The University of Arizona Alumnus / Winter 2010

Rolla’ Coaster ride

by Tom Danehy
Jacob Chinn photos

For the rest of time, University of Arizona senior point guard Nic Wise will be the answer to a “killer” trivia question: Who is the only Wildcat ever to play for Lute Olson and Sean Miller? Wise will forever be the only player to have bridged that gap.

Wise thinks that’s cool, but he’s aiming for what he considers to be a much more significant distinction. He wants to be the only player in NCAA history to take a school to four consecutive NCAA Tournaments under four different coaches.

Actually, it’s pretty easy to ascertain that Wise is in a unique position. The majority of people who play college basketball never go to even one NCAA Tournament. The odds of going to two, three, or even four in a row increase exponentially, although they are mitigated by the fact that some powerhouse programs enjoy long streaks of consecutive Tournament trips (the UA’s current streak of 25-straight appearances is the second-longest in NCAA history, behind North Carolina’s record of 27). That, in turn, is mitigated in the other direction by the fact that, these days, players in the aforementioned high-level programs rarely stay in school for four years.

While the odds are currently incalculable, the feat is not impossible. As far as Nic Wise is concerned, it’s like what “Lloyd Christmas” (of Dumb and Dumber) said to “Mary,” “So you’re telling me there’s a chance. Yeah!”

To be sure, this is not what Wise signed up for. After a stellar career at Kingwood High School in Houston, where he won more games than any other prep hoopster in Texas history, he was named the state’s co-Mr. Basketball for the 5A. The next step was logical. Recruited to Arizona by then-assistant coach Josh Pastner (who also attended Kingwood), Wise would play in a storied program for a Hall-of-Fame coach at a school known all over the basketball world as Point Guard U. He would follow in the footsteps of Steve Kerr, Damon Stoudamire, Mike Bibby, and Jason Gardner, carving out his own niche, taking his shots at an NCAA crown, and preparing himself for what is tritely known these days as “the next level.”

However, as Wise says, “Sometimes things don’t work out the way you thought they would.”

After serving an apprenticeship as a freshman, Wise was ready to fight for a spot in the backcourt that featured hotshot newcomer Jarryd Bayless. But then suddenly, Wise (along with the rest of the Wildcat basketball universe) was rocked by the announcement that Olson was “stepping away” from his coaching duties for an indefinite period of time. Assistant coach Kevin O’Neill, who had been with Olson during the Wildcats’ initial rise to national prominence in the late 1980s, had been brought back in May 2007 after four-straight disappointing NCAA finishes (including the legendary collapse against Illinois in the 2005 Elite Eight).

The fiery O’Neill assumed the head coaching duties and led Wise and the Wildcats on a rollercoaster ride of improbable wins and frustrating losses. The ’Cats lost almost as many games as they won and failed to win 20 games for the first time since Sean Elliott was a sophomore.

“That was something,” recalls Wise. “You know, parents and coaches will tell you that it’s a valuable lesson to play for all different kinds of coaches, to learn how to adjust. It was definitely educational.”

The following year, Olson said he was coming back and Wise felt that his dream had been delayed and not denied. But then, just days before the ’Cats first game, Olson announced his permanent retirement and was replaced by Russ Pennell, who had previously been an assistant coach at (gasp!) Arizona State.

Pennell turned out to be a breath of fresh air, coaching the squad like he was taking a one-time joy ride in a Ferrari. He handed the reins over to Wise and watched as the point guard ran a show that produced NCAA All-America honors for wing player Chase Budinger (now with the Houston Rockets) and big-man Jordan Hill (now with the New York Knicks).

“That was fun,” says Wise. “(Coach Pennell) believed in us and he helped make it a successful season. With all the stuff that had gone on, it could have been a disaster.”

