Zachary BonDurant-USA TODAY Sports They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but not certain if that translates to trying to take all the players from your previous team. Two more former Wildcats have headed to Seattle to join ex-Arizona coach Jedd Fisch at Washington, with running back Jordan Washington and receiver Kevin Green Jr. the latest to do so. Both Green, who will be a redshirt sophomore, and Washington, a true freshman, participated in spring practice with the UA. Washington did not appear in the Spring Game, while Green not only suited up but also helped coach one of th ..read more

Photo by Jacob Snow/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images The Pac-12 Softball Tournament matchups were decided as much by who didn’t play as by who did. UCLA secured the No. 1 seed with a 17-4 record after playing three fewer games than No. 2 Stanford (17-7). As for the Arizona Wildcats, their fate was determined by the cancelation of a game they weren’t even involved in. The Wildcats will play Washington after a stunning weekend for the Huskies. Arizona will be the No. 5 seed and UW will be the No. 4 seed. The game is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. MST/PDT on Thursday, May 9. All games will be played in ..read more

Arizona Athletics Having clinched another Pac-12 series on Saturday night, as well as a berth in the conference tournament, a day game finale had all the makings for a potential letdown. And early on it looked that way for Arizona. Bad at-bats at the plate were compounded by multiple mental errors in the field, most in one inning as Stanford took a 2-0 lead in the top of the 2nd inning. That prompted Chip Hale to make a mound visit, something he normally only does when changing pitchers. “It wasn’t very friendly,” Hale said when asked the gist of his conversation with his infield. “I was just ..read more

Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports Arizona has not won a national championship since 1997, and last made a Final Four in 2001. In 2023 it became the first program in the country to lose to a 15-seed in the first round of the tournament for a second time, and its history of soul-crushing losses in the Sweet 16 and Elite 8—often times as the higher seed and favorite—is as full as it is well documented. Consistently coming up short in the big dance has provided ASU trolls like ESPN’s Matt Berrie and misguided analysts like Kyle Dodd fodder for essentially declaring that Arizona always underachiev ..read more

Arizona Athletics Chip Hale won his 100th game As Chip Hale inquired with the home plate umpire about challenging an out call at first base that ended the bottom of the 8th inning, Clark Candiotti didn’t wait to see if a review would happen or not. Nor did he check with pitching coach Kevin Vance about how short his leash might be. He was on the mound within seconds of that play at first, getting ready to throw his final set of warmup pitches for what would be his second complete game of the season. “I didn’t hear anything,” Candiotti said. “I just went out there and treated it like the first ..read more

Arizona Athletics What a few years ago had been history has now become the standard. Arizona advanced to the Sweet 16 for the second year in a row and third time in four years on Saturday, sweeping Auburn 4-0 in the second round of the NCAA Men’s Tennis Tournament at the Lanelle Robson Tennis Center. The ninth-seeded Wildcats (26-3) will visit No. 8 Columbia (22-3) next weekend in New York City, seeking the program’s first trip to the NCAA quarterfinals. A day after sweeping Boise State, but admittedly not playing its best, Arizona made quick work of the Tigers by winning the doubles point wit ..read more

@ArizonaWTennis / X Arizona women’s tennis’ first NCAA Championships appearance in a decade was a brief one. Arizona fell to Oklahoma 4-0 Saturday in College Station, Tx. in the first round of the NCAA tournament. The Wildcats finish the year with a 17-13 record. Oklahoma jumped out to a 1-0 lead by winning the doubles point. Arizona’s pair of Reece Carter and Brandelyn Fulgenzi won their match on the No. 1 doubles court, but Oklahoma won the other two doubles matches. Carter and Fulgenzi each lost their matches in singles play, as did Martyna Ostrzygalo. Two remaining matches were left unfini ..read more

Taya Gray / USA TODAY NETWORK As of now, there are five members of Arizona’s 2023-24 team going through the NBA Draft process. Three can still return to the Wildcats, depending on the kind of feedback they get from scouts about their chances to get picked. Those three got their first tangible evaluation when the NBA announced which draft-eligible players were invited to its combines later this month. Guards KJ Lewis and Caleb Love were among 44 players invited to the G League Elite Camp May 11 in Chicago, an event that could lead to a spot in the NBA Draft Combine that’s set for May 12-19 in C ..read more

ArizonaWildcats.com Arizona has parted ways with swimming and diving head coach Augie Busch after seven seasons, the school announced Friday. Busch’s dismissal is the first major personnel move by new athletic director Desireé Reed-Francois. “We thank Coach Busch for his service to Arizona and wish him well in the future,” Reed-Francois said in a statement. “Our Swimming and Diving program has a championship legacy, an outstanding home facility in the Hillenbrand Aquatic Center and incredible support, and we are confident that we will attract elite candidates. We will work quickly to find a ne ..read more

Photo courtesy of Arizona Athletics Arizona softball has undoubtedly improved this year compared to the rest of NCAA softball. Most importantly, there is no question that the Wildcats will be in the postseason after missing out for the first time in 35 years last season. The question is how the team’s stats stack up to the team that finished outside the NCAA Tournament last season. Arizona made a lot of changes on the coaching side after last season’s disappointments. Longtime pitching coach and Wildcat great Taryne Mowatt-McKinney was out. In came young, data-driven coach Christian Conrad. On ..read more