Friday, April 19, 2019
The first segment of Friday's show breaks down the day's news that Sean Miller and LSU coach Will Wade will not testify in the trial of Christian Dawkins, and the news' impact on the Arizona program.
The second segment covers the Arizona Wildcats' 18-game win streak in softball and Mike Candrea going for his 1,600th win at Arizona.
The third segment breaks down the Tucson Roadrunners' record-breaking attendance and their season finale loss to the San Diego Gulls, which cost them a spot in the AHL Playoffs.
Finally, the duo discuss the New York Times' story on Colorado football, and whether football's physicality and danger can mesh with collegiate athletics.
Tune in each Friday for a new episode of the Weekly's only sports podcast, at TucsonWeekly.com.
Tags: Sean Miller , Will Wade , FBI , Christian Dawkins , Arizona Wildcats , Taylor McQuillin , Mike Candrea , Stanford Cardinal , UCLA Bruins , Washington Huskies , NCAA Softball , Tucson Roadrunners , AHL Hockey , Tucson Arena , Colorado Buffaloes , Boulder , Image
Monday, April 15, 2019
The Tucson Roadrunners' task in Saturday’s regular season finale was a seemingly easy one: win or lose in overtime to reach the American Hockey League’s playoffs for a second straight season.
Unfortunately for the home side, the finale was not a case of fait accompli, falling to the San Diego Gulls, 4-3.
The team’s fate was sealed on a dazzling second period goal by Gulls forward Sam Carrick, who rushed past a host of Tucson defenders for the go-ahead tally.
That mark, which gave San Diego a 2-1 edge, was the straw that broke the Roadrunners’ back, giving an announced sellout crowd of 6,521 little to cheer about on Fan Appreciation Night.
Tucson entered the AHL’s final day of the regular season needing a win or an overtime loss against the Gulls to get to the postseason, as would a loss by the Colorado Eagles.
The latter option fell off the table midway through Saturday’s contest, as the Eagles held on to beat the San Jose Barracuda, 3-2.
That victory left little wiggle room for Jay Varady’s Roadrunners, especially after the Gulls jumped out to a lead on Ben Street’s goal just over four minutes into the second period.
The Roadrunners’ fate improved early in the third period, when Nick Merkley charged down the ice to block an open net opportunity for the Gulls.
That play came after goalie Adin Hill, who saved 16 of San Diego’s shots, misplayed a puck deep in Tucson’s zone, shoveling the puck right onto the stick of a Gulls forward.
Tucson’s newfound luck reached its apex when forward Conor Garland was able to beat San Diego goalie Jeff Glass to pull the Roadrunners within two with just under 14 minutes to play.
Garland added another tally with 74 seconds to play, converting a goal from just outside the crease to pull the home side within one, 4-3.
Tags: Tucson Roadrunners , Jay Varady , Conor Garland , Tucson Arena , American Hockey League , Image
Friday, April 12, 2019
Co-hosts Christopher Boan and Tyler Vondrak break down whether coach Adia Barnes should get a hefty salary bump this offseason and whether the Wildcats can continue their recent run in the 2019-20 regular season.
The dynamic duo also discuss Monday's NCAA Championship game between Virginia and Texas Tech and UCLA's decision to hire former Cincinnati head coach Mick Cronin in the second segment.
Friday's final segment breaks down Arizona's men's basketball outlook, now that five-star recruits Nico Mannion and Josh Green are headlining what is currently the number-one recruiting class in the nation, according to ESPN.
Tune in each Friday to hear the Weekly's sports podcast, as Boan and Vondrak drop the latest sports information, only on TucsonWeekly.com.
Tags: Tucson , Weekly , All Bets Are On , Adia Barnes , McKale Center , Sean Miller , Mick Cronin , UCLA Bruins , Pac-12 , Nico Mannion , Josh Green , Image
Monday, April 8, 2019
Streams of red and blue confetti rained onto the court of the McKale Center as a heap of Arizona Wildcats let out primal screams of jubilation Saturday afternoon.
The joyous scene was the net result of six wins by the Arizona Wildcats’ women’s basketball team (24-13, 7-11) over the course of the 16-day Women’s National Invitational Tournament.
That final victory, which came the afternoon of April 6 against the Wildcats of Northwestern University, capped off the school’s second championship at the postseason event.
The 56-42 win in the WNIT championship round featured a sellout crowd of 14,644—the first in program history.
It was a victory that came on the heels of triumphs over the likes of Idaho State, Pacific, Idaho, Wyoming and Texas Christian University.
It was a win that third-year coach Adia Barnes built her program to achieve, setting a high bar for a squad that returns all five of its starters next season.
Barnes said this year’s team, which was picked to finish 10th in the Pac-12 preseason media poll, has forever changed the narrative around women’s basketball in Tucson.
