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GOAZCATS.com War Room: 4/23/10

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Josh Gershon

Lute Olson 'Almighty'
Mar 16, 2002
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Weeks seem to be rotating between eventful and uneventful, with this definitely being a slow week for news.

Basketball:

* Arizona's 2010 recruiting list remains at two in Kadeem Jack and Eloy Vargas. While last week it appeared that Vargas was most likely to make the first decision, now the ball court be in Jack's court.

This weekend Jack should be making an official visit to Arkansas, and it's also possible he squeezes in at trip to UConn before making a decision, which he says he wants to do on April 28. He visited Miami a couple weekends ago.

It's generally believed that Arizona remains in the best position for Jack, although that could certainly change the more visits he takes.

If he does in fact make a decision on or around April 28, as expected, and it's Arizona, that would most likely end the Wildcats' recruitment of Vargas. If Jack doesn't choose UA, look for the Wildcats to cement an official visit with Vargas for the first or second weekend of May.

If Vargas ends up on the Arizona campus for a visit, the Wildcats will likely land him, so everything should shake out pretty quickly.

* I caught up with UA assistant James Whitford on Thursday to get his thoughts on how spring workouts are going, as well as what the coaching staff's goals are for each player over the spring and summer.

The whole interview will run early next week, but here are some notes:

- Per NCAA rules, the staff is allowed to work with players for up to eight hours a week, but six of those eight hours have to be without a basketball, meaning weight room, conditioning, agility work, etc. The two hours a week with a basketball are spent with groups of four or less players.

- Whitford remains optimistic about the future of center Kyryl Natyazhko, who will be playing for the U20 European championships for Ukraine this summer.

"If Kyryl continues to commit himself and continues to work as hard as he can, he's going to be a very, very good college player," Whitford said.

- Whitford said that MoMo Jones has taken about 12,000 shots so far this spring and that he's really improved his shooting.

"You're going to see a much more consistent MoMo Jones shooting the ball next year," he said.

- One of Kevin Parrom's main off-season focuses is gaining weight, which he's doing a good job of.

"(Next season) you're going to see a guy who is stronger, can finish through guys and can post up deeper around the basket, can guard bigger players," Whitford said of Parrom.

- Solomon Hill's main focus is his shooting, and the good news is that it isn't as far away as one might think.

"He has good form," Whitford said. "It's not like we've had to change the way he shoots the ball. We've made a couple minor adjustments but for Solomon it's mostly repetition."

- 100% of Derrick Williams' spring workouts have been spent on improving his perimeter skills.

"He hasn't done one post up workout this spring," Whitford said. "It's been allowing him to be more comfortable on the perimeter. He's great in the post; he knows that, we know that. It's trying to diversify his game so he can attack you in multiple ways."

- Kyle Fogg's ball handling is one of the two biggest areas of improvement for him.

"(Fogg) really needs to work on his ball handling, particularly his left hand, but his entire game - dribbling the basketball, handling versus pressure, being able to pass versus pressure, being able to drive to pass versus pressure and allowing him to alleviate some of the ball handling duties from the other guards, even at the two spot, doing more ball handling," Whitford said.

- The coaching staff charts every shot that every player takes, and so far Brendon Lavender is shooting over 80% from the field, including over 75% from three.

"He's by far the best shooter," Whitford said.

- There are two main areas of improvement for Alex Jacobson.

"We've worked on a couple different things," Whitford said. "His post game inside, particularly his jump hook, and getting a couple go-to post moves around the block."

- While Jamelle Horne has plenty to work on in terms of his game, Whitford feels that his mental approach is significantly improving.

"I think he needs to continue to take steps forward but I sincerely believe he's more bought into the program now than he has been any time since we've been here and that's really important," Whitford said.

* The NCAA Contact Period ended on Thursday, making it a Quiet Period from April 22 to July 6, the first day of the Evaluation Period. The only exception is a Dead Period from May 20-28.

During the Quiet Period, UA coaches can't have in-person contact with any recruits unless it is on the Arizona campus. Phone calls, letters and visits can continue. There are no visits of any kind allowed during the Dead Period.

* On Tuesday, Sean Miller will speak at the 2010 Fullcourt Press Spring Coaches Clinic. He'll be joined by Lon Kruger, Herb Sendek, Jim Boylan and Lorenzo Romar.

The event is put on by AAU coach Dinos Trigonis, who coaches Grant Jerrett, E.J. Cooper and Cezar Guerrero, amongst others.

