pac-10) at No. 20 USC (8-3, 5-3 Pac-10)

Saturday, Dec. 5 | 12:30 p.m. (PT) | LA Memorial Coliseum (93,607)

Live TV Broadcast: ABC
Television Talent: Mike Patrick (play-by-play); Craig James (color analyst); Heather Cox (sideline)
UA English Radio: Wildcat Radio Network (Brian Jeffries, play-by-play; Lamont Lovette, color; Dana Cooper, sideline)
UA Spanish Radio: 990 A.M. ESPN Deportes (Francisco Romero, play-by-play; Marco Rincon, color)
Satellite Radio: XM 193; SIRIUS 215 (Arizona radio network); XM 102, SIRIUS 125 (USC radio network)

Series Fast Facts:
All-Time Series: USC leads 26-6
First Meeting: 1916 (USC 20, UA 7 at Phoenix)
Last Meeting: 2008 (USC 17, UA 10 at Tucson)

Degenerate Gambling Line: Arizona vs. USC

Arizona vs. USC Preview

Nick Foles has "busted" hand

Complete Coverage >

Degenerate Gambling Line: Arizona vs. USC

joenewby4040 — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 16:35:45 -0000

Arizona is currently a 7 point dog heading into the matchup tomorrow at USC. I'll take the Cats on this one!

Arizona vs. USC Preview

joenewby4040 — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 14:53:20 -0000

More photos » by Wily Low - AP

Ricky Elmore is tearing the competition this year.

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The Arizona Wildcats will limp in to tomorrow's game having lost 2 of their last 3 and barely beating ASU on a freak (go figure, a freak play during an Arizona game) play. Arizona will be without running back Nic Grigsby who has been sidelined along with David Douglas. Nick Foles has a hand injury which should not impede his passing as it is his non-throwing hand. Look for USC to throw a lot of complicated looks at Foles and try to bring a number of packages on the defensive side of the ball. As in other weeks, the Cats will use Greg Nwoko and Keoli Antolin as their two headed rushing attack. Brooks Reed and Ricky Elmore have been tearing it up this year and I expect nothing less against USC. Ricky Elmore is leading the Pac-10 in sacks this year with 10.5 sacks and I hope he gets a big one against Matt Barkley.

USC has had a disappointing 8-3 season. So sad, 8-3. USC has been plagued by inconsistent offensive firepower and a defense that was embarassed by Stanford 55-21. Matt Barkley is completing 59% of his passes and has 12 TD versus 11 INT's on the year. Joe McKnight is the explosive back for the Trojans who should eclipse the 1000 yard mark against the Cats as he has 979 yards rushing this year on 155 carries, a 6.3 YPC average.

Keys to the Game:

Kicking Game - Alex Zendejas has been great this year and was the Pac-10's Special Teams Player of the Week last week. Because of USC's gritty defense, sans Stanford, the Cats are going to need to cash in on all of their scoring opportunities. Let's hope that Zendejas likes the SoCal weather in December.
First Downs - Arizona has got to figure out a way to gain more yards on first down than they have been. Our offense is dictated by what occurs on first down and our rushing game has let us down over the past few weeks. I don't mind our WR screen passes to take the place of our rushing game but it would be nice to see a rush for more than 1 yard on first down. I still am not sure who fits our offense better, Nwoko or Antolin. I think against USC, I am going to go with Nwoko's pounding style to try and eliminate USC's speed and just pound it down their throats. (Hopefully).
Nerves - This isn't the USC of old. They have lost their identity, their swagger, and their offense! Try and tell that to opposing teams that go into the coliseum and have to deal with the crowd, the tradition, and the overall atmosphere in SoCal. Arizona's young guys are going to have to walk in with some swagger of their own and have the confidence to know they can beat the Trojans.

Arizona Falls to UNLV 74-72

joenewby4040 — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 13:10:54 -0000

More photos » by Wily Low - AP

14 days ago: Arizona's Derrick Williams (23) goes over UNLV's Tre'Von Willis for a shot in the second half of an NCAA college basketball game ain Tucson, Ariz., Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2009. UNLV won in double overtime, 74-72. (AP Photo/Wily Low)

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Arizona showed their age on Wednesday night, unable to go on any sort of run to put away UNLV in the second half. The Cats fell to the Rebels 74-72 in a seesaw battle. The Cats led 36-30 with 10:00 left in the 2nd half but were unable to hold on to the lead. This loss, and the loss to Wisconsin, are eerily familiar. The Cats seem to lose their energy midway through the 2nd half and have no real firepower to put anyone away.

Derrick Williams continues to impress scoring 28 points on 10-15 shooting and hitting 8-12 from the FT line. He also chipped in 5 rebounds. Nic Wise was his old self as well scoring 19 points on 3-13 shooting but he was only 1-8 from beyond the arc. Nic was 12-12 from the FT line. Jamelle Horne had 4 pointsand 10 boards, Brendon Lavender had 5 points, Lamont Jones had 9 points and Kyrl Natyazhko had 7 points.

Next Up: @ Oklahoma on December 6, 2009.