Momentum? Arizona 106 #23 Washington 97

A couple days ago I questioned our beloved Wildcats fire, whether they had any motivation to keep playing through the tough times that the program is going through. The Coleman/Budinger incident was obviously the catalyst for what the Cats needed. Last night was an example of that.

The Washington Huskies came to town ranked 23rd in the AP poll and leaving me a little anxious to see how our boys would look coming off our improbable win.

They were seemingly up for the challenge. That game was sloppy, the Cats made a lot of mental errors and turned the ball over frequently. If you caught the game then you got to see the four dozen or so close ups of Lute in disgust during the course of the game. Thanks Lute, this is your train wreck.

That being said, there were a number of notable moments that made this game entertaining and almost made me optimistic for the remainder of the season.


Nic Wise had a career night. To be honest, I trust him more than anyone on the court with the ball (mainly because Hill needs someone to feed him). Last night he proved why he is a corner stone for the squad. With a career high 29 points and 8 assists he looked great, but more importantly was his free throw shooting. Wise went 14-14 from the line including 8 late in the game while the Huskies were beginning to narrow the lead.

Free throws may be the single biggest thing you could take away from this game. Arizona made 41 of their 51 free throws. It is one thing to get to the line it is another to actually capitalize and going 80.4% isn’t too shabby. Especially when considering that Washington had nothing to write home about, converting 13 of 20 (65.0%) from the line.

As exciting as free throw stats are, the fire that I questioned seemed to be there. Especially in the waning minutes of the game when Washington’s Neanderthal Brockman (6’7 255) went up for a block attempt on Horne, subsequently throwing him to the ground and earning himself a flagrant foul. There was a little bit of talk between teams, and Budinger once again stepped up and got in the midst of the Washington huddle. It is nice to see these guys protecting their teammates, since there seems to be a reoccurring theme of technicals and hard fouls heading Arizona’s way.

Needless to say it was a big win for the Cat’s and they will be looking to come up big again against a Washington State on Saturday. The Cougars are coming off an upset of Arizona State and sorry to say we are hoping to repay them with a loss of their own

4Real Out...


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Pac-10 Power Rankings: Week 6

1. USC: 3-1 (1-1)
The Trojans stumbled over a minor speed bump in a loss to Oregon State that not only hurt their chances for a National Championship, but Sanchez’s chance at being the next in a long line of Heisman QB’s coming out of Southern California. This weekend they posted an impressive win over Oregon who most thought would be the only team giving them a run for the conference. We know USC is good and better than their loss to Oregon State looked but we also know they have weaknesses. I’d put my money on the Trojans losing at least one more game before this season is over.

Next Game: vs. Arizona State

2. Cal: 4-1 (2-0)
It is still unknown how good Cal really is. They have one loss against a surprising Maryland team who has beaten two ranked teams but has also lost to Middle Tennessee State. Not only but the Bears were shut out this weekend by Virginia. The quarterback controversy has done nothing to help this squad, who luckily has a bye before having to travel to Tucson to take on the Cats. That will be the game that separates the conference.

Next Game: 10/18 @ Arizona

3. Arizona: 4-1 (2-0):
Arizona is tied with Cal for the conference lead thus far, and the next two games will speak volumes. There is plenty of information on the site, and a Stanford Preview coming up. More then.

Next Game: @ Stanford

4. Oregon: 4-2 (2-1)
Oregon is not doing anything to help the frustration that is the Pac-10. No team is giving us clear cut signs of where they stand or what their real strengths are. So far the ducks one convincingly against Washington (really in just one half of play), beat up on a bad Utah State team, took home the W in OT against a good Purdue squad, lost to a young but talented Boise State, beat WASU by 49, and then took a 34 point loss to USC. All of this why rotating QBs from injured to back on the field and back again. Their next stretch against UCLA, at Arizona State and at California should speak volumes. Well at least I hope it does. In reality they will probably beat UCLA in a close game, win convincingly against Arizona State, and go into overtime against Cal leaving us just as confused as when we started.

Next Game: vs. UCLA

5. Oregon State: 2-3 (1-1)
The Beavers may be better than everyone thinks. They may be 2-3 but they have had a pretty tough schedule so far. They have played three Top 10 teams in Penn State now #6, BYU now #9 (3 point loss) and # 8 USC (6 point win). If Oregon State can learn from these games and continue to fine tune against their next two opponents which luckily for them are Washington and Washington State, they could be headed to a bowl game this year.

Next Game: vs. Washington

6. Arizona State: 2-3 (1-1)
The Sundevils have only looked good in one game this season when they beating Stanford 41-17. Since that victory they have lost three straight to UNLV, Georgia, and Cal. Carpenter may be one of the best QB’s in the conference, but his supporting cast is not getting it done. I think it is safe to say that they have three more losses on their schedule.

Next Game: @ USC

7. UCLA: 2-3 (1-1)
I really don’t know what to say about the Bruins. I was never on this Band Wagon, even after a win over the highly overrated Volunteers. I think they are a year or two away from having a good team, and it is tough to say how many losses they will end up with this year.

Next Game: @ Oregon

8. Stanford: 3-3 (2-1)
Stanfords only notable win this year was against Oregon State, which the Beavers should have won if weren’t for a fumble at the last second. Other than that they beat Notre Dame, who still have not earned my respect. The Cardinal are in the same boat as UCLA.

10.
Washington State: 1-5 (0-3)
Washington: 0-5 (0-3)
The State of Washington is ranked 10th. The Huskies lost Locker, and it appears that they will also be losing Willingham. I think this is only going to set them back even more than they are, but I do understand that changes need to be made. As for WASU, their only win came over Portland State. I think a lot of teams, especially in the Pac are looking forward to playing teams from the Evergreen State.



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Arizona Answers Some Questions With Win Over Washington

This weekend our Arizona Wildcats played host to the Locker-less Washington Huskies. To be honest, I had mixed feelings going into this game because of the performances of both squads so far this season. First off I didn’t want to get too excited about our Cats, yet, but coming off a 31-10 win over UCLA didn’t humble my spirits any. This season Arizona is averaging 43.6 points per game while only allowing 13.6 a game. Statistics should always be taken at face value but after a 48-14 win over the Huskies it looks like they are pretty spot on. As far as preparing for the Huskies I had a couple of lingering questions that I knew I would have to wait for game time to have answered. The first was if Washington was as bad as they seemed or if it was their schedule that is just that ridiculous.

Washington opened with #21 Oregon followed by #15 BYU, #3 Oklahoma, Stanford, and finally our Cats. They came out of that stretch 0-5, and maybe they deserve to be at the bottom of the Pac. Now that they have lost their leading passer, rusher and really the face of their squad in Locker I don’t think that we will ever find out if they are better than they look on paper.

The second question in all our minds was how good is Arizona this year? We know now that we are one stumble (Loss to New Mexico) from being close to a Top 25 ranking and that we are in fact a really good squad. Good is relative though, and no we are not on the same caliber as a lot of Nationally Ranked programs. That being said, the way the Pac looks this year I don’t think it is unrealistic to think that we might actually have a legitimate shot at the Rose Bowl.

Quick Stats from this weekend:
QB: Tuitama: 17/21 81% 193 Yds 3 TD 0 INT
RB: Grigsby 14 Car 113 Yds 1 TD
TE: Gronkowski 5 Rec 109 Yds 3 TD

Next week will be heading west to take on Stanford followed by a home game against Cal. As fat as I am concerned we have two more weeks before we can get ahead of ourselves and start planning our Bowl Game road trip possibilities.

I’ll have a preview for the Stanford game up soon.
4Real Out…..

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