* Last weekend at the Double Pump Spring Tournament, without question the top player in attendance was 6-foot-5, 190-pound Las Vegas Bishop Gorman shooting guard Shabazz Muhammad.

In an interview with Rivals.com, Muhammad's father, Ron Holmes, said there currently are no favorites.

"It's too early for any school to have separated themselves from the pack, but a school like Kansas is going to be there," he said. "North Carolina and Duke are involved. UCLA, USC, UNLV and Arizona are also involved with Shabazz. Right now, most if it is going through me. I don't want all this to go through him - I want him to stay grounded and continue to focus on his academics.

"Shabazz hasn't really seen what the recruiting process is all about yet. Since I am a coach at the high school level, most of it is going through me right now."

We spoke with Muhammad twice last weekend, once on camerahttp://arizona.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1076032 and once off of it, and in the off camera video, he expanded on his interest in UA.

"Arizona is still in there; definitely," Muhammad said. "I like the campus, the style of play, they like to run and obviously we like to run on our team. I love the coaches, I talk to them all the time and I can't wait to get down there for a game.

"I'm looking for style of play and the coach - obviously I like Arizona a lot - and style of play is really what I'm looking for."

* Some Rivals.com updates on recruits that Arizona has offered:

Amir Williams, 2011 PF/C:

An elite talent, Williams will be a very tough pull for UA, but the Wildcats are going to try. Right now he's claiming no leaders.

"None of the schools stick out right now," he said. "I just got done with the high school season, so throughout the high school season I was really just focused on the season and not worried about colleges.

"But now I'm going to take a step forward in my process and narrow my schools down and try to find out what schools I really like and what schools I don't like. Throughout the whole summer I'll take some visits and see what schools stay on the top and what schools I don't talk to anymore."

Alex Murphy, 2012 PF:

Murphy is listing offers from Florida, Kansas, Arizona, Syracuse, UConn, Michigan, Butler, UCLA and Virginia.

We've heard that UA is doing a good job with Murphy at this point in his recruitment, and he says that early playing time is important.

"I want to go somewhere that I can come in from day one and contribute to the program in any way possible," Murphy said. "Academics are also a really important factor in the process. I'd like to go somewhere that I could surround myself with people that will not only develop me as a basketball player, but a person as well."

Landen Lucas, 2012 PF:

Lucas is still in the preliminary stages of his recruitment, and doesn't appear to have anyone leading right now.

"I'm really open to anything right now," Lucas said. "I was on the East Coast and got to check out Georgetown and loved it. I like that East Coast feeling as well. The Pac-10, my dad played at Oregon, so the Pac-10 is what I'm familiar with and all the games are on TV out here but right now I'm open to anyone and I'm interested to see which East Coast teams jump in.

"Hopefully by next year I'm planning on doing some unofficial visits farther away checking out some other schools and then I'll take most of my official visits farther away. We're just trying to take advantage of the schools that are nearby and if I'm out of town at a tournament I'll always stop by a campus and get the feel for what it's like out there."

Grant Jerrett, 2012 PF:

Arizona has done a good job with Jerrett so far, but he's planning on taking his recruitment slow and doesn't worry about any of the college attention right now.

"I'm fine with it all," Jerrett said. "It's not a big deal. I'm just waiting to make a decision later on. I'm just going to listen to what my coach says. Any school that has interest in me, I'm interested in them."

Football:

* It was a tough night for Rob Gronkowski on Thursday, not going in the first round of the NFL Draft. We've heard the last projection Gronkowski received was that he'd be late first or early second, so he shouldn't have to wait long in the 2nd round before hearing his name, if those projections are accurate.

Here'shttp://arizona.rivals.com/content.asp?SID=974&CID=1077589 an article breaking down the draft prospects of many of the UA's departing players.

Jason Scheer's weekly recruiting update:

* It was a bit of a quiet week for Arizona recruiting due in large part to the fact that a lot of players focus on school this time of year, since there is generally only about a month or two left.

Arizona has offered close to 100 players right now, many of which are considered to be among the best in the country.

The talent in the west is very strong and it has allowed the UA to focus a bit more on the major players and once the coaching staff gets a feel for where it is with those players, there is plenty of time and talent available to move on to other prospects.

With that being said, and this is the case most years, a good season is going to go a long way in Arizona’s recruiting class.

