Doldrums cloud Arizona's last visit to Memorial Sports Arena

To say that basketball at Southern California is second-rate is like saying Johnny Drama is less famous than Vince in "Entourage."

While the USC football team packs a full Memorial Coliseum, the basketball team has mired in obscurity at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, playing as the sound of the basketball bouncing echoes through the arena. [Read article]

Collision in practice puts guard Arnold out of commission against Women of Troy

The injury bug that has been plaguing the Arizona women's basketball team all season struck again Wednesday afternoon.

Running for a loose ball in practice yesterday at Bear Down Gym, sophomore guard Jessica Arnold collided with a teammate, hit her head against a brick wall and didn't return to practice for a good amount of time. [Read article]

When the Arizona football team has competed against programs like Southern California, Oregon and California the past few years, the Wildcats have not displayed the talent to legitimately compete with these schools for a conference championship.

When the Wildcats went up against those powerhouses in recruiting, Arizona officially closed the gap in the Pacific 10 Conference yesterday when it signed arguably the best class in Arizona football history. [Read article]

Victory imperative in final stretch of season

When the Arizona men's basketball team faced Southern California on Jan. 7 in McKale Center, the game was an important step forward after their first conference loss earlier in the week.

However, there wasn't the "win or go home" mentality that now faces the Wildcats (13-7, 6-3 Pacific 10 Conference) as they head west to take on USC (14-6, 5-4) Thursday at 8:30 p.m. on FSN Arizona. [Read article]

In this edition of Dave's diary, the freshman walk-on talks about the rivalry between ASU and Arizona and the disappointing loss at North Carolina.

On the ASU/Arizona rivalry:

"(Arizona head) coach (Lute Olson) talked about the rivalry, but he said regardless of the rivalry, we still have to go out there and take care of business and not to get caught up in the rivalry. At the same time, though, we were thinking about it a lot, but we didn't want to get caught up in it. He said (ASU) was going to do a lot of cheap and dirty stuff, which most people saw they did during the game." [Read article]

Stoops name key in Cats' second straight top-20 recruiting class

As he strolled into a McKale Center conference room yesterday, cameras clicking, reporters shuffling notebooks in their laps, Arizona football head coach Mike Stoops eased into his chair and smiled.

Six months of hard work and worry had paid off - 22 athletes had signed national letters of intent with Arizona, and Stoops couldn't have been happier. [Read article]

Alumni game to match title squad vs. other alumnae

Ten years ago, the headlines in the Arizona Daily Wildcat spoke of possible tuition increases, Spring Fling and underage drinking in the police beat.

The sports section followed the then-No. 2 Arizona softball team as it headed toward another Women's College World Series. The papers stopped printing at the conclusion of the semester, so for those of you who do not know, the 1996 team did win the national championship. [Read article]