“I think everything happens for a reason, I think you’re put in situations for a reason, there’s always a bigger plan, so it’s probably meant to be,” Barnes said. “I mean, this is a pretty good story, it’s a story I like, and I think it’s magical.”
Tags: Arizona , Wildcats , WNIT , Adia Barnes , Tucson , McKale Center , Northwestern Wildcats , BIG 10 , Aari McDonald , Dominique McBryde , Joe McKeown , Pac-12 , Image
Friday, April 5, 2019
The duo discuss Adia Barnes' squad, breaking down their prospects in Saturday's WNIT championship game against Northwestern.
They then discuss whether the Wildcats can contend for a Pac-12 title in 2020, and whether guard Aari McDonald could possibly start for Sean Miller and the men's team.
Friday's final segment includes a breakdown of Saturday's men's Final Four of the NCAA Tournament, with both giving their picks for the UVA-Auburn and Texas Tech-Michigan State games.
Tune in each Friday for a fresh segment of All Bets Are On, with new episodes posted each week to the Tucson Weekly's website, www.tucsonweekly.com.
Tags: Adia Barnes , Arizona Wildcats , Aari McDonald , Cate Reese , UVA Cavaliers , Auburn Tigers , Texas Tech Red Raiders , Michigan State Spartans , Tom Izzo , Final Four , WNIT , Tucson , Image
Thursday, April 4, 2019
A record crowd threw its collective hands in exultation as the clock hit zero at the McKale Center Wednesday night.
A women’s basketball program record 10,135 attendees packed the longtime home of Arizona’s basketball teams, and were treated to a 40-minute spectacle between the Wildcats and Texas Christian University Horned Frogs in the Women’s National Invitational Tournament semifinals.
The two sides traded blows, both literal and figurative, through the night before the Wildcats gave the ravenous home crowd a final reason to cheer: a 59-53 victory.
Third-year coach Adia Barnes, who starred on the 1996 squad at Arizona that won the school’s previous WNIT championship, said nights like Wednesday make her decision to return to Tucson worthwhile.
“I think there's a special place for Arizona in my heart because I chose it as a player and this is where I grew up,” Barnes said. “This is where I learned my most valuable life lessons. This is where I came in a 17-year-old who was a year younger than everybody—an immature little bratty freshmen—to a leader when I left. So, all those things, you know I hold that to my heart.”
Barnes’ squad had a 40-minute dogfight with the Horned Frogs, with three lead changes and stymying defense on both sides.
The Wildcats were able to hang on for their fifth-consecutive win in the single-elimination tournament, despite being out-rebounded, 50-33.
Barnes said her team’s ability to thwart TCU’s high-paced offense was their saving grace, holding the Horned Frogs to 26.9 percent from the field.
Tags: sports , Arizona , Women's basketball , UA , wildcats , WNIT , Semifinals , finals , win , TCU , Image
Monday, April 1, 2019
The University of Arizona’s softball team is on a roll, having won nine games in a row, all against Pac-12 foes.
The Wildcats (27-7, 9-0) latest victim was the Arizona State Sun Devils, who were swept by a combined score of 18-0 in a three-game series in Tucson.
The three-game performance was enough to give the Wildcats’ its third consecutive sweep to open conference play.
The Sun Devils join the Oregon Ducks and Oregon State Beavers as teams that Mike Candrea’s team has swept in Pac-12 play. Candrea’s latest sweep packs extra significance, given the in-state rivalry shared between the two programs.
There’s also the extra motivation of Candrea being an ASU alumnus, which adds a bit of fuel to an already-heated rivalry.
“It's always marked on the calendar, with my history with Arizona State,” Candrea said. “Right now, we just want to keep playing well and it doesn't really matter who the opponent is. But yeah, anytime they come down here it's nice.”
Arizona’s three-game sweep of ASU came in large part from the long ball, with Friday and Saturday’s matching 8-0 victories featuring multiple home runs from Wildcat mainstays.
In Friday’s opener, Malia Martinez along with Dejah Mulipola and Tamara Statman hit homers, allowing the Wildcats to finish off a run-rule victory.
The next night, it was Hannah Martinez and Alyssa Palomino who went deep, with Martinez hitting a three-run home run, while Palomino drove in two with her long ball.
Sunday’s finale was a pitcher’s duel, with the Wildcats prevailing, 2-0, thanks to an RBI single and solo home run by infielder Rylee Pierce.
Perhaps the most impressive part of the weekend for Candrea was the performance of pitchers Taylor McQuillin and Alyssa Denham, who threw 17 innings of shutout ball against one of the nation’s highest-scoring offenses.
Candrea said that McQuillin, who struck out 15 Sun Devils in 12 innings of work, is putting together the best stretch of her four-year career in Tucson.
