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Meteoric rise of UA program caught everyone by surprise

ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥â€™s women’s basketball team won its 20th game Friday night and is ranked No. 12. Across the last 13 months, they have broken every attendance record in school history. In that period, 26-4 overall, the UA’s only losses were against No. 3 Oregon, No. 7 UCLA and No. 11 Oregon State.

You can’t make this stuff up. The Wildcats are solidly positioned to be a host to the first and second rounds of the NCAA Tournament next month.

“These are situations I didn’t think we’d be in this year,� UA coach Adia Barnes said Friday.

If you step back from what Barnes calls “the climbâ€� and put some perspective into her 3½-year journey as ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥â€™s head coach, it is almost unfathomable.

In the 10 seasons previous to Barnes’ arrival at McKale Center — 2006-07 through 2015-16 — ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ had the third worst league record of all schools in Power 5 conference women’s basketball..

Alabama, 28-126 in the SEC.

Clemson, 31-122 in the ACC.

ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥, 41-139 in the Pac-12.

It’s head-shaking that Alabama and Clemson, the two most powerful football schools in college sports — those with athletic department budgets reaching $200 million — share such a dubious neighborhood with a mid-level athletic department like ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥.

They have nothing and everything in common.

The Tigers and Crimson Tide could pay a ransom to hire a big-name coach to change the trajectory of their women’s basketball programs. Obviously, by their inaction, it suggests that basketball women’s basketball isn’t a priority.

I don’t think former UA athletic director Greg Byrne hired Barnes from the staff at Washington with the idea she could turn ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥â€™s women’s basketball program into anything close to a Top-25 program, challenging the Pac-12’s traditional women’s basketball powers.

I suspect Byrne just wanted to stop the embarrassment.

Barnes didn’t see this coming, either.

Five years ago this month, Barnes was on Mike Neighbors’ staff at Washington, sweeping ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ by a combined 38 points. A month later, Washington would be in the Final Four, basking in the glow of the nation’s top women’s basketball player, Kelsey Plum.

On Friday, ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ completed its first season sweep of Washington since 2011. Everything has changed, but Barnes insists this wasn’t any type of career vision.

In 2016, Barnes was in her fifth year as a UW assistant. She was just 39.

Coming to the rescue of her alma mater? It didn’t enter her mind.

“I had just had a baby and my focus was to be the best assistant coach I could be,â€� she said after ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ drew a crowd of 6,381 Friday, a significant achievement on Valentine’s Day. “I really didn’t see myself not at Washington.â€�

She smiled and said “now I’m in a better place.�

Coming to a theatre near you: The Kerri Strug story

Hollywood actress and director Olivia Wilde last week announced she has secured financing and approved a script to proceed with the production of a movie on ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥â€™s Kerri Strug, sweetheart of the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

Wilde was inspired by reading Strug’s biography “Landing on My Feet, a Diary of Dreams.� Casting for the movie is in progress.

“It’s a film about what willpower looks like,� Wilde told Hollywood reporters. “It is an excruciatingly beautiful underdog story.�

No kidding.

After Strug seriously injured her ankle in vaulting competition on the final day of team competition, she limped to the runway. A gold medal was in the balance; Team USA had never won a gold medal in Olympics team competition.

You’ve probably seen the replay100 times. Strug stuck it. A few minutes later coach Bela Karolyi carried her to the medal stand to receive a gold medal. I watched from the press box at the Georgia Dome that day, sitting next to a reporter from the Kansas City Star who couldn’t stop crying.

“It is an epic sports movie that will deliver on all wish-fulfillment,� said Wilde.

Strug, 42, is married to ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ attorney Robert Fischer and has two young children, Tyler, 7, and Alayna, 6. It has been almost a quarter-century since the graduate of Green Fields Country Day School was on the cover of Sports Illustrated, featured on the front of Wheaties boxes and shared an audience with President Clinton.

Wilde estimated that the movie is likely to be in theaters by the summer of 2021.

This and that: For Verdugo, trip to Boston was hint of what was to come

Before Sahuaro High School grad Alex Verdugo was traded to the Boston Red Sox last week, he accompanied the Los Angeles Dodgers for a three-game series at Fenway Park a few days after the All-Star Game last year. Verdugo went 4 for 9 with a home run. While at the iconic ballpark, Verdugo was featured in a Dodgers-produced video in which he was given entrance to the inside of the Green Monster in left field. He wrote his initials on the wall, as hundreds of MLB players have done. Using a magic market, Verdugo put his jersey number, 27, followed by “2019 LAD.� Now he’s likely to be Boston’s starting left fielder.

Hillenbrand continues to show why it's a marquee venue in college softball

I took a self-guided tour of Hillenbrand Stadium early Saturday morning as the Bryant-Northern Iowa game was in session, part of the ongoing Hillenbrand Invitational. As impressive as the $8-million makeover was during the 2019 season, UA athletic director Dave Heeke took it to another level in the offseason. Full-color murals of ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥â€™s four NCAA players of the year, another of coach Mike Candrea being honored on the occasion of his 1,500th career victory, and a massive reproduction of an on-field celebration after a game-winning home run are eye-catching.

The UA also painted pennants of its eight NCAA championship seasons above the skyboxes on the first base line. If there is a better softball stadium in America, I’d like to see it. The Team USA 2020 Olympic softball team will play an exhibition game at Hillenbrand on Tuesday at 7 p.m. Nine of the Olympians played at Hillenbrand during their college days.

