Hansen’s Sunday Notebook: Arizona-Duke series great for basketball — and Wildcats fans, too

Last week’s announcement of the renewal of a home-and-home series between Arizona and Duke came three decades after the Wildcats-Blue Devils relationship went cold.

A reconciliation was never going to happen as long as recently-retired Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski was involved.

The UA’s basketball relationship with Duke went dark after an epic four game series from 1987-1991. There was no mystery to what became a chilly feeling between Lute Olson and Krzyzewski — officiating.

In a late December 1987 game at McKale Center, won 91-85 by Arizona, the Wildcats attempted 42 free throws, Duke 14. Krzyzewski, who was assessed a technical foul by Pac-10 referee Booker Turner, famously told Sports Illustrated that “everyone in that arena was on a first-name basis with the officials.”

In a February 1990 rematch in Cameron Indoor Stadium, won 78-76 by Duke, Krzyzewski threw a memorable fit at halftime and was assessed a technical foul. It worked. ACC officials called Arizona for 13 more fouls than the Blue Devils in the second half.

But the game that probably ended the UA-Duke relationship was a February 1991 game at McKale. Working on a 60-game homecourt winning streak, Arizona won 103-96 in two overtimes. Arizona shot a ridiculous 51 free throws. Three Blue Devils, including Bobby Hurley, fouled out.

Worse, a 3-point basket late in regulation by Duke’s Greg Koubek was later ruled a 2-pointer, but not until 57 seconds later on the game clock. Officials didn’t even study the replay.

I remember Coach K walking into an interview room at McKale Center, biting off his words.

“There must have been some confusion on the scorer’s table,” he said. “But I guess they are not used to close games here.

“This was a big game; everybody should be at their best. I won’t comment any further.”

The Duke-Arizona series was good for college basketball. Arizona was ranked Nos. 1, 2, 21 and 9 in those four games. Duke was ranked Nos. 9, 9, 3 and 7. The one neutral court game, played in The Meadowlands in New Jersey, won 77-75 by Arizona in 1989, was as good as any college basketball game I’ve ever seen.

But after the officiating ruckus at McKale and at Cameron, Arizona and Duke have only met in neutral-court settings, robbing fans in Durham and Tucson of historic basketball.

Krzyzewski didn’t shut down the idea of playing home-and-home series after his Arizona experiences. He just found more suitable opponents. He played Michigan in seven home-and-home series from 1995-2013. He similarly arranged home-and-home series against Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Georgetown and Wisconsin.

But he mostly stayed away from the Pac-12; Duke played UCLA in a  series in 1996, 1997 and 1998, with two games in Los Angeles, but thereafter didn’t touch a Pac-12 opponent unless it was on a neutral court or in Durham.

It was thus encouraging last week when new Duke coach Jon Scheyer and Arizona’s second-year coach Tommy Lloyd agreed that it is good for the game — good for both schools — to do more than play walkover home non-conference games. Engaging certified top-25 opponents is what makes the game click.

Those fans who pay the toll at McKale Center have been frustrated since Sean Miller was hired in 2009. Incredibly, Miller scheduled just three nonconference home games against teams ranked in the AP Top 25 over that period: No. 5 Florida in 2012-13, No. 9 Gonzaga in 2014-15 and No. 24 UNLV in 2009-10.

You can’t bring back the good old days of college basketball in Tucson or elsewhere, but it doesn’t mean you can’t give fans a periodic reminder of how much more entertaining the game used to be.

Arizona catcher Daniel Susac last week became the 14th ballplayer from Tucson or the UA to become a first-round pick in the modern June draft, 1980-2022. Susac was selected No. 19 overall by the Oakland A’s.

It is hardly a guarantee of success.

Of that group of first-rounders, only lefty pitcher Joe Magrane, the 18th overall selection in 1985, and outfielder Terry Francona, the 22nd selection in 1980, played more than five years in the big leagues and were full-time contributors. The jury is still out on UA shortstop Kevin Newman, in his fifth year with Pittsburgh. Newman has a career batting average of .258.

