• Universities often brag about how much their graduates contribute to society, and there's no more concrete way in judging that than by counting the dollars. So if the Arizona Wildcats basketball team was one school within the UA, they'd certainly be helping the university out. The Wall Street Journal (hat tip to Bruce Pascoe) broke down NBA players' total earnings by college, and the Wildcats finished No. 3 on that list. Since 1985, when the NCAA tournament expanded to 64 teams, Arizona alumni have earned a total of $737,802,141 in the league, just behind North Carolina and Duke in that order. There's a fairly steep drop-off as Pac-12 rival and No. 10 school UCLA brought in just below $500,000,000.
• Jack Macgruder of FSAZ writes that finishing in the top four of the Pac-12 is huge, big and important when talking Pac-12 Tournament chances.

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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.

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Bruce Pascoe at the Arizona Daily Star had some good stuff on how oddly short Sidiki Johnson's Arizona Wildcats career was despite how different it was from the last early-season transfer of Kansas' Jeff Withey a couple years back. That article was followed up with an update on how the move could affect UA's Academic Progress Rating.

If anything Johnson's departure gives the Wildcats options should they look to add to their already stout recruiting class in 2012.

That said, it's slightly concerning that Miller has pulled in players that -- from afar -- spelled trouble from the beginning. Johnson played at four high schools and was dismissed for trouble-making at Oak Hill Academy just a year ago. Josiah Turner also went through a few high schools, was dismissed by Sacramento High for similar reasons before coming to Arizona and missing a shootaround in one game (granted, it appears Turner has stepped up and turned things around of late.)

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Thrilling, exciting, and shocking, with a little head scratching sum up the events of the past week just fine.

It all began with the basketball team traveling to New York City and arguably the most famous arena in sports; Madison Square Garden.  Arizona opened up the 2K Classic, Coaches vs Cancer tournament with a 81-72 victory over "host" St. Johns.   

It was a game many had focused on due to the Red Storm's athleticism as well as being the Wildcats first away game of this young season.

However, all the momentum of starting off 4-0 dissipated as Arizona came out of halftime sluggish versus Mississippi State, eventually losing by 10, 67-57. 

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• We know much about the Zendejas family legacy and the implications it holds in the rivalry between Arizona and the Arizona State Sun Devils. Jeff Metcalfe breaks down the rift in the Zendejas clan, including a point in which the Arizona Cardinals mascot, who was once Sparky, defaced a table at Max Zendejas' burrito shop in Tucson. I'm guessing Alex Zendejas doesn't get to add to that legacy. No, I'm hoping for that. Let's see what John Bonano can do.

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• He's baaaack. Yep, that's right. The Jaime Salazar experiment sure didn't work, and so back to Alex Zendejas the Arizona Wildcats go, according to the Arizona Daily Star. Honestly, the guy isn't that bad once you overlook the last two games of last season. At this point, however, the Wildcats have little choice but to return to the senior. Funny thing is, if this game against No. 10 Oregon happens to be close, well, wouldn't it be fitting for ol' Alexy to perhaps get a shot at redemption?
• Jeff Goodman tweeted that, indeed, big man hoops prospect Kaleb Tarczewski has cancelled his visits to both Kansas and Arizona. Odd considering he wanted to commit fairly soon, but I guess we'll just have to wait and see if coach Sean Miller can pull in a recruit that would make his 2012 class downright ridiculous.
• The Pac-12 men's basketball schedule was released, and the Wildcats have some goodies on the menu. There's a Dec. 17 game on CBS against Gonzaga, and Jan. 28th 2012's, ESPN College GameDay against the Washington Huskies.
• According to the Daily Star, Derek Earls might be the only guy who's not completely bummed out by how tough the frontend of this year's schedule is ... I'm guessing that he's just playing the optimist card, because it doesn't seem like Arizona can be all that excited about learning from loses.
• The Daily Wildcat writes that for the football team, it's all about maturity, or lack thereof. Cornerback Trevin Wade had a great postgame quote, metaphorically comparing the errors to running stop signs. Not good.
• Here's a cool look from Pacific Takes at the conference schedule alignment and how it might form should the Pac-16 come to fruition.

Wilbur has made it to the Sweet 16 of the Capital One All-America Mascot team.

Alex Williams of the Daily Wildcat talks with an expert in sports medicine following the injury of Jonathan McKnight, the fifth Wildcat to go down with an ACL tear in the offseason. As it turns out, sounds like flat-out bad luck.

Max Strauss of Pro Interviews talks with former Arizona safety Nate Ness, who is now with the Miami Dolphins as teammates with former Wildcat runningback Nic Grigsby. Ness talks about jumping around with teams like the Browns, Jets and Seahawks and his relationships with some players and coaches he's met along the way.

A little preview of Arizona over at The X Log.

Our own Mike Schmitz writes for the DW that Brandon Ashley has been courted by Sean Miller since his freshman season. It also helped a bit that Miller pulled in good buddies Nick Johnson and Josiah Turner, who have played with Ashley on the AAU Oakland Soldiers.

• Unlike players taken picks after former Arizona forward Derrick Williams, the No. 2 overall pick had money coming his way even before the lockout. With an Under Armour deal in his pocket, he's not living like a scrub -- those poor second round picks are in limbo, and they don't have the shoe signings and other marketing forces that could help them get by, let alone buy a BMW.
• Williams also shouts out University Boulevard clothing company Finally Made, an homage to his two years of growth in Tucson.

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