Stoudamire suspended indefinitely before home loss to Huskies

Washington 89 - Arizona 84

The UA men's basketball team suffered its second home loss of the season last night against Washington while playing without leading scorer Salim Stoudamire, who was suspended indefinitely for "failure to meet team responsibilities," according to a press release.

The suspension, which was made official by the UA athletics department shortly before the game, confirmed rumors that had arisen earlier this week on fan Web sites. [Read article]

Panic button within reach for Wildcats

Is it time to panic yet?

Coaches and players alike agree that Arizona not only plays poor defense, but can't compete consistently on the road, to boot.

The Wildcats lack mental toughness ÷ so says their no-longer-fearless leader ÷ and losses like last night's 89-84 setback to unranked Washington in McKale Center can no longer be considered anything close to a moral victory. [Read article]

The Wildcat women's tennis team hasn't played in almost two weeks, but its layoff should serve the Wildcats well as they travel to face No. 25 Arizona State.

Arizona's matches at Southern California and UCLA were rained out last weekend. Now, they get to take on the Sun Devils, who only return three starters from last year.

"The team is ranked higher than us, but I think we match up well against them," said assistant coach Petar Danolic. "I think we have a good chance of beating a team ranked higher than us in this match." [Read article]

While the Wildcat women's basketball team was busy avoiding an upset, an upset in Eugene, Ore., put Arizona back on top in the Pac-10.

After Oregon upset Stanford 67-66, the Wildcats squeaked out a close one in Pullman, Wash., last night, 77-72 over Washington State. The win pulled Arizona into a first-place tie with the Cardinal in the Pacific 10 Conference.

"We feel like we didn't play well (last night), but we hung on and won, and now this is about us," said UA head coach Joan Bonvicini. "It's an opportunity for us to win our Pac-10 title." [Read article]

Something has to give when the No. 16 Arizona baseball team meets No. 15 Baylor this weekend in Waco, Texas.

Both the Wildcats (5-4-1) and the Bears (3-4) find themselves in a slump coming into today's 5 p.m. (6 p.m. Texas time) contest.

The Wildcats won their first five games of the season, but are on a five-game winless streak after dropping Tuesday's game to Arizona State. The Wildcats lost twice and tied once against UC Irvine last weekend, and fell to Cal State Fullerton in the final game of a three-game set two weekends ago. [Read article]

Arizona, Stanford and South Florida don't usually have much in common. But every so often ÷ like, say, during a leap year that's also an Olympic year ÷ they do.

The No. 7 Cardinal (11-2) and No. 22 Bulls (15-2) are included in the field for the Worth Wildcat Invitational that starts today at Hillenbrand Stadium. One reason the two teams will appear is because both the Stanford and USF head coaches serve under UA head coach Mike Candrea on the U.S. Olympic team. Candrea is taking a sabbatical from UA this season in order to coach Team USA. [Read article]

The Arizona men's and women's track and field teams return to Seattle for the Mountain Pacific Conference Championships today and tomorrow.

The event, hosted by Washington, will feature 23 squads from 13 schools.

If the latest rankings are any indication, the competition at this event will be stiff.

In the U.S Track Coaches Association's men's rankings, No. 8 UCLA is the team to beat. The Wildcats come in ranked 31st. [Read article]

The No. 11 Arizona gymnastics team travels to Tempe tonight to pay a visit to the rival Sun Devils in Wells Fargo Arena.

The Wildcats (7-3-1, 2-2-1 Pacific 10 Conference) are 1-2-1 in their last four meets, coming off a three-match weekend that saw them tie then-No. 15 Washington 197.300ö197.300, then fall to No. 10 Louisiana State by 0.050 while defeating Texas Woman's University (193.425) in a combined meet. On Feb. 13, Arizona also fell 0.050 points short of Oregon State. [Read article]