REMEMBERING TOM SANDERS
We received some sad news about the passing of long-time UA and athletics administrator Tom Sanders on Monday. I was fortunate to meet Tom for the first time at a National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) event when I was a young fundraiser and he was someone I looked up to and admired.
Tom served the campus community for nearly four decades and specifically athletics from the mid-1980s until he retired in 2000. Amongst other things, he made his mark in fundraising and helped secure financial support for a number of projects including Hillenbrand Stadium, Robson Tennis Center and Hillenbrand Aquatic Center. He also had a tremendous athletics acumen, which made him a valuable part of the Arizona Sports Hall of Fame committee for most of the past 20 years.
It was easy to see Monday evening the effect Tom had on so many in and around the campus community. There were a number of messages on social media that helped explain the kind of guy he was. Tom will be missed by so many and we want to offer our condolences to Tom's family and friends during this difficult time.
Bear Down, Tom.
PAC-12 TOURNAMENT MOVING TO T-MOBILE ARENA
Last week at the Pac-12 Tournament, the conference announced a three-year deal that would keep the tournament in Las Vegas but change the venue from the MGM Grand Garden Arena to the under-construction T-Mobile Arena starting with next year's tournament. We believe it was a good decision to take advantage of the beautiful new arena. I had a chance to tour the facility and you can see it will be able to offer a number of amenities that we believe will be attractive to our fans.
You've done such a great job of proving #VegasIsWildcatCountry since the tournament moved to Las Vegas, but I was struck recently when I was talking to a large group of loyal donors before a game at McKale. I asked how many people had never been to a Pac-12 Tournament game since it had moved to Vegas and over half of the crowd raised their hands. I was really surprised but it goes to show that there is still room for growth.
The MGM Grand Garden Arena seats 12,196, while the T-Mobile Arena will seat 18,500. That's 5,584 more Wildcats wearing red that can be in attendance. You've dominated Vegas for the past few years, and now, you have the chance to be even more dominant moving forward.
We'll work hard to secure the right hotel for UA fans to congregate throughout the tournament and build on what has been a very special event. We can't thank you enough for your support at the conference tournament and we look forward to having an even larger showing in the years to come.
WOMEN'S GOLF WINS WILDCAT INVITATIONAL
Congratulations to our women's golf program for winning the Wildcat Invitational yesterday. We posted an outstanding final round to finish 11 strokes ahead of our rivals to the north, who finished second. Congratulations are also in order for Tucson native Krystal Quihuis, who took medalist honors.
Great job ladies. Way to Bear Down.
BEAR DOWN WITH PRIDE
We touched on this last week, but with another NCAA Tournament starting this week, we want to circle back and remind everyone how important it is to 'Bear Down with Pride.' We always say we have a lot of traditions, but bad sportsmanship isn't one of them. Let's make sure to remember that as our men's basketball team navigates this year's edition of March Madness starting with our opening round game against Wichita State tomorrow.
(Note: Our game will start 30 minutes after the completion of our site's first game so approximately 6:20 p.m. MST and will air on TNT).
If you haven't had a chance to see them, our colleagues on campus created videos for both the campus and Tucson communities spreading the 'Bear Down with Pride' message. You can click HERE to watch the Tucson version and HERE for the campus version. We encourage you to do the same wherever you are watching the games and particularly on social media with the hashtag #BearDownWithPride.
NCAA TOURNAMENT DIGITAL GUIDE
The NCAA Tournament Digital Guide is back by popular demand. Similar to our guide over the last few postseasons and the 2015-16 preseason guide, we're partnering with IMG to produce the official Arizona NCAA Tournament Digital Guide, which became available today. It has videos, information on our tournament site and opponents, our NCAA history, and all the info you need on your Wildcats as they prepare for their run in the "Big Dance." Click on the image below to access the guide. We hope you enjoy it.
VIVID SEATS HAS NCAA TOURNAMENT TICKETS AVAILABLE
We're looking forward to seeing all of our east coast alumni and fans this week. We're depending on alumni groups such as the Boston BeanTownCats, the Washington D.C. CapitolCats and the New York BigAppleCats to rally in Providence and support the team. Check out Vivid Seats if you're going to be in the area and are looking for tickets to the NCAA Tournament games in Providence. Vivid Seats is the preferred secondary ticket partner of the Arizona Wildcats. If you're interested in purchasing tickets, click VIVID SEATS and you can see what they have available.
HOME TRACK THIS WEEKEND – WILLIE WILLIAMS CLASSIC
Head coach Fred Harvey and the track and field program will begin another outdoor season at home this weekend with the annual Willie Williams Classic. The Classic is set to take place at Roy P. Drachman Stadium, located at the corner of 15th Street and Plumer. With some new and returning elite talent on our roster, this will be a fun team to watch this spring. Friday's collegiate events are tentatively set to begin at 3 p.m. Saturday's events begin at 9:50 a.m. with the National Anthem. Click the image below to purchase tickets to this weekend's Willie Williams Classic.
15,000 BY 2018
By now, you've heard about the new Bear Down Challenge and our goal of having 15,000 Wildcat Club members by 2018. It's not a small undertaking, but we think we have a good shot at reaching our goal. We also know we need to get there to keep providing the best experience possible for our student-athletes.