None of those first-round picks from Tucson made an All-Star team.

Unlike the NBA draft, where first-round draft picks have a much higher retention rate and longer, more predictable careers, baseball prospects are a more uncertain commodity. It’s more difficult to judge how a young ballplayer will hit MLB pitching.

Francona hit .274 over 10 big league seasons in 707 games. Magrane was just 57-67 as a pitcher over eight years.

Those first-round picks from Tucson who didn’t play beyond five years in the big leagues are:

• UA pitcher Lance Dickson, No. 23 overall in 1990, oft-injured, played in just three MLB games.

• UA pitcher Ben Diggins, No. 17 overall in 2000, played in just five big league games.

• UA catcher Alan Zinter, No. 24 overall in 1989, didn’t get to the big leagues for 12 years, and played in just 67 games.

• Sahuaro High School shortstop Sammy Khalifa, No. 7 overall in 1982, played just three MLB seasons and 164 games.

• UA outfielder Trevor Crowe, No. 14 overall in 2005, played in 265 MLB games.

• UA pitcher Ryan Perry of Marana High School, No. 21 overall in 2008, went 5-6 in parts of four big-league seasons.

• UA pitcher Daniel Schlereth, No. 26 overall in 2008, played in 94 games over parts of four years.

• UA outfielder Brian Anderson of Canyon del Oro High School, No. 15 overall in 2003, played parts of five MLB seasons, hitting .227.

It is too early to tell how far UA catcher Austin Wells, picked No. 28 overall in 2020, will go. He is currently playing in Single A for the Yankees. It’s also too early to get a read on second baseman Nick Gonzales of Cienega High School, the No. 7 overall pick in 2020. He is in Single A for the Pirates.

Scouting and judging baseball prospects is incredibly difficult. The most prolific Tucsonans/Wildcats in baseball were not close to first-round picks.

Tucson High/UA catcher Ron Hassey was an 18th-round choice of Cleveland in 1976. Hassey played 14 big-league seasons and 1,192 games.

UA pitcher Mark Melancon, a ninth-round pick of the Yankees in 2005, is in his 14th season with 257 career saves.

And Canyon del Oro infielder Ian Kinsler, a 17th-round choice of Texas in 2006, played in four All-Star Games over 14 seasons with 1,999 career hits, while Rincon High School grad Tom Pagnozzi played 12 big league seasons in 927 games.

Most early indications are that Susac has the right stuff for a productive MLB career, but check back in five years.

It was strange not to see Canyon del Oro High School and ASU grad Turner Washington at the World Track and Field championships in Eugene, Oregon. Washington didn’t qualify for Team USA in either the shot put or the discus, at which he became a multiple-time All-American as a Sun Devil the last three years. A year ago, Washington won NCAA championships in the shot put and discus, but this year slumped like a pitcher who couldn’t find the strike zone. Washington had thrown the discus 208 feet but this year dropped to 176 feet in the Pac-12 meet, finishing ninth, an event he once dominated. He went from a career-best 69-5 in the shot put, at which he set an NCAA indoor record, to 60-4 this year. But Washington is only 23; his best years seem sure to come. ….

Tucsonan Dan Reynolds, who has officiated in the Olympics twice and in more than 20 NCAA track and field championships over the years, worked the World Championship meet in Oregon the last 10 days. He was joined by Tucsonan Ted Glenn, who is an assistant track coach at Catalina Foothills High School. Reynolds, who was inducted into the Pima County Sports Hall of Fame in 2010, was the 2007 national track official of the year by the USA Track and Field association. …

Clark Crist, a Palo Verde High School and UA grad, the starting shortstop on Arizona’s 1980 NCAA championship baseball team, has a little touch of home while managing the Appalachian League Pulaski River Turtles this season. Crist was a shortstop at Pima College in the late 1970s and now has two former Pima College players on his roster in Virginia: shortstop Romeo Ballesteros of Salpointe Catholic High School, who is hitting .286, and pitcher Noah Estrella of Flowing Wells High School, who has pitched 16 innings in Pulaski. Both plan to play at New Mexico State next season. NMSU had eight players from Tucson last season during which they reached the NCAA Regionals. The Aggies’ top pitcher, Ian Mejia of Sahuarita High School, struck out 102 batters in 115 innings and last week was selected in the 11th round of the MLB draft by the Atlanta Braves. ….

The NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers have a distinct Tucson feel to their organization. Catalina Foothills High School grad Matt Brase is an assistant coach and UA grad Mike Schmitz, who used to be a writer for the Daily Wildcat, was hired last month as Portland’s assistant general manager. Schmitz will be used to evaluate talent both in America and internationally. Schmitz and Brase, who played at the UA in the early 2000s, are joined in Portland by UA grad Rahsaan Gethers, who was hired in May as Portland’s vice-president of communications. Gethers had worked for the Denver Nuggets and Sacramento Kings before moving to the Trail Blazers.

Pat Darcy, president of the Pima County Sports Hall of Fame last week announced that Tucson’s two Final Four basketball referees, Bob Scofield and Rincon High School grad Chris Rastatter, have been selected for induction to the Class of 2022. Scofield and Rastatter will be honored at a November banquet at the DoubleTree Hotel. Scofield, who has officiated Pac-12 women’s basketball games for more than 20 years, got his start officiating high school and junior college basketball in Southern Arizona. He has worked 20 consecutive NCAA tournaments. Rastatter has a streak of more than 20 years working NCAA Tournament games and has been one of the lead officials in Pac-12 men’s basketball for two decades. He was selected to officiate the 2021 Final Four. …

Arizona football coach Jedd Fisch has not been slow in including five-star freshman receiving prospect Tetairoa McMillan to the community. Last week, McMillan was a guest of the Sunnyside High School football program and the Southern Arizona Chapter of the National Football Foundation, speaking to Blue Devils players about what it takes to get the most out of your high school football days. Fisch’s community outreach also included speaking appearances at Cholla High School and Cienega High School last week. UA sophomore lineman Jordan Morgan of Marana High School spoke to the football players and staff at Cienega, while Christian Young, who is from Texas, spoke to the staff and players of coach Virgil Henderson’s team at Cholla. Under previous coaching regimes, local high school players rarely got a sniff from the UA football program. …

Arizona baseball coach Chip Hale lost power hitters Tanner O’Tremba (drafted by San Francisco last week) and Noah Turley (transferred to Oklahoma State) recently; they combined to hit 18 homers and drive in 88 runs last season. But it looks like NJCAA All-American first baseman Kiko Romero, who hit 25 homers last season for national champion Central Arizona College, will follow through with his plans to play for his hometown school. Romero, of Canyon del Oro High School, did not get drafted last week and remains with the summer Western Collegiate league Corvallis Knights in Oregon. Romero has hit five homers for Corvallis this summer.

The Pac-12 did the right thing recently when it removed UCLA athletic director Martin Jarmond from his position on the coveted NCAA men’s basketball selection committee, choosing to hand that role to Arizona AD Dave Heeke.

It’s the first glimpse of the type of reception USC and UCLA will receive during their final two years in the Pac-12, one that should become manifest at the league’s football media days this week in Los Angeles.

It’s also a well-deserved honor to Heeke, who previously served as chairman of the NCAA baseball selection committee.

Arizona has a legacy inside the NCAA basketball committee like few in college basketball history. Previous UA ADs Cedric Dempey and Jim Livengood became chairman of the basketball committee and former Arizona AD Greg Byrne, now at Alabama, is serving on the committee, working his way to chairmanship in four years.

Heeke recently spent a weekend with the basketball committee in Florida, determining future ticketing, broadcast and media issues and the men’s Final Four site selection process, which is scheduled to conclude with the announcement of the 2027-2031 sites in November.