– UCLA senior Gabriela Jaquez led the Bruins to the NCAA women's basketball championship last week, scoring 21 points in a victory over South Carolina. Jaquez has strong Tucson roots. Her mother, Angela Sather Jaquez, was a 1993 all-city basketball player at Sabino High School, where she averaged 17 points and nine rebounds a game. Angela then played a year at Pima College before transferring to Concordia University near Los Angeles. Now a realtor in SoCal, Angela is also the mother of ex-UCLA standout Jaime Jaquez Jr., who plays for the NBA Miami Heat.
UCLA forward Gabriela Jaquez (11) cuts the net after winning the women's National Championship Final Four NCAA Tournament game against South Carolina, April 5, 2026, in Phoenix.Â
– I was among the many Tucsonans who saw so little of freshman reserve Carter Bryant during his lone UA season, 2024-25, that I was taken aback when he was drafted No. 14 overall by the San Antonio Spurs last summer. I finally got to watch the NBA version of Bryant last week in a victory over Portland. He was terrific. He swished five 3-pointers, scored 17 points in 25 minutes and had five rebounds and four assists. It was his most productive game of his NBA rookie season, where he averages four minutes per game. It was odd to see his ex-UA teammate, Caleb Love, sitting on the Trail Blazers' bench that night. Love played two minutes since his return from a month-long stint in the G League. Love, the 2025 Pac-12 Player of the Year, is being paid $545,000 this year by Portland. Bryant is being paid $4.9 million by San Antonio. The NBA scouts didn't miss on those two.
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– UA tennis coach Clancy Shields, whose team is ranked No. 10 nationally, beat No. 15 UCF last week to add to his victories over Top 25 teams this year: No. 2 TCU, No. 8 Baylor, No. 11 ASU, No. 21 Florida State and No. 25 Pepperdine. With the Big 12 regular-season championship already secure, Shields now goes on the road for this week's Big 12 championships in Orlando. A showdown against No. 2 TCU surely awaits.
– Former UA women's basketball coach Adia Barnes lost another top assistant coach last week when Bett Shelby, who had been on the Arizona staff for three years, left SMU to be an assistant coach at UCF. Shelby's background is impressive. She earlier coached three years for ex-Wildcat Brenda Frese and her two-time NCAA championship program at Maryland.
San Francisco Giants' Daniel Susac, right, hits a two-run triple next to Philadelphia Phillies catcher Rafael Marchán during the eighth inning in San Francisco, April 7, 2026.Â
– Daniel Susac was an All-Pac-12 catcher on Arizona's 2021 College World Series team, a feared hitter who batted .366 with 12 home runs and was drafted No. 19 overall in the first round of the 2022 draft. He reached the major leagues this year as a backup catcher for the San Francisco Giants and quickly made history, going 5 for 5 in his first week as a big-leaguer. Only one player in MLB history was better, at 6-for-6 to begin a career. Susac hit .275 with 18 home runs for Triple-A Las Vegas last year before being acquired by San Francisco. He remains the backup behind Giants starting catcher Patrick Bailey (batting .147 through Thursday) who is viewed as one of the league's top defensive catchers. The only other Wildcat from the 2021 World Series to reach the big leagues is pitcher Chase Silseth, who is with the Los Angeles Angels this season. Through Thursday, Susac was 6 for 7 with a triple and a walk.
From Lute to Lloyd: How Arizona coaching pay went stratospheric | Greg Hansen
