Arizona men's hoops reserve roles go far beyond mop-up duty

With 55 seconds to play, Lute Olson walks down to the end of the bench.

Arizona's lead has grown to 20 in the game's closing minutes. Five Wildcats ÷ Fil Torres, Jason Ranne, Beau Muhlbach, Kirk Walters and Matt Brase ÷ sit waiting for a tap on the leg. Their coach delivers; they shed their warm-ups.

Fifteen thousand fans erupt, cheering both the starters walking off the court and the backups walking on. It's time for the scout team. [Read article]

Arizona State women's hoops head coach Charli Turner-Thorne says there's only one thing her team needs to improve on in its rematch with Arizona on Saturday.

"Everything," she said. "I'm not exaggerating. We truly did not do anything consistently well the entire game."

Though Arizona routed ASU 81-60 on Jan. 2 in McKale Center, the game was tied at the half ÷ the first time the Wildcats went into halftime at home this season without a lead. [Read article]

The last time the men's basketball team traveled to Seattle, the Wildcats barely escaped the Evergreen State unscathed.

Last year, in front of a record home crowd, the Huskies certainly didn't play like a team with a 3-7 record in the Pacific 10 Conference. Casting aside the dubious distinction of having been beaten seven straight times by the Wildcats, Washington took an unsuspecting No. 2 Arizona squad to overtime, only to lose late on a Salim Stoudamire 3-pointer. [Read article]

The Arizona Icecats need to move up three spots in the next two weeks in order to avoid missing the postseason for the first time ever.

After dropping a spot despite beating No. 5 Lindenwood, the Icecats said they are not exactly happy about the new rankings.

The top 13 teams in the American Collegiate Hockey Association's season-ending poll make it into the national tournament. In the poll released before the UA's split at No. 9 Weber State last weekend, the Icecats dropped a spot to No. 16. Curiously, Arizona State jumped up from No. 19 to No. 12 despite losing its previous two games to the Lions, and despite its record of 11-11-3. [Read article]

California may have beaten the Arizona softball team last May at the Women's College World Series, but the Wildcats have beaten the Golden Bears in another preseason poll.

Arizona, No. 3 in the espn.com/USA Softball poll, was ranked No. 2 in the preseason USA Today/National Fastpitch Coaches Association poll. Cal, No. 2 in the first poll, was ranked No. 3.

In the Pacific 10 Conference coaches' poll, Arizona was picked to finish second behind UCLA. The Golden Bears were third. [Read article]