“A big part of this game is going through the tough times and learning how to pitch at this level,” Candrea said. “And I think right now she's got more than one pitch working. She's working both sides of the plate, which is something that she needed to do. She looks good.”
McQuillin, who’s posted an 11-5 record and a 1.45 earned run average in the pitcher’s circle this season, said stymying the Sun Devils was one of her finest accomplishments.
“I think it's really cool. Obviously, this is one of the biggest series that we have all year long. It's one of the biggest rivalries in college softball,” McQuillin said. “So, it's pretty cool to go out and put on a show like our team did as a whole offense.”
McQuillin acknowledged the extra pressure that rests on your shoulders as a starting pitcher when you square off against ASU.
The Mission Viejo, California native knows how much is up for grabs when the two Arizona powerhouse programs meet, with bragging rights and pride on the line.
“The past three years that I've been here, we've always had good series against ASU just because of the competition on the field and the need to win,” McQuillin said. “It's not just for us, but it's for our fans. It's for the entire university. It's for the whole Tucson community.”
McQuilln said she took extra motivation from this weekend’s dominating effort, knowing it’s likely her final time playing ASU in her college career.
“For me, these are always the best games to play in, just coming out knowing that the competition is going to be hot, and everybody's going to have a high adrenaline rush, big energy, lots of fight,” she said. “And the fans, this is probably the greatest weekend for them, too, so knowing that they're going to support you, especially since we're at home for that series.”
Tags: Arizona Wildcats , ASU Sun Devils , Tucson , NCAA Softball , Pac-12 , Taylor McQuillin , Mike Candrea , Image
The joyous celebration of an announced crowd of 7,717 was the net result of a 40-minute shellacking by the Arizona Wildcats.
The Wildcats (22-13, 7-11) pummeled the visiting Wyoming Cowgirls in the Women’s National Invitational Tournament’s Round of 8, thanks to a stifling defense that thwarted the Cowgirls for much of the day.
Third-year coach Adia Barnes was reflective in her postgame comments, calling her team’s 67-45 victory a turning point for the fledgling program.
“We've learned how to win, we're hungry, we look like we have a ‘we're not going to lose’ mentality and that's the feeling I have from them,” Barnes said. “We're playing some good basketball.”
The Wildcats’ week was one to remember, beating Idaho and Wyoming in succession by a combined score of 135-105.
Their postseason run continues this Wednesday, when they’ll host Texas Christian University of the Big-12 at 6:30 p.m. in the WNIT semifinals.
Tags: WNIT , Arizona Wildcats , Wyoming Cowgirls , Adia Barnes , Aari McDonald , Tee Tee Starks , Image
Friday, March 29, 2019
Both break down the night's action in the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, before delving into Thursday's Women's National Invitational Tournament win for Adia Barnes and the Arizona Wildcats.
The final segment of Friday's show previews the Tucson Sugar Skulls' home game against the San Diego Strike Force, breaking down their favorite indoor football memories.
Tune in each Friday for fresh episodes of the Tucson Weekly's sports podcast, at tucsonweekly.com.
Tags: Tucson Weekly , Podcast , Arizona Wildcats , Adia Barnes , UVA Cavaliers , Tony Bennett , Oregon Ducks , Dana Altman , Kelvin Sampson , Houston Cougars , NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament , WNIT , IFL , Tucson Sugar Skulls , Image
A crowd of more than 6,000 people roared in unison as the final seconds drained from the center-court clock at McKale Center on Thursday evening.
The red-and-blue-clad fans that filled the arena were treated to a four-quarter duel between the host Wildcats and a spunky Idaho Vandals squad that never relented.
The two sides virtually matched each other shot-for-shot all night, with the Wildcats taking a 36-26 lead into the half, and a 48-39 advantage into the game’s final quarter.
The Wildcats buried the Vandals in the game’s final stanza, hitting 8-of-15 (53.3 percent) of their shots to clinch a 68-60 victory in the Women’s National Invitational Tournament Sweet 16.
The Wildcats’ victory came, thanks to an egalitarian offensive attack that saw four players score in double figures, with guard Aari McDonald leading the way with 18 points and 11 assists.
McDonald, who suffered a severe cut to her upper lip during a third quarter collision at midcourt, thanked her teammates for their perseverance against the Vandals.
The redshirt sophomore guard from Fresno, California said she never had any intentions of leaving the game after the injury, wanting to finish the game with her teammates.
“It's bigger than me, honestly. It's about my teammates obviously winning,” McDonald said. “So, I just have to suck it up and go back in and finish the game.”
Tags: sports , basketball , UA , wildcats , Women's basketball , Sweet 18 , Elite 8 , McKale Center , Arizona , Image
