VEGAS IS WILDCAT COUNTRY FOR THE PAC-12 TOURNAMENT
Our Pac-12 Champion Wildcats are heading to Vegas! Our first game is Thursday night at 7 p.m. Tucson time vs. the Colorado/Washington State winner. We've built a Pac-12 Tournament Central page for our fans to follow along as well. You can find information on the venue, tournament bracket, tickets, Arizona Alumni events, and hotel information at ArizonaWildcats.com/pac12vegas.
If you haven't purchased your tickets yet, don't miss the chance to cheer on your Wildcats with the help of Vivid Seats, the Official Secondary Ticket Marketplace of the Arizona Wildcats. All purchases on Vivid Seats are backed by a 100% buyer guarantee. Visit Vivid Seats to find your seat today.
We've asked our fans to paint Vegas in a sea of red. Wear red on game day, whether you're at the game or not!
BEAR DOWN WITH PRIDE
With both the Pac-12 and NCAA Tournaments around the corner, we want to remind everyone to 'Bear Down with Pride' as we move through March. Over the last few years, we've joined together with our friends on campus to make sure we continue to spread this message throughout our fan base and the community. We'll be sharing the poster below with a number of different establishments throughout Tucson to help reinforce this point.
At Arizona, we have many traditions, but bad sportsmanship isn't one of them. We expect our student-athletes and coaches to conduct themselves in this fashion and we expect our fans to do the same. Please handle yourselves appropriately as we move through the postseason and let's have a great March while we #BearDownWithPride.
Watch: Bear Down with Pride
A RECAP OF DAVE HEEKE'S INTRODUCTION
We were fortunate to have our new athletics director Dave Heeke on campus last week as we went through the process of formally announcing him to the public. Dave will officially start in his role on April 1. We joked about that date, but no, it isn't an April Fool's gag. We're delighted to welcome Dave to Arizona Athletics and look forward to him joining us then. In the meantime, I'll continue to serve as Interim Athletics Director as we move through what should be an exciting March.
In case you didn't see the coverage from his introductory press conference, we want to share some links that provide good insight into Dave's philosophy and background.
Introductory Press Conference: Click HERE
Get to Know Dave Heeke with Brian Jeffries: Click HERE
Behind the Scenes with Dave Heeke: Click HERE
Photo Gallery: Click HERE
Press Release and What They're Saying: Click HERE
We can't wait for all of you to meet and get to know Dave. He is going to provide great leadership for our department as we move into the next chapter of Arizona Athletics. It's an exciting time and we're glad you're with us to enjoy the ride.
TOP 10 WILDCATS
Speaking of exciting times, we found out earlier this week that Arizona Athletics is the only department in the country whose men's basketball, baseball and softball programs are ranked in the Top 10. In addition, our beach volleyball program is currently ranked eighth in the AVCA Coaches Poll. Obviously, it's still early in the spring sport seasons, so we hope this can continue, but we thought it was worth noting and sharing with you.
The men's basketball program is currently ranked seventh in both the AP Top 25 and USA Today Coaches Poll. This marks the 96th straight week we've been ranked in the AP Poll and the 99th consecutive week in the Coaches Poll. Over that span, we've spent 67 weeks ranked in the AP Top 10.
Baseball started in the polls at the beginning of the year, but after a strong weekend at the Frisco Classic, we moved into the Top 10 of a few polls. Collegiate Baseball has us at No. 4 in their Top 30, while the USA Today Coaches Poll ranked us sixth and D1Baseball.com has us ranked ninth. In addition, the NCAA released its first RPI rankings of the season and our Wildcats opened in the top spot after three weeks.
Buoyed by an 18-1 start including a three-game sweep of Texas last weekend, softball moved to No. 5 in the USA Today/NFCA Top 25, our first Top 5 ranking since 2011. Our softball program is no stranger to the rankings though, having been ranked for 53 straight weeks and in 354 of the 357 polls all time.
With this info in mind, you can see why we're so excited about the coming weeks and months. We hope you'll come out and support not only these programs, but all of our programs, as we move through the spring.
WILDCATS TO TAKE ON NIKE INTERNSHIPS
Claire Green (Track and Field) and Louis Boyd (Baseball) have been chosen for the NIKE internship program this summer. Claire will intern with the Running & Nike Women team and Louis will be in the Sports Marketing Internship Program as a Sales Analyst. Arizona has had a number of student-athletes hired full time by NIKE after receiving these opportunities and we're looking forward to hearing about Claire and Louis' experience this summer. Congratulations. We couldn't be more proud to have you represent Arizona.
While we've had a long relationship with this NIKE internship, here is a look at some of our recent student-athletes who took part in the program.
2016: Savannah Whitehead (Track & Field), Samantha Czarniak (Tennis)
2015: Kendall Prince (Golf), Dominic Ricotta (Diving)
2014: Chelsea Suitos (Softball), Mykaylin Rosenquist (Soccer)
BASEBALL IS BACK AT HI CORBETT FOR THREE GAMES
Baseball will be back at Hi Corbett for a three-game series against Hartford beginning at 6 p.m. on Friday, March 10. The series will continue on Saturday at 2 p.m. and then again on Sunday at 1 p.m. It's a Sunday Fun Day, so select concessions are 50% off and all kids can run the bases following the game. The first 1,500 fans in attendance will receive a Jared Oliva trading card, the third in a series of nine. For tickets or more information, call (520) 621-CATS (M-F, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.) or click HERE.
FASTEST KID IN TUCSON
We're excited to have track and field back in Tucson for their first home meet of the season. The Willie Williams Classic runs March 17-19. You can purchase your tickets to the meet HERE.
The third annual Fastest Kid in Tucson Contest will wrap up the Willie Williams Classic. Kids 13 and under are invited to race for the title of Fastest Kid in Tucson. The race will begin at noon on Saturday, March 18. Check-in is at 10 a.m. There is a $5 registration fee, which includes a poster and a t-shirt. Finalists will race again for the title at the Jim Click Shootout on April 8. To register your child, click HERE by Saturday, March 11. All adults will need to purchase a full-price, single-day ticket.
For more information on the Fastest Kid in Tucson, email lauralittle@arizona.edu.
TWITTER GIVEAWAY
Congrats to AJ Johnson (@AZWildcatAlways) for being selected as this month's winner of the Wildcat Wednesday Twitter Giveaway. 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.
Once a month, we'll provide a phrase accompanied by the twitter handle @ebarnes7 and the hashtag #BarnesTwitterGiveaway for Wildcat Wednesday subscribers to tweet. We'll select the winner at random and announce in a Wildcat Wednesday the following month.
Here is this month's Twitter giveaway message:
Congratulations @Dave_Heeke and welcome to the Arizona family. #BearDown
@ebarnes7 #BarnesTwitterGiveaway
UPCOMING SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
To view the list of upcoming events, broadcast information, start times and stat links, click HERE. (Note: All times are listed as Mountain Standard Time, i.e. Tucson time.)
To access live stats from your desktop or mobile device, visit ArizonaLiveStats.com.
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 to uofaad@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.
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