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– By playing all 11 of its nonconference women's basketball games at McKale Center, the UA will probably realize about $600,000 by not playing, say, three or four road games, which has been a typical yearly nonconference schedule. That $600,000 will offset the first-year salary of head coach Becky Burke. With an extra four home games, the UA should generate about $400,000. It would also save close to $200,000 in expenses by not playing four non-conference road games. Once Burke gets her program rolling, it is sure to go back on the road for a marquee game or two in November and December, but in the rebuilding process, saving $600,000 is a good start. The UA averaged 5,363 fans for its first five home games.

– Sad to hear that former Masters and U.S. Open champion Fuzzy Zoeller died last week, at 74. He was one of the most accommodating and friendly pro athletes I've had the privilege to interview. While playing at the Seiko Tucson Match Play championships at Randolph North in the late 1980s, Zoeller was putting on the practice green that now serves Dell Urich Golf Course. I waited for him to finish and asked him "if he had a minute for an interview." Zoeller nodded and answered my first two or three questions. He then pretended to look at a watch and said "Oops, that's a minute. See ya." I stood there for a few seconds as he walked off. He then turned and started to laugh, came back and slapped me on the back. "Let's go sit down in the clubhouse and chat," he said. Thank you, Fuzzy.

– The first sign that new UA cross country coach Jay Koloseus is on the right track is that Wildcat freshman Evans Tanui qualified for the NCAA championships and finished 44th overall. From 1980-2015, Arizona was a national power in distance running, built mostly around those from Kenya and Somalia, such as consensus All-Americans Lawi Lalang, Robert Cheseret, Patrick Nduwimana, Stephen Sambu, Martin Keino and Abdi Abdirahman. Tanui is from Kenya. At the NCAA championships, 43% of those in the field were from foreign countries. Koloseus was savvy enough to get Arizona back in the recruiting center of distance running, also signing freshmen Lawi Ngetich and Praise Chepkemboi from Kenya. Of all teams, New Mexico finished second in the NCAA championships. The Lobos had four Kenyans in the field.

– It was a good month for the family of Chris and Shawn Loftfield Schagel of Vail. Chris, one of the leading high school football referees in the state, was hired to be the lead official for last week's Class 2A state championship game. His wife, Shawn, was inducted into the Pima County Sports Hall of Fame a week earlier. Shawn was part of Catalina Foothills' 1997 state championship basketball team. Chris is a Border Patrol agent, a graduate of Mountain View High School.