UCLA at Arizona

Remember, remember the fifth of November. Well, that was two years ago. Remember when Arizona football had a promising future and a promising head coach? Seems like a long time ago. Now that head coach is on his way to the unemployment line, the team’s top three recruits may be headed elsewhere, and Arizona football fans have once again found that even reaching mediocrity isn’t easy. This year, the third of November won’t be as memorable.

UCLA 35, Arizona 31

-Roman Veytsman
former sports editor

So Arizona plays UCLA on ABC, but honestly I’d rather watch Oregon backhand ASU. It’s laughable how it took the Hatfields and the McCoys (ESPN and FSN) to compromise to get that game some decent coverage. Preseason perception is everything, I guess. So College Gameday is back in Eugene, and at collegegameday.com, ESPN is hawking ASU shirts with the slogan “”Never Graduate.”” I get what they’re implying – really, I do – but sometimes the jokes just write themselves.

UCLA 25, Arizona 16
Oregon 42, ASU 27

-Brett Fera
former sports editor, editor in chief

Ouch! That’s the sound that both Karl Dorrell and Mike Stoops make when sitting down because their seats are so hot. Dorrell, for the first at UCLA, is not in the good graces of his AD after embarrassing loses to Utah, the Irish and Wazzu. The only thing keeping Stoops from getting the axe is the ‘Cats still have three games to play. Three losses predicted here and the ‘Cats look for a new coach, again. Is Mackovic available?

UCLA 27, Arizona 12

-Maxx Wolfson
former sports editor

How far will men’s hoops go?

The past two seasons, the Wildcats have misbehaved. So Dr. Phil (a.k.a. new assistant coach Kevin O’Neill) took them to boot camp. Can the squad be rehabilitated or will they revert to their undisciplined ways? With one of the country’s toughest schedules and the Pac-10 in one of its best years, Arizona may be better this year but will still have trouble reaching 20 wins after losing three of its top four scorers. If the B-to-B (Jerryd Bayless and Chase Budinger) connection thrives, Lute Olson will reach his 24th straight NCAA Tournament, but this is not a Final Four team by any means.

Second round of NCAA Tournament

-Roman Veytsman
former sports editor

Something became oddly apparent during the latest UA tournament flame-out last March: It’s no longer cool to be a Wildcat basketball fan. That’s OK though, because Mr. Uncool himself – in the form of the horn-rimmed-spectacled and balding Kevin O’Neill – is embracing a no-nonsense, no-fluff, no-Midnight-Madness type of approach toward figuring out what went wrong. Will it be worth his steroidal $375,000 salary? Likely in time, but a seventh seed and first-round NCAA win is it for this season.

Second-round loss
Fourth in Pac-10

-Brett Fera
former sports editor, editor in chief

My buddies and I created a stat awhile back on passes which land in the front row of seats. For the fourth consecutive year the ‘Cats led the nation. You know why? Mustafa Shakur was the one throwing them. No ‘Staf in 2007-2008 and things are looking up for Arizona. I know some aren’t sold on Bayless but anything is better than ‘Staf with the rock. I like what Kevin O’Neill brings and a second-place finish in the conference (behind UCLA) is where Arizona will land.

Elite Eight-bound

-Maxx Wolfson
former sports editor

Favorite moment

I was on the field against Washington, UCLA and Cal. I also worked the past three NCAA Tournaments, including the magical but heartbreaking run in 2005. My favorite moment, however, had less to do with the product on the field or the court than the beauty and power of college sports. I traveled to Baton Rouge for the LSU-Arizona game last year and witnessed a college football atmosphere at its finest. Now that was a day neither my liver nor Willie Tuitama’s head will ever forget.

-Roman Veytsman
former sports editor

February 2004 – I was lucky enough to cover the UA men’s hoops team in the Bay Area when not once, but twice, opposing fans rushed the court after wins. After first losing to Cal, Arizona went toe-to-toe with No. 1 Stanford at Maples Pavilion, only to fall on a 37-foot buzzer beater by the Cardinal’s Nick Robinson. Madness ensued. Tiger Woods skidded across the floor. The greatest sports moment I’ve ever seen in person, and I’m still happy Arizona lost.

-Brett Fera
former sports editor, editor in chief

Looking back, not much has changed from my answer a couple years ago. I think I wrote sitting press row for Arizona-Gonzaga in 2001, Dirtbags, Madison, Spring Training, taking the hoops team to the Zoo and any football win (not many). The Mackovic era could be my least favorite memory. With my legacy entrenched at Arizona forever – I am a founding father of the Zona Zoo, look it up. I look for all of you to use that in a trivia question one day.

-Maxx Wolfson
former sports editor