The Pac-10 should recruit very well this year, especially with that talent in the west, and it would not be a surprise to see a handful of schools in the conference be among the top teams in the country when it comes to recruiting.

* 6-foot-2, 200-pound Dallas (Texas) Lake Highlands athlete Desmond Roland http://arizona.rivals.com/viewprospect.asp?Sport=1&pr_key=84859 is considered to be one of the better players in the country and is currently keeping his options open.

"Next week I'm going to the Arkansas spring game,” he tells HuskersIllustrated.com. “I'm not sure where else I'll go because I start my spring practice after that. I do plan to take some official visits.

"I'm keeping my options open. I'm open to all schools right now, but yeah, Nebraska was helped by this visit. Like I said before, I just thought it would be mostly land and when I got there it was amazing."

Roland was one of the first players that Arizona offered and although the UA has not been eliminated, it will certainly be difficult to land him. There is a good chance that Roland will stay in the Big 12, but the Wildcats are definitely going to put in a major effort to at least get him on campus.

* One player to keep an eye on is 6-foot-1, 215-pound Lakewood (Calif.) linebacker Rahim Cassell http://arizona.rivals.com/viewprospect.asp?Sport=1&pr_key=111925.

Cassell has picked up a few offers in the past week and it has a lot to do with his agility and ability to play in the open field.

"Coaches say that I'm quick to the ball and it looks like I know what I'm doing,” he tells PonyPride.com. “They tell me that I'm very athletic and agile. The thing I've been told that I could work on is my feet movement by pointing them in the direction I'm going.

“That's basically all they've talked to me about, just point my feet where they're supposed to be going."

At this point Cassell does not have an offer, so he is simply a player to watch, but should his film be impressive, an offer likely would not be far behind.

* 5-foot-8, 160-pound Culver City (Calif.) cornerback Chris Brown http://rivals.yahoo.com/arizona/football/recruiting/player-Chris-Brown-110582 will likely be taking a visit to Arizona sometime in the near future.

"I haven't visited yet but I'm supposed to go out there in a couple months to go visit," Brown tells Rivals.com. "I'm not really sure about them yet. I just know they send me a lot of mail."

Brown’s height is something that Arizona likely wants to see up close, but he is definitely a player to keep an eye on, especially since UA’s interest seems to be legitimate.

* Arizona has somewhat recently offered 5-foot-11, 185-pound Folsom (California) safety Jordan Richards http://rivals.yahoo.com/arizona/football/recruiting/player-Jordan-Richards-105627.

“I plan on keeping my options open for as long as I can, and not make any decisions too quick,” he tells UteZone.com. “Depending on when the schools that I have offers from ask me directly when I want to commit, it might make some decisions then."

Last season, Richards had 1375 all purpose yards on offense while scored 18 touchdowns. On defense, he totaled 61 tackles, five interceptions, three forced fumbles, and a blocked kick.

The coaching staff offered for a reason and would love to land him early, as Richards is the type of player that could get a ton of offers in a hurry.

* 6-foot-4, 235-pound La Costa Canyon (Calif.) defensive end Ian Seau http://rivals.yahoo.com/arizona/football/recruiting/player-Jordan-Richards-105627 is going to take his time with a decision, which will likely be heavily influenced by playing time.

"I don't really see myself sitting out an entire year, you know, like redshirting," he tells UDubSports.com. "It's not because I'm the best athlete on the field, I just don't think I could be on the sideline watching, I'd have to play. Not even a lot, I just want to be out there even a few games."

The UA obviously has somewhat of a connection with Seau’s school and should be a legitimate player in this recruitment. The word is that Seau may not necessarily want to stay close at home, which would increase Arizona’s chances.

* 6-foot-4, 275-pound Crystal Lake (Ill.) South offensive lineman Jake Bernstein http://arizona.rivals.com/viewprospect.asp?Sport=1&pr_key=105406 is being evaluated by Arizona, but there is definite interest there.

I know that the coaches from Indiana are supposed to be in school on Tuesday and that Arizona will be in school on Friday,” he tells EdgyTim.com. “I'm also looking at camping this summer at June 4th at Arizona plus we might stop over at Arizona State.

“I'm also set to camp at Colorado (June 12th) and I might also check out Wyoming. I'm also planning to go to several Big Ten schools for one day camps."

The camp at the UA will likely determine Bernstein’s fate, as an offer would pick things up. Bernstein likes Arizona, but that can only go so far without an offer.
 
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