- One of the themes of this Pac-12 basketball season will be the impacts that newcomers make on the conference race. And nowhere will a group of freshman be more important to the team’s eventual success than in Tucson, where Sean Miller welcomes in four top 100 recruits. Josiah Turner is the most highly acclaimed of the four, and he has a chance to step in and grab the starting point guard position from the get-go. Nick Johnson is a seriously athletic two-guard, while Sidiki Johnson and Angelo Chol are a pair of power forwards who should earn minutes immediately. For a little deeper introduction, Casey Crowe at Bleacher Report has the rundown on each of them.
- Also in Tucson, Arizona held its Red-Blue Game on Saturday, a scrimmage that also served as a platform for adding Derrick Williams and Chase Budinger into the UA Ring of Honor. Before a sold-out crowd at the McKale Center that included former Wildcat great such as Jason Terry, Andre Iguodala, Richard Jefferson, and Channing Frye, UA fans got their first glimpse at those new freshman, with Sidiki Johnson scoring 18 and Nick Johnson, who won the pre-game dunk contest, adding 17.
- Washington invites in six freshman of their own, with explosive guard Tony Wroten, Jr., leading the way. Wroten underwent minor knee surgery this week, but is not expected to miss any games. To get to know Wroten a little bit, check out Searching for Billy Edelin’s exploration of the impact that Wroten has already had on Lorenzo Romar’s program, and the big things in his future. Wroten has been compared to such greats as Magic Johnson in the past, a comparison that Romar doesn’t shy away from.
- Not all the impact newcomers in the league are freshman. For Colorado, newly eligible transfer Carlon Brown will not only be a veteran leader, he’ll also be a major part of what the Buffs try to do on the floor. Brown left Utah after struggling through an unhappy junior season during which he was asked to give up his starting role and come off the bench. After spending last year on the practice squad guarding guys like Alec Burks and Cory Higgins, Brown is more than ready to get back on the floor.
- At Arizona State, not only are there new players, but there’s also a new pace, as head coach Herb Sendek is implementing a system that operates at a higher tempo than we’re used to seeing his Sun Devil teams play. Last year, ASU’s adjusted tempo was 296th in the nation, but they look to up that substantially this season. It would help if freshman point guard Jahii Carson was around to help push the pace, but Carson is still waiting for his transcripts from an online summer school course to be released.
AMurawa (999 Posts)Andrew Murawa Likes Basketball.