More Candrea: His No. 4-ranked team has played close games with non-traditional schools Northern Iowa, Long Beach State and Seattle already this season. He isn’t surprised. “There’s more parity and more (prospects) to choose from,� he said Tuesday. “Twenty years ago, the finances weren’t there for people to really get out and recruit. This is a result of the growth of the sport. Administrations are putting more money into softball.�

JuCo pitcher shines in UA debut

ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ baseball coach Jay Johnson started junior college transfer Garrett Irvin in Friday’s season opener, a victory over Albany. It’s rare that a pitcher straight from JC — Irvin went to Riverside City College — can command the No. 1 starter’s role at ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥. Over the past 70 years, ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ has had five opening-day type JC pitchers, including major-leaguers Carl Thomas, Scott Erickson and Gil Heredia, plus 1986 College World Series champion Gary Alexander and former Salpointe Catholic standout Mike Crawford. If Irvin is as good as he has looked so far — he struck out six in his five-inning victory Friday at Hi Corbett Field — the offense-blessed Wildcats could challenge ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ State for the Pac-12 championship.

Sunnyside wrestling captures 33rd state title

Sunnyside High School won the Division II state championship in wrestling Friday in Prescott Valley, which qualifies as sun-rises-in-the-East news in ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥. It was the Blue Devils’ 33rd state championship, easily the No. 1 sports dynasty in ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ prep sports history. Coach Anthony Leon, winning his third consecutive state title, has proved worthy of a place in the coaching lore of Blue Devil wrestling, joining predecessors Don Klostreich, Richard Sanchez and Bobby DeBerry. Sunnyside’s 2020 champs were so good that six wrestlers won individual state titles: undefeated Jesse Ybarra, 37-0, along with James Williams-Armstrong, Job Lee, Jaime Rivera, Sebastian Robles and Fernando Villascusa.

ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ native Justice Summerset one step closer to Olympic statusÌý

UA senior Justice Summerset, a former state champ and state record holder from Mountain View High School, cleared 7-feet 3¾ inches Friday in a track and field invitational at Texas Tech. It wasn’t Summerset’s best-ever jump; he cleared 7-4ƒ at the NCAA finals in 2019, finishing third in the nation to become a first team All-American. But what Summerset’s performance Friday establishes is that he’s in the picture to make the USA Olympic team this summer. He was one of 16 Americans to clear 7-4 last year; the leader, Shelby McEwen of Alabama, jumped 7-7. Summerset is now coached by the UA’s Sheldon Blockburger, who is among the elite high jump coaches in the world, coaching UA All-Americans Nick Ross,Karla Teran, Liz Patterson and 2012 Olympic silver medalist Brigetta Barrett.

UA golf teams continue to improve in spring season

Coach Jim Anderson‘s ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥â€™s men’s golf team has soared to No. 6 in the newÌýÌýrankings, by far the highest ranking for a UA men’s golf team in 15 years. Junior Trevor Werbylo, from Salpointe Catholic, has climbed to No. 25 overall in men’s college golf. ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ travels to the John Burns Invitational in Hawaii this week, traditionally one of the strongest fields of the season.

Coach Laura Ianello’s UA women’s golf team, ranked No. 11 nationally, played without All-American prospects Vivian Hou, Yu-Sang Hou and Ya Chun Chang last week and finished an unexpected 13th at the Northrup Grumman Invitational in Los Angeles. What happened? The Hou sisters and Chang all were invited to Phoenix to the world headquarters of golf manufacturer PXG so they could be fitted for new golf clubs. PXG has been good to ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥â€™s women’s golf team, signing two-time All-Pac-12 golfer Haley Moore, now on the LPGA Tour, to represent their brand. ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ is expected to have its regular lineup for a March 2-4 tournament in South Florida.

ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ Rodeo again has all the big names

In its previous 94 years, La Fiesta de los Vaqueros — the ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ Rodeo — never missed a beat when it came to putting the sport’s biggest names on a ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ stage: Jim Shoulders, Ty Murray, Casey Tibbs, Larry Mahan, you name it.

Eight world champions are expected at the ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ Rodeo Grounds this week, including Taos Muncy, Clayton Bigelow, Jacob Crawley, Jesse Cruz, Tim O’Connell and Jesse Wright, one of the famous “Wright Brothersâ€� from Southern Utah, who have dominated the PRCA circuit the last few years.

The rodeo is filled with so many top performers that Tuesday’s competition in Slack — which isn’t typically a day 10,000 people fill the bleachers — comes off as a don’t-miss day.

Tuesday’s performers will include Marana’s four-time world champion barrel racer Sherry Cervi, and her husband, Cory Petska, a multi-time National Finals Rodeo performer in tie-down roping. Marana’s Joseph Parsons, also a NFR veteran, will compete in tie-down roping as will ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥an Cesar de la Cruz, a nine-time NFR finalist.

Jake Barnes — which for my money is about the best rodeo name ever — made his first appearance at the ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ Rodeo in the 1970s. He is now 61 and a 27-time NFR contestant and world champion. He will also be part of Tuesday’s Slack event.

Pretty impressive.

My two cents: NCAA continues to throw money at coaches while ignoring athletes

The NCAA last week lobbied Congress for an antitrust exemption, hopeful it can avoid or greatly limited the names-image-likeness movement that would allow college athletics to be paid for endorsing products.

That rings so hollow it’s sick. The NCAA has never asked Congress to act in concert to limit its bloated salaries, excessive staff rosters, 5-star hotel stays, first-class airfare or from building its lavish facilities.

Last week, Michigan State agreed to pay former Colorado football coach Mel Tucker $5.5 million a year, which doesn’t include such unnecessary perks as a country club membership, use of two automobiles, a $2 million term life insurance policy, the use of a private jet for 25 hours per year of family travel, and even season tickets to MSU sporting events and $100,000 to wear MSU branded athletic apparel.

I’ve got nothing against Mel Tucker and don’t care how well he is compensated, but the NCAA needs to recognize it’s time to find a way to give athletes a piece of the money lavished on coaches and their staffs.