Instead, the ’Cats again returned to the 20-win plateau and again made the NCAA Tournament. The fact that they were a Number-12 seed showed that they were one of the last teams selected by the committee, but that didn’t matter. The selection of the ’Cats turned out to be a brilliant one as Arizona reached the Sweet 16 — the only Pac-10 team to do so. In the first two rounds of the tournament, Wise made a national name for himself. Playing 75 out of 80 minutes, he poured in 50 points in the two games (29 against Utah and 21 against Cleveland State) and added 10 assists and six rebounds in those games. In tournament play, things often come down to free-throw shooting and Wise was up to the challenge. He shot a stunning 17-17 in those first two games, including several clutch shots down the stretch.

Despite a loss to Louisville in the round of 16, the season was considered a huge success and Wise got his share of the credit. But with Budinger and Hill moving on to the NBA, Wise faced a tough choice. He tiptoed up the proverbial testing waters, received a somewhat measured and tepid response from those who are in positions to know about such things, and then decided to return to Arizona for his senior year.

Having played for the four different coaches, Wise was given a few categories in which to compare the men.

Once Wise made the decision to return, there was no second-guessing, no looking back.

“I dedicated myself to making this a special year. Of course, there’s the tournament thing — I’d really like to go to the NCAAs for four straight years — but I’d also like to be a (cornerstone) of what Coach Miller is building here. He knows where he is and he knows what people expect. He doesn’t want us to take even a small step back. He wants us to start up high and go even higher.

“That’s what I want, too.”

The Story Behind the Name: Book?

by Steve Rivera

Emmanuel “Book’’ Richardson always knew he wanted to be a coach. “I’ve coached all my life, being on the court since I was 10, 11, 12,” he says, playing point guard on the playgrounds of Queens, N.Y. “I always felt that I was a coach on the court.”

Point guards usually know where they’re headed, in part because they’re always thinking one step ahead of the game. Richardson’s game took him to the University of Pittsburgh-Johnstown, where he played ball and graduated in 1998.

Just a handful of years ago he was coaching at Marist College, a small school in Poughkeepsie, N.Y.; three years ago, he was guiding the high-school kids on an AAU team to a Cactus Classic title in McKale Center.

For a point guard, the next play is always a big play, and Richardson’s next move was huge. Now he’s a crucial part the University of Arizona men’s basketball program, as Coach Sean Miller’s right-hand man and assistant coach.

“It’s kind of been a meteoric rise,” he acknowledges. “There are times I realize I was just here winning a tournament with the AAU team.” The UA and Tucson have a feeling plenty of winning will be the norm. The Wildcats are giddy for Miller & Co., including an assistant with the nickname of Book.

“My grandma and mom gave it to me,” he says. “When I was 8 months old I’d always play with my grandmother’s pocketbook.’’

It was shortened to Book and that’s what’s stuck.

What better place for him than the University of Arizona? After all, it’s one of the better college basketball programs in the country. Richardson marvels that “every time I am on the road recruiting, I compete with the likes of Carolina, Kansas, and the UCLAs of the world.”

He likes to call the big-time teams the Big Blues of the college basketball world. He might as well call them the royal Bluebloods.

“Look at the programs that have been very good over the last two decades and its Carolina and its powder blue; Duke and its royal blue; Arizona and its blue,” he says, referring to Arizona’s navy blue away-game uniforms. “Kansas has its blue. Florida, UConn…”

With his recruiting ties and affable style — East-Coast toughness meets West-Coast cool — he’s destined to be a head coach somewhere, someday.

“If someone has tagged me as a future star I appreciate it,” he says. “But it’s tough to look at it like that. We haven’t done anything yet (at Arizona).”

He’s thrilled to be here, even if he’s a fish-out-of-water New Yorker still adjusting to the desert.

“You don’t realize that being in Tucson — and this coming from a guy from New York — I pinch myself. No one could have scripted this. And I’m thankful for the opportunity.’’

He knows the impact that the brand — Arizona — has on players and potential student-athletes.

“This is the point-guard capital of the world,” he points out. “If you are a point guard, why wouldn’t you want to go to the University of Arizona? There have been some special things done here, especially under coach Lute Olson.”

By any name, his ability to coach and perhaps more importantly, to teach, is his way of giving back.

