ÃÛÌÒÓ°ÏñAV

– If reports are true that it cost Kentucky about $6.5 million to get Iowa State's 3-point shooting ace Milan Momcilovic away from Arizona, I don't view it as a loss. I remember the night this year at McKale Center that Momcilovic shot 1 for 5 from 3-point distance in a 73-57 loss to Arizona. He was invisible. I remember him scoring five in a win over Texas Tech this season, six in an NCAA Tournament exit to Tennessee and five in a loss at BYU. That's not a $6.5 million man. There's sometimes a bigger price to pay for a volume shooter in pursuit of his shots, wrecking team chemistry.

– When Salpointe Catholic High School won the 2022 girls state basketball championship, Taliyah Henderson and Bria Medina were lead players. Today, both find themselves at elite NCAA women's basketball programs. Henderson last week transferred from North Carolina and is now playing at Clemson. She visited Ohio State before choosing Clemson and will be a sophomore. Medina had a much more lengthy journey. She was a first-team Division III All-American at Knox College in the American Midwest Conference last year, averaging 23.6 points per game. A senior, she transferred to Iowa, home of Caitlin Clark. Impressive.

– The National Football Foundation and College Football Hall of Fame last week released an 80-person (coaches and players) ballot for the Class of 2026. It includes the late Mike Leach of Texas Tech and Washington State. Leach did not initially meet Hall of Fame criteria, which stated that each coach must have had a 60% winning percentage. Leach was at 59.6. The organization last year dropped the standard to 59.5. Former Arizona coach Dick Tomey won exactly 59.5% of his games at Arizona, but he doesn't qualify because after leaving Arizona he took on a vast rebuilding job at San Jose State where his winning percentage was 41.7. That dropped his career winning percentage to 55.7. This is one time the numbers don't work; Tomey was every bit the coach Mike Leach was, if not more.

– Stacy Iveson is the new president of the Pima County Sports Hall of Fame. She succeeds former Rincon High and Cincinnati Reds pitcher Pat Darcy, who retired after a dozen outstanding years. Iveson is fully qualified and then some. After graduating from Catalina High School and becoming an All-Pac-10 catcher at Arizona, she coached Salpointe Catholic to the 1993 state softball championship and then coached Pima College to the 2004 and 2006 NJCAA national championships. Between all of that, she was part of Mike Candrea’s Arizona coaching staffs that won NCAA championships in 1996, 1997 and 2001. She also coached Yavapai College to two NJCAA national softball titles.

– Eight years ago, Bianca Pagdanganan made an epic eagle on the 18th hole of the NCAA women's golf championships, putting Arizona into the final eight for match play competition. Two days later, Arizona won the NCAA championship. Today, Pagdanganan is the only person from coach Laura Ianello’s 2018 title team playing in the ongoing U.S. Open. Pagdanganan has played in 86 LPGA Tour events, with 13 Top 25 finishes and career earnings of $1.2 million on Tour. This is only her third LPGA Tour event this season, she missed the cut in the first two. The only other ex-Wildcat from that 2018 championship team still playing on the pro tour is Gigi Stoll, who did not qualify for the U.S. Open. Stoll, in her third year on the LPGA Tour, has earned $21,700 this season in four events.

– When ÃÛÌÒÓ°ÏñAV opens the NCAA men's and women's track finals with 19 athletes this week in Eugene, Oregon, the name to remember is freshman triple-jumper Antone Smith. He was recruited from the Bahamas last summer and in just two UA meets broke the school record with a jump of 55 feet, 7 inches. He is ranked No. 3 nationally entering the finals, the highest Wildcat among the 19. I would also bet on UA jumps coach Bob Myers to produce an All-American or two (or three). Paris Mikinski, Kya Crooke and Emma Gates have all cleared 6 feet and are tied for No. 5 in the national high jump rankings.

– Sad news: Former Palo Verde High School pitcher Bob Lacey, who played eight seasons in the major leagues, died last week in Phoenix. He was 72. Lacey, a member of the Pima County Sports Hall of Fame, pitched in 284 MLB games for the A's, Indians, Rangers, Giants and Angels. He had a magical performance for the Tucson Toros in his Triple-A debut in 1975, pitching a 1-0 shutout over the Albuquerque Dukes at Hi Corbett Field. A few years earlier, playing for the Tucson All-Stars in an American Legion tournament in Los Angeles, he struck out 17 batters.