UA players happy with hiring of Oklahoma associate head coach

Texas native and UA starting quarterback Kris Heavner grew up admiring the Stoops brothers at Oklahoma as they tore through the Big 12 Conference.

Now, he has a chance to play for one.

Heavner, a Johnson City, Texas, native who will enter his second season as the Wildcats' most experienced signal caller, said his initial reaction to Sooner co-defensive coordinator Mike Stoops' hiring was excitement. [Read article]

For the first time since joining the Pacific 10 Conference 26 years ago, the Arizona football team finished in last place.

Contributing to the pain of finishing with the first 10-loss season in program history, their intrastate rivals, Arizona State, put the Wildcats there.

Arizona (2-10, 1-7 Pac-10) closed out one of its worst seasons on Friday with a 28-7 loss to the Sun Devils in Tempe in front of 55,498 fans. [Read article]

Mike Hankwitz had a bad feeling after Friday's loss to Arizona State.

His feeling was validated Saturday when Mike Stoops was named Arizona's new head football coach, assuring Arizona's former interim head coach that he would not receive the permanent job he sought.

Though UA athletics director Jim Livengood, along with Wildcat players, had nothing but praise for Hankwitz following Arizona's 28-7 loss to the Sun Devils, their words sounded similar to those of a eulogy. [Read article]

With the UA men's basketball team trailing by one with seven seconds to play in Friday night's MassMutual Classic matchup against No. 8 Florida, Salim Stoudamire took the game into his own hands.

Unfortunately for the preseason All-American ÷ and the Wildcats ÷ his shot went long, and Arizona was dealt its first loss of the season, 78-77.

"I've often said I would rather lose a game like this than beat some team by 40," head coach Lute Olson said to the Associated Press. "We can take a lot out of this game. We have a lot to learn." [Read article]

Last week did not start as the UA women's basketball team would have hoped, but the Wildcats finished strong with two straight wins ÷ good enough for a fifth-place finish in the Rainbow Wahine Classic in Honolulu.

The Wildcats (3-2) were narrowly upset in the first round of the tournament, 70-65 by Virginia (2-2) on Friday.

The Cavaliers, who began this season as the nation's No. 24 team, tumbled out of the polls last week but may regain a place in the rankings after beating the No. 18 Wildcats. [Read article]

The UA volleyball team's road to its second Final Four in three years will be a tough one, with a likely match with No. 1 Southern California in the Sweet 16 looming large.

As expected, No. 21 Arizona (17-14, 10-8 Pacific 10 Conference) was among the 33 at-large bids for the NCAA tournament. The Wildcats will face Wisconsin (21-10) in the first round, with the winner of the match facing sub-regional host and No. 16 seed Texas A&M (21-9) or Nicholls State (18-14). [Read article]

Four soccer players earn Pac-10 academic honors

Four UA women's soccer players have earned Academic All-Pac-10 honors, the league office announced last week.

Sophomore defender Shannon Pidd from Catalina Foothills High School in Tucson is a second-team Academic All-Pac-10 selection, while three other team members earned honorable mention laurels.

Senior defender Lindsey Greenwood, out of Pleasant Valley High School in Bettendorf, Iowa, sophomore defender Althea Jones from St. Mary Catholic Secondary in Pickering, Ont., Canada and sophomore midfielder Lisa Kosena out of Cherry Creek High School in Englewood, Colo. are all honorable mention Academic All-Pac-10 selections. [Read article]