“I’ve always known that I could never repay any one of my coaches for the time they’ve put in to help me,” he says.

He tries to instill their beliefs and philosophies in his players, helping them to become better players and better people. It’s the shaping of young men and the molding of young minds.

“That’s the most rewarding part of the job,” he says. “When you see a guy who you’ve coached and he says, ‘Thanks a lot for putting me in a situation to be successful,’ that means a lot. That’s something that I’ve always cherished.”

Holiday Bowl Blues

by Tom Danehy
J and L Photography

The rain that fell on Qualcomm Stadium during the game — a fine mist at first that turned into a steady shower — was actually quite refreshing. (Thus ends the “accentuate the positive” portion of our report on the Pacific Life Holiday Bowl that pitted the Arizona Wildcats against the Nebraska Cornhuskers.)

The game itself, a 33-0 Nebraska victory, was an almost surreal ending to a season that was otherwise outstanding and one that far exceeded just about everybody’s modest expectations. Coming off their first bowl season in a decade, the Wildcats were expected to take a step back before resuming their climb toward the upper level of the Pac-10. The 2009 Pac-10 media poll had Arizona picked to finish eighth in the conference, with an overall mark of 4-8 or 5-7 and no more than three conference wins.

But there they were at the end of the regular season, a shiny 8-4 overall, in the national polls, and in second place in the tough Pac-10. Not only that, they were a bad call at Washington, a bizarre double-pass play at Cal, and a premature rush of the field by the zany Zona Zoo against Oregon from running the conference table, being a top-10 team, and going to their first-ever Rose Bowl. Even when all the exasperating “what-ifs” were factored in, Arizona still had an incredible season and the consolation prize for their runner-up finish was a not-too-shabby trip to San Diego and a spot in the prestigious Holiday Bowl.

Many people around the UA and Tucson consider San Diego something of a home away from home, especially in the brutal summer months of July and August. For a couple of Wildcat sports teams, it was none too hospitable in December. First off, the men’s basketball team got thumped by the San Diego State Aztecs. In the stands during that game, a home-team fan took a shot at first-year Coach Sean Miller’s young hoops team as he held up a sign that read, “What’s It Like to Go to a Football School?”

A couple weeks later, the Holiday Bowl happened. “It was very strange,” says Alan Moghaddam, a bio-chem junior. “I was at the Oregon game, where the entire stadium was electric from start to finish. This game just seemed to lack energy. The (quick score by Nebraska) at the start of the game took us fans out of the game. Then they scored some more, and then it rained …” His voice trails off, signaling a hope for a change of subject.

Quarterback Nick Foles, who had taken over at starting QB after a loss at Iowa and then engineered big wins at Oregon State and USC, as well as a home-win over Stanford, threw two incomplete passes and then had a soft floater intercepted and returned to near the goal line. Nebraska punched it in shortly thereafter.

Not surprisingly, Nebraska’s defense — one of the best in the country — made things difficult for the ’Cats. However, quite surprisingly, Nebraska’s offense — one of the worst in the country — ran right through Arizona pretty much all night.

UA Coach Mike Stoops apologized after the game, claiming that the game was over before it even started and taking the blame for not having the team prepared. “It’s my fault,” he said simply.

The bowl loss will sting for a while, but as time passes, it should ease when taken in context with what was otherwise an amazing season. From a perspective of just a few years ago, the thought of playing the Big 12 runner-up in the Holiday Bowl would have been three levels beyond a lofty goal. Now, it’s a disappointment. It’s also a catalyst for even more improvement next year, when the ’Cats have a favorable nonconference schedule (including Iowa at home), and then open conference play with three of the season’s first four Pac-10 games to be played at Arizona Stadium.

There was one highlight for the ’Cats in the game. With 1:41 left in the game, Arizona had a fourth-and-three at the Nebraska eight-yard line. Coach Stoops could have called for a field goal to avoid the shutout, but the ’Cats went for it.

That’s what winners do, even when they’re losing.

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