Links: More on the RichRod, Graham relationship and a national outlook of Sean Miller's team

There are so many ways to evaluate the ASU Sun Devils' hiring of new football coach Todd Graham, but from our end, the obvious is digging up what his relationship with new Arizona Wildcats' head man Rich Rodriguez is and the history behind it all.

Anthony Gimino of the Tucson Citizen got a "no comment" when he texted Rodriguez about the relationship between he and his former defensive coordinator. Gimino also dug into some Pittsburgh Post-Gazette archives to find out what the two thought of one another.

Oddly enough, he found some decade-old articles where Graham was quoted as saying the two had great respect. But recently, when Rodriguez pulled three coaches from Pitt to join him at Arizona, Graham didn't take well to it, according to Gimino's findings.

Now, he looks hypocritical after leaving Pittsburgh after a one-year tenure, but it might have been more the way he went about leaving rather than the leaving itself.

Graham's move spurred anger in the national media, because of that.

From Schlaback's column, where he called Graham the president of the Liar's Club:

Graham asked Pittsburgh athletic director Steve Pederson for permission to talk to ASU officials after he'd already received a job offer from the Sun Devils. Graham didn't return Pederson's subsequent telephone calls and wouldn't even talk to another Panthers athletics department official when he answered the door at his Pittsburgh home on Tuesday night.

Anyway, it's hard to tell how good of a hire Arizona's rivals to the north got. Sure, Graham, as did RichRod, comes with a lot of baggage, but there's probably a reason why he's climbed the coaching ladder so quickly. Or maybe, as Schlabach wrote, he's just a good used car salesman.

Now, on to hoops.

Following last weekend's game against Clemson, Sean Miller seemed positive that Josiah Turner was doing everything right following a suspension for the loss at Florida. Mike Schmitz of the Daily Wildcat quoted Solomon Hill as saying he just needed to change some daily habits.

In ESPN.com writer Jason King's King's Court series, he says Turner, along with Nick Johnson and Angelo Chol, are in a zone for the Wildcats. King also gave Miller an F grade for his comments regarding the Xavier and Cincinnati Brawl.

Finally, let's be real: The Wildcats, playing like they have the past two games, should have a fairly easy time in the Pac-12 Conference play. The league, numbers-wise, is only the eighth strongest in the nation, falling behind the other five Big Six conferences, the Mountain West Conference, and the Atlantic-10.