Even though we have a three-year goal, it doesn't mean we want you to wait until 2018 to join. We closed last fiscal year with 12,900 Wildcat Club members. This means we need to grow by 2,100 people during the next three years (and that's assuming 100% of our current Wildcat Club members renew, which we hope will occur). We would like to close this year with at least 13,600 members by May 1 to be on pace to reach our goal.
We're making good progress, and as a reminder, you can become a member for as little as $100 per year. We hope you'll join us and accept the Bear Down Challenge by clicking HERE.
CATS IN THE COMMUNITY
Arizona's student-athletes continue to be active in the community. Here is a sample of what they've done recently:
March 7-8: Volleyball was out at Billy Lane Lauffer Middle School and Roskrudge Middle School sharing their love for their sport with younger players. They spoke to the students and showed them some of their favorite drills.
March 9: The GymCats spent some time handing out Journey Journals and visiting with patients and families at Diamond Children's.
March 10: Track and field's Addi Zerrenner spoke to a large group of elementary school students on their campus tour. She shared her experiences as a student-athlete at Arizona and encouraged them to pursue their own goals.
March 10: Soccer players worked with the youth from FC Sonora Youth Soccer teams on skills and drills. Student-athletes and coaches did a free clinic with these young players to encourage them to pursue their own goals on the field.
March 11: Football players continued their commitment to Uplifting Athletes and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation by attending a pep rally to commemorate and celebrate Pomerene Elementary School's CFF fundraiser.
Our student-athletes are looking to continue volunteering in the Tucson Community. If you know of a non-profit that would benefit from the helping hands of our student-athletes, please let us know by submitting an online request by clicking HERE. We won't be able to fulfill every request, but we try to get to as many as we can.
TWITTER GIVEAWAY
Congrats to Fernando Loaiza Jr (@LoaizaJrFern) for being selected as this week's winner of the #ByrneTwitterGiveaway. A member of the athletics department staff will DM you with more information on how to secure your prize so make sure you're following @AZAthletics.
Here is this week's Twitter giveaway message:
Good luck to @APlayersProgram as they take part in #MarchMadness.
@Greg_Byrne #ByrneTwitterGiveaway
Each week, we'll provide a phrase accompanied by the twitter handle @Greg_Byrne and the hashtag #ByrneTwitterGiveaway for Wildcat Wednesday subscribers to tweet. We'll select the winner(s) at random and announce in the following edition of Wildcat Wednesday. We hope you'll have some fun with this and participate each week. As long as we're seeing a lot of participation, we'll keep the giveaways going throughout the year.
COMPLIANCE CORNER
With the NCAA Men's and Women's Basketball Tournaments beginning, a term you might hear a lot during a broadcast is "walk-on." A walk-on is a student-athlete who is a member of a team, but is not receiving an athletics scholarship, and therefore does not count towards a team's overall scholarship limit. Coaches are permitted to recruit a potential student-athlete as a walk-on and are allowed to promise them a roster spot, but the walk-on student-athlete does not receive any athletically related financial aid. Student-athletes are still permitted to receive financial aid from their school without counting towards their team's scholarship limit if the aid is unrelated to the student's athletic ability.
The rest of the bench is full of different types of individuals as well. While the NCAA sets a limit on the number of coaches, there are numerous other jobs being performed by personnel on the bench. Permissible positions include a director of basketball, undergraduate student coach, team trainer, and managers. The NCAA generally doesn't set numeric limits on these types of positions, but rather, what duties they are allowed to perform both on and off the court.
The NCAA Tournament signifies the culmination of a season of hard work and we wish everyone involved the best as they travel this week to Rhode Island.
ARIZONA NUGGETS
Kaleb Tarczewski and Gabe York from Men's Basketball have played in a combined 20 NCAA Tournament games, tied for the most of any active duo entering this year's tourney … Gymnastics posted its highest score of the season, a 196.85, in defeating BYU on Senior Night. That score is the eighth highest in program history … Diving's Rafael Quintero qualified for all three diving events at the NCAA Championships after winning the platform and 1-meter and finishing third in the 3-meter at the Zone E Championships … Softball's Taylor McQuillin, the Pac-12 Pitcher and Freshman of the Week, and Danielle O'Toole have combined to post a 1.44 ERA this season … Naoki Takeda from Men's Tennis picked up two victories over ranked opponents last week, defeating No. 26 Uro Petronijevic from San Diego and No. 100 Freddy Gelbrich of San Diego State … Baseball's Bobby Dalbec has posted a 0.55 ERA in 16 1/3 innings with 19 strikeouts this season. With five saves, he's moved into eighth place on UA's all-time saves list.
WEAR THE COLORS – SHARE THE PHOTOS
Thank you for wearing the colors and sharing your Arizona pride! If your photo submission did not make this week's edition of the Wildcat Wednesday, please check our "Wildcat Wednesday" album at facebook.com/ArizonaAthletics.
NOTE: Please submit photos for Wildcat Wednesday with an original email touofaad@arizona.edu using the subject line 'Wildcat Wednesday photo.' Also, please ensure all submissions are clear and properly lit. We also ask that you identify everyone in the photo so we can highlight them accordingly.
