For those of you who don't obsessively check ESPN.com every five minutes, I have an important update: The Arizona men's basketball team, after being unranked in the preseason, is the No. 3 team in this week's ESPN/USA Today coaches poll and No. 4 in the Associated Press media rankings.
Yeah, yeah, it's great and all. We're getting 'spect, but this could potentially be disastrous. This is a team that features four freshmen playing significant minutes, and it would be a shame for this to go to their heads.
There's a lot of pressure when you're highly ranked, and it's difficult to tell how a young team responds to being the ones with the targets on its back. Furthermore, Lute Olson's teams have usually thrived in the role of underdogs - this season's Coaches vs. Cancer tournament being a perfect example - and floundered when expectations are high. Remember the beginning of last season?
When I asked the freshmen about the rankings, all of them gave the stock answers about rankings meaning nothing. When I asked Jason Gardner about it, he said the team just needs to keep working hard, keep proving themselves. But there's still a danger that this team might forget where they started this season.
As we learned from last season, hubris (or a Sports Illustrated cover) can be the most devastating force in college sports.
Gilbert Arenas is back in the news again, and it's still not his play that's being talked about. It's his car, a Cadillac Escalade which doubles as a Best Buy automotive electronics display, that's getting him in trouble.
It seems Gil forgot to do one thing when trickin' out his ride - pay for the work. As reported in this week's Sports Illustrated, Tucson auto customizer Ed Berry says Arenas never paid him for the $31,000-plus worth of work done on the former UA standout's vehicle. Berry contacted SI after seeing the piece on Arena's SUV in a past magazine.
According to Berry, Arenas' agent told him the Golden State Warriors' second-round draft pick hadn't paid him (yet) because Arenas expected to be a first-round pick and sign a bigger contract than the one he ended up getting. However, an Arenas spokesman told the magazine that the player didn't pay because of Berry's "shoddy workmanship," claiming work had to be done later to fix wiring.
Wow. Way to spend your first year in the league, Gil.
So far, you were drafted lower than expected because teams weren't impressed with your attitude in pre-draft camps, were featured in SI talking about your car's stereo and televisions that you haven't paid for and scored a total of one point in the NBA before being placed on the injured (read: Team needs someone else for your roster spot) list for one of the worst teams in the league.
Well, look on the bright side · you paid for the car. Right?
Knowing next to nothing about women's basketball, I hesitate to tell UA head coach Joan Bonvicini how to do her job. But I can't resist this one little piece of advice.
Start Dee-Dee Wheeler. Now.
For those of you who haven't seen this year's team, Wheeler is a backup freshman point guard. However, she's also the female equivalent of Jason Terry, both in her play and the high socks.
Every time Wheeler stepped on the court against Notre Dame Saturday, good things happened. She hit key shots, made steals and, most importantly, raised the level of intensity for the entire team.
Sure, forward Liz Pickney hit the game-winning shot. But it was Wheeler's huge three-pointer late in the game that gave Arizona the momentum it needed.
If anyone out there ever needed an excuse to see a women's hoops game, Wheeler is just that. She's exciting, she's clutch and, most importantly, she's got the cool socks.
Just like "Socks."
