Title-clinching road win opens college hoops' month of madness

STANFORD, Calif. ÷ At times, home court advantage is way overrated.

Until Saturday night, the visiting team had won the last five in the Arizona/Stanford series ÷ make it six. Until Saturday night only two teams had ever gone undefeated on the road in Pacific 10 conference play ÷ make it three.

The Wildcats (23-6, 13-3) claimed their first outright Pacific-10 championship in five years and swept on the road in the Bay Area for the fourth consecutive time by downing Stanford, 72-69, at Maples Pavilion. [Read article]

STANFORD, Calif. ÷ There were no streamers falling from the ceiling or nets being cut down Saturday night in Maples Pavilion.

There was just a little celebration, and even less time to revel in the victory, after the Wildcats won the Pacific-10 Conference title on Saturday night in Palo Alto.

Having to catch an immediate flight back to Tucson, each player ran into the Arizona locker room without thinking about what had happened on the court seconds earlier, when a game-tying 3-point attempt by Stanford's Julius Barnes went long. [Read article]

Arizona's 68-51 win over California Saturday may not have made the same statement as its blowout win over Stanford, but it may carry just as much importance heading into the postseason.

With the win, the No. 24 Wildcats (20-7, 13-5) finished in a second-place tie with Washington, and by virtue of a tie-breaker, were awarded the third seed in this week's Pac-10 tournament ÷ the best Pac-10 finish for Arizona in three seasons. [Read article]

After last weekend's lack of intensity, the Arizona softball team had something to prove to its fans ÷ especially its coach.

The Wildcats made it up to those who came to UA's Rita Hillenbrand Stadium, with a 6-0 win over San Diego State University yesterday, earning the Hillenbrand Invitational championship.

"Today was a big day because we needed to win a big game," UA head coach Mike Candrea said. "(We played) better, but it's hard to say. We'll be challenged more and more; we need to continue the things we're doing." [Read article]

It was a near-flawless series, but the Arizona baseball team's inability to close out a game deep into the ninth cost them a win Saturday, and the chance of sweeping a ranked team at home.

Arizona routed No. 24 Texas A&M 17-1 yesterday in the rubber match of the three-game set in response to Saturday's late-inning meltdown by the Wildcat bullpen.

"With the exception of two outs, it would have been a magnificent weekend," head coach Andy Lopez said. [Read article]

After a slow first day that left the Arizona women's swimming and diving teams in sixth place, the Wildcats finished strong, moving it up to fourth at the Pac-10 women's swimming and diving championships.

As could be expected, the bigger squads were able to place more in the top 24 times, and Arizona's lack of depth ended up killing its chances of contending for the championship.

"Our girls did a great job; they performed really well," said head coach Frank Busch. "I'm not a big fan of the 24 places; it rewards numbers, and all that means is that it might make winning a Pac-10 title in the future a little more difficult." [Read article]

Women's gymnastics puts up highest score of season and sets or ties 12 personals records in a loss to Stanford by a tenth of a point

It's fitting that Monica Bisordi is from the Bay Area, because Friday against Stanford, she had a performance to write home about.

The No. 17 Arizona gymnastics team (4-7, 1-4) put up its highest score of the season, narrowly losing to No. 8 Stanford (9-2-1, 4-1-1), 196.850-196.950, at McKale Center. [Read article]

Women regroup during Texas trip

After reaching its highest ranking of the season at No. 16, which preceded a three-match losing streak, the Arizona women's tennis team was on the prowl to get back to its winning ways during a weekend trip to Texas.

That is exactly what it did against No. 43 Baylor and No. 30 Texas Christian.

No. 26 Arizona came out on Friday and took it to Baylor with a 5-2 victory. [Read article]

With a 32-7 victory Friday, the UA men's rugby team showed UCSD who the master is, and who, in turn, is the protŽgŽ.

Though the margin of victory wasn't as large as last year's 100-point blowout and the Wildcats weren't able to score in the second half of play, Arizona (7-4, 4-1) improved its conference win streak to four matches and beat its opponent by at least 22 points for the third time in a row. [Read article]

After a "terrible" 9-3 win over lowly ASU, the men's lacrosse team bounced back Saturday with a 15-0 rout of Ft. Lewis.

The No. 5 Laxcats (4-1, 3-0) took out their frustrations on the Skyhawks (0-1, 0-0), with 13 players getting points and attackman Adam Paris and midfielder David Sherman each tallying hat tricks.

"We played well. I was happy with our performance today, offensively and defensively," said head coach Adam Hopkins. [Read article]