Staff Reports
Arizona Daily Wildcat
February 24, 1998

Tuesday's Tidbits

Remember Joseph Blair? The 6-foot-10 center/forward who played for the Arizona Wildcat basketball team from 1991-96. Well, after not catching on with the Seattle Supersonics (the team that drafted him in the second round of the 1996 NBA Draft), Blair has found himself a new team.

Blair signed with the Harlem Globetrotters over the weekend. Looks like the Wildcats' all-time career field goal percentage leader will be spending a lot of time spinning a basketball on his fingers.

The Arizona baseball team won one of its three games at Southern Cal over the weekend but it's no surprise who got the win.

For the 14th time this year, the victory went to a left-handed pitcher. In this case it was junior James Johnson (3-0). The five UA left-handers have picked up 82 percent of the team's wins.

Junior Rob Shabansky has led the way with five wins to date. Sophomore reliever Tony Milo is 4-0 and junior closer Ryan Moskau is 2-0. The only right-handers to pick up wins so far are junior starter Darrell Hussman (2-1) and sophomore reliever Dave Abbott (1-0).

Antwain Jamison or Raef LaFrentz?

Though much debate seems to be centered around these two players concerning men's basketball Player of the Year, Digger Phelps seems to rest his faith in one of Arizona's own.

According to Phelps' ESPN Sportszone column, Miles Simon is the front runner for this prestigious title.

Phelps called Simon the "Michael Jordan of the NCAA...and the best clutch player in college basketball."

Phelps refereed to Simon's unselfish playing attitude out on the floor, claiming that he does not care whether Michael Dickerson or Mike Bibby score more points than him as long as the scoring gets done.

Simon scored 27 points against No. 9 UCLA earlier this season and helped the Wildcats pull out a narrow 83-82 victory over ASU by finishing with 23 points and three assists.

Phelps concluded that Simon deserves Player of the Year because, quite frankly, he "wins basketball games."

Top UA tennis player Vicky Maes has already improved her national ranking by 30 spots.

The senior from Belgium was ranked 74th entering the season. However, according to the latest Rolex Collegiate Rankings, she is currently sitting in 44th position with an average of 5.04 points per match.

Teammate Betsy Miringoff, a senior who was unranked, holds onto the No. 58 place with 4.59 average points per match.

UA men's basketball recruit Richard Jefferson helped secure his high school team, Phoenix Moon Valley, a victory over Phoenix Greenway to give the Rockets their first Class 4A Championship win.

Jefferson scored 18 of his 20 points during the second half of Saturday night's game held at American West Arena in Phoenix.

The Arizona Boxing Club traveled to Reno, Nev., over the weekend to compete in the East-West Invitational. James Colville, a junior, lost his match in a 4-1 judges' decision to Greg Borum of UNLV.

Senior Matt Taylor lost his match to Ryan Simpson of UNLV when Taylor was given a standing eight to end his match in the third round.

Injury update.

Gymnast Cami Banholzer missed the Wildcat's last meet against Oregon State due to an injured foot. Doctors were concerned that the problem was a possible stress fracture. However, after staying off her foot for a week, it looks like the injury was only sprained ligaments.

Assistant coach Bill Ryden said Banholzer worked out on Friday with some pain but for the most part "she feels much better."

The senior plans to be ready for the next competition against Penn State this weekend provided another problem does not hold her back.

Though the foot pain has subsided, she still suffers from ongoing knee pain for which she received a cortisone injection during her foot recovery time.

Apparently there is no such thing as a healthy body when it comes to gymnastics, as Banholzer seems to represent the norm for the sport.