Arizona Wildcats basketball face rebuilding Northern Colorado at McKale Center
Arizona Daily Star
For the fourth game of their regular season, the Arizona Wildcats will receive the gift of perspective.
Sure, the Wildcats have been down to just seven or eight guys lately, with blown knees to Talbott Denny and Ray Smith, academic struggles to Chance Comanche, a sprained knee to Kadeem Allen and, of course, Allonzo Trier's ongoing eligibility issue.
But Northern Colorado, which will arrive at McKale Center on Monday as part of the Las Vegas Invitational multi-team event, nearly blew up last spring.
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The Bears fired coach B.J. Hill on April 21 while the school and an outside firm investigated NCAA rules violations, then the school self-imposed several recruiting restrictions and a postseason ban — with the possibility that the NCAA could add additional penalties later this season.
All that prompted two of the Bears' best players, forward Tanner Morgan and guard Anthony Johnson, to sit out an optional redshirt year while waiting for the smoke to clear.
It's also kept new coach Jeff Linder busy since he was hired on the late date of May 1. The former Boise State associate head coach has been scrambling to assemble a competitive team in the Big Sky with a handful of returnees, juco transfers, international players and a four-year transfer, all packaged around dynamic point guard Jordan Davis.
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So far, the Bears are 0-2 against Division I teams, having lost 88-72 on Saturday to a Santa Clara team that is rebuilding under coach Herb Sendek. Northern Colorado is rated No. 324 out of 351 Division I teams on Kenpom.com, and Big Sky coaches picked the Bears to finish 11th out of 12 teams in their conference.
Arizona is 3-0, ranked No. 10 in the AP Top 25 and No. 11 by Kenpom, picked to finish second behind Oregon in the Pac-12.
Two different lives.
Linder discussed what it's been like with the Bears so far this season:
He gave Morgan and Johnson the option to redshirt.
"At the end of the day, it was the right thing to do. Anthony Johnson averaged 16 points last season. I could use that. But sometimes you gotta make some hard decisions. … I felt it probably wouldn't be fair to them in their last year (not to have a shot at the postseason) so we told them they could play this year or redshirt or have an opportunity to win a conference championship and play in the NCAA tournament next season, and we've got (ASU transfer) Andre Spight coming in next season, too."
He's found positives in the losses to Butler and Santa Clara, both of which were on the road.
"Even with a young team of freshman and sophomores, at Butler, we weren't scared of the moment. We weren't able to match them, but at the end of game, I went around to our players saying, 'This was your first game, this was your first game, and this was your first game.' It's going to be great for them not to be scared of this environment."
He's upbeat even as the self-sanctions put reins on his early recruiting efforts.
The Bears will lose three scholarships in 2017-18 and 2018-19, have four fewer official visits to offer, will have to reduce off-campus recruiting by 20 days, go seven weeks without recruiting communications and eight weeks without being able to offer an unofficial visit.
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"In terms of building the program, it's just a small little pothole on the road. Even with the self-imposed sanctions, we were still able to go out and sign two good players early. We told our staff we'll just adjust accordingly."
Even with the NCAA issues, Northern Colorado was a fit for Linder for reasons on and off the court. Both he and his wife are from the Denver area — about an hour away from Northern Colorado's Greeley campus — and his parents still live there.
"That wasn't necessarily the attraction to it. I thought there are some good jobs and bad jobs and having been around the western United States, I always believed Northern Colorado could be a good job.
"The goal of this deal is to get in the NCAA tournament and win conference championships, and Northern Colorado can do that in the Big Sky, knowing the job that (former coaches) Tad Boyle and coach Hill did early on. That it's home just makes it even sweeter."
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He's building an up-tempo system similar to that at Boise State.
The Broncos were competitive in two losses to Arizona last season, once at McKale Center and once in the Wooden Legacy event in Southern California. Linder's philosophy values a fast pace and ample spacing, while aiming to wear down visitors at Greeley's 4,600-foot elevation.
"We'll still value shooting at every position, hopefully 1-5, like we had with (skilled shooting center) Nick Duncan last year. Both games (against UA) were really good games. Coach (Sean) Miller and their staff do a tremendous job not just of Xs and Os, but of getting them to make winning plays on the defensive end.
"They're a reflection of their head coach and they're tough. Boise State was an experienced team, a talented team that was able to play with them. But at the end of the day, they made more plays."
Monday's game
Northern Colorado (1-2) at No. 10 Arizona (3-0)
When: 7 p.m.
TV: Pac-12 Arizona.
Radio: 1290-AM, 107.5-FM.