Category: Arizona Wildcats

Kerr Kriisa transfers out of Arizona, which is definitely good for the U of A

If it’s good for the U of A, it’s not good for USC. Tommy Lloyd knows his backcourt wasn’t good enough; he wants an upgrade.

When players hit the transfer portal in any sport, one obvious question we have to ask is whether the transfer is a net positive or a net negative for the program. Connected to that question is the matter of whether a transfer was player-initiated or coach-encouraged. Some players want to leave a program while the coach hopes they will stay. Other players never want to leave a school, but the coach makes it plain that the roster calculus demands turnover and change.

We can pretty clearly say that Kerr Kriisa’s entry into the transfer portal — leaving the Arizona Wildcats — was a coach-encouraged transfer. Kriisa loved wearing the Arizona uniform. He was a pot-stirrer who brought energy and personality to the Wildcats. He enjoyed irritating opponents and expressing his emotions on the court. He was having a grand old time in Tucson.

Kriisa’s departure is an obvious product of coach Tommy Lloyd having a frank conversation and declaring an intent to upgrade the Arizona backcourt for next season. Arizona’s guards clearly lacked the dominant, all-court skill of Bennedict Mathurin, who helped the Cats earn a No. 1 seed at the 2022 NCAA Tournament. Arizona’s guards were unable to do much of anything in the final eight minutes of a supreme implosion against 15th-seeded Princeton in this year’s edition of March Madness.

The Wildcats are going to get better at this position. That’s not good news for USC or anyone else in the Pac-12.

USC guard Reese Dixon-Waters is transferring. Is that the same as this Arizona move with Kriisa? Maybe.

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BRACKET BUSTER: Twitter reacts to No. 15 Princeton upsetting No. 2 Arizona

Welcome to March Sadness. The No. 15 Princeton Tigers busted everybody’s March Madness brackets by upsetting the No. 2 Arizona Wildcats on Thursday in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament.

No. 13 Furman beating No. 4 Virginia wasn’t enough madness for Thursday’s opening day of the NCAA Tournament as the No. 15 Princeton Tigers out of the Ivy League upset the No. 2 ranked Arizona Wildcats 59-55.

Coming into the NCAA Tournament, the Wildcats were coming off a Pac-12 championship and were among the popular picks to make a deep run in the tournament to the Final Four and potentially even a National Championship winning run. Now, like most brackets, that idea has been busted.

Princeton came in with a fantastic defensive game plan, not allowing Arizona to get any strong looks from beyond the arc, and played suffocating defense within the perimeter. The Wildcats shot 42.1% from the floor in the game but were just 3-for-16 from three-point range. After averaging over 80 points per game this season, the Wildcats’ 55 points on Thursday was their season low.

The Princeton Tigers will now move on to the Round of 32 to take on the Missouri Tigers on Saturday. Missouri moved on earlier on Thursday with a 76-65 win over the Utah State Aggies.

This of course isn’t the first time that Princeton has found itself in the NCAA Tournament spotlight. The Tigers back in 1996 as a No. 13 seed upset the No. 4 seeded UCLA Bruins in the Round of 64 by a final score of 43-41. The Bruins were at the time the defending national champions.

Notably, current Princeton head coach Mitch Henderson was a starting guard on that 1995-1996 Princeton team.

Arizona, USC’s next opponent, stuns No. 14 UCLA with amazing late rally

Arizona, down 11 with 4:49 left, used an 11-0 run to force OT and beat UCLA. USC faces the U of A on Sunday.

The USC Trojans host the Arizona Wildcats on Sunday afternoon in the Galen Center. They know they will be in for a battle.

USC’s identity is built on toughness and defense. So is Arizona’s. The Wildcats looked dead in the water at UCLA on Friday night in Pauley Pavilion, but they never gave up the fight. They trailed UCLA 61-50 with 4:49 left in regulation. All hope seemed lost for the school which reached the 2021 national championship game and narrowly lost to Stanford.

Arizona didn’t take the hint. The Wildcats refused to call it a night.

