Wildcats ready to resolve pitching uncertainty in early season tournament

Focus is once again falling on the pitching mound in Hillenbrand Stadium.

But now, there is no two-time National Player of the Year under the spotlight.

In his 18th year, head coach Mike Candrea has some young talent to showcase this season, and it began yesterday with media day.

"They're tired of practicing," said Candrea of his team. "This team is unproven. I'm anxious to see how the pitching staff performs." [Read article]

Here's a scary thought for the rest of the nation: Right now No. 1 Arizona is in the best shape that it has been in all season, according to UA head coach Lute Olson.

"Barring any problems (yesterday) or (today) in practice, we should be in the best physical condition we've been in since before the season started," said Olson. "I still don't think that Luke (Walton) is better than 70 percent. Salim (Stoudamire) is conditioned to the point where he is back pretty close to 100 percent." [Read article]

Sport: Swimming
Events: Freestyle, Butterfly, and Relays
Year: Freshman
Major: Undecided, hopefully business
Hometown: Pietersburg, South Africa
Why Ferns won: In his first meet ever as a Wildcat, Ferns won three individuals against Stanford, then had another impressive showing against California.

Wildcat: What was it like to have such success in your first college meet? [Read article]

Every coach talks about the grind of a road trip, and none was more grueling than the Arizona women's basketball game in Wisconsin.

After playing Arizona State last Thursday, the Wildcats stayed in Tempe, then left from Phoenix the next morning for Madison.

The Wildcats escaped with a 62-55 win over the Badgers, but struggled in Madison.

Junior Aimee Grzyb missed the game because of illness and freshman center Shawntinice Polk missed the start of the second half because she felt sick. [Read article]