Staff Reports
Arizona Daily Wildcat
April 7, 1998

Tuesday's Tidbits

The guessing game ends Thursday.

The "will he?" or "won't he?" questions surrounding the status of Arizona All-American sophomore guard Mike Bibby will end with a press conference Thursday at 3:30 p.m. in the McKale room, the athletic department announced yesterday.

Bibby, who finished third in the voting for the Wooden Award, met with his mother, Virginia, and Arizona head coach Lute Olson last week. Media outlets, including ESPN, have been reporting for a week that Bibby will declare himself eligible for the June NBA Draft.

Should he do so, he would follow Kansas junior Paul Pierce as the second of this year's first-team All-America underclassmen to declare.

North Carolina's Antawn Jamison, the third of the three underclassmen on the first team - Miles Simon and Jayhawk Raef LaFrentz are seniors - is expected to make his decision in the next couple of weeks.

Lost amid the Arizona baseball team's current descent was the fact that senior right fielder Colin Porter became just the second player in UA history to have 12 home runs and 12 stolen bases in the same season. The first was Mike Gatlin in 1975. Porter hit his 12th homer Friday night against Arizona State, giving the UA its only score for the game. Porter has stolen 17 bases in a row and has a team-best 19 on the season. Porter has also helped the Wildcats have four players reach double digits in home runs for only the fifth time in school history. Arizona had four from 1987-89 and in 1993. Besides Porter, the other Wildcats to reach double digits are senior left fielder Jason Hendricks (11), junior catcher Greg Clark (10) and senior first baseman Kenny Corley (10).

Redshirt freshman Ortege Jenkins' academic woes are a concern to the football team, and it has sent that message to him.

Jenkins has missed some spring practices because of academics and was forced to watch Saturday's scrimmage from the sideline in street clothes.

"He just didn't get something done the other night he needed to get done," UA head coach Dick Tomey said about why Jenkins was not allowed to play. "We told him if you don't do this you won't play, and he didn't do it."

Despite the concern, Tomey is confident Jenkins will be fine once fall practices come around.

Senior power forward Bennett Davison betrayed his Nike-ness over the weekend. He was on hand signing autographs for the Adidas Factory Outlet Store's grand opening at the Foothills mall.

Going to an Arizona softball game now has the potential to be a much more luxurious experience than in previous years. The UA's Sports Marketing Department has established two promotions aimed at increasing attendance and awarding those who show up. Prime seats, behind home plate in a cozy, plush Lazy-boy chair and just beyond the center field fence in a hot tub, are given away to selected fans during the early innings of home doubleheaders. Free food and drink from the snack bar are also included in the prize package.

If you have any tidbits please send them to sports editor Jason A. Vrtis at jvrtis@u.arizona.edu.