Coach Adia Barnes’ team didn’t allow another point in that final 4:49 of regulation. The Wildcats pieced together several scoring possessions and tied the game on a Lauren Fields 3-pointer with 1:08 left. Arizona got multiple defensive stops in the final minute and denied the Bruins on what could have been a game-deciding possession with three seconds left.

The U of A took the game into overtime, scored the first four points of the extra period, and hit four clutch free throws in the final 10 seconds for a 71-66 win over the stunned Bruins.

UCLA scored a total of five points in the last 9:49 of the game — 4:49 in regulation, all five minutes in overtime. Arizona’s crunch-time defense was simply phenomenal.

The result pushes UCLA to sixth place in the Pac-12. Arizona and USC are now tied for fourth behind first-place Stanford, second-place Utah, and third-place Colorado, which all won their Friday games. The winner of Sunday’s Arizona-USC game will have the inside track to a first-round bye at the Pac-12 Tournament.

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An inside look into Arizona football’s 2023 schedule

Can the Arizona Wildcats make a bowl game in 2023? It would be their first since 2017.

The Pac-12 football season will be difficult from beginning to end. USC, UCLA, Oregon, Washington, and Utah will likely remain at the top of the conference.

One team who is a question mark is the Arizona Wildcats. Jayden de Laura played well at QB in Jedd Fisch’s second season, and the talent in the desert is getting better.

Jon Wilner of The Mercury News detailed each teams schedule with some notes, and Arizona has a difficult beginning to Pac-12 Conference play:

“Year Three of the Jedd Fisch era is all about navigating the start of league play,” Wilner wrote. “Three of the first four games are on the road (Stanford, USC and Washington State), and the lone home date is Washington. If the Wildcats manage to split that quartet — and handle their business against NAU and UTEP — then Arizona’s first bowl berth since 2017 should follow later in the season.”

Arizona improved dramatically in Fisch’s second year, and if things go right, the Wildcats should finally be able to get back to a bowl game in 2023.

Jedd Fisch has done a terrific job in Arizona, and despite a rough three-game stretch to begin the season, there should be high hopes for the Wildcats and their fans.

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Arizona standout WR Dorian Singer heads to USC; Trojans find their Jordan Addison replacement

Arizona star WR Dorian Singer torched the Trojans on Oct. 29. Lincoln Riley now has Singer on his roster and will design plays for him in 2023. Good luck, #Pac12 defenses.

The USC Trojans continue to steal talent away from the Pac-12 on the recruiting front.

Last week, it was Arizona DL Kyon Barrs who came to Los Angeles, offering a big-time boost to the Trojans’ defensive line.

On Monday, Arizona transfer receiver Dorian Singer announced his decision to head to the USC Trojans and play with Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams and head coach Lincoln Riley. Singer posted a picture on his Twitter account, confirming what is a massive get for the Trojans.

With Jordan Addison heading for the NFL draft, the Trojans wasted no time in landing another top-end wide receiver to give Williams and the offense in 2023 as they push for a College Football Playoff spot. We could compare Addison and Singer in various ways, and maybe some people would say that Addison is actually better, but that’s frankly beside the point. Singer is genuinely an elite receiver with top-tier playmaking ability. If there is any gap between him and Addison in terms of quality, it certainly isn’t very much. Singer will be a total headache for opposing Pac-12 secondaries next season. Lincoln Riley getting to design plays for him will be a funhouse experience for the USC coach. Fans are going to get some popcorn moments on the field, much as Jordan Addison delivered this past season.

The sophomore led the Wildcats in yards with 1,105 receiving yards on 66 catches and six touchdowns. One of his best games of the year came against USC, in which he had seven grabs for 141 yards and three scores. This is also the third Arizona transfer to head to USC in the past week.

Singer is an electric talent. The 6-foot-1, 195-pound transfer should immediately become a top receiving option for Williams and the USC offense regardless of how the rest of the portal period goes.

The transfer portal is heating up, and after an 11-2 season and a trip to the Cotton Bowl, the Trojans are once again a popular option for some of the best players in the country.

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