Arizona basketball: On Zeus in the NBA, Simon says, Hazzard's moment

'Looks like an NBA center' 

At the pace he was going through his first three seasons at Arizona, Kaleb Tarczewski wasn’t even on track to finish his UA career in the team’s all-time top 10 for rebounds.

For a 7-footer and a four-year starter, that wasn’t exactly a ringing endorsement for his NBA potential.

But, as UA coach Sean Miller has preached, it’s important to remember who Tarczewski was competing for rebounds with. The last few years, that has included Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, Stanley Johnson, Aaron Gordon, Brandon Ashley and Solomon Hill.

They are all gone in 2016, and it has done wonders for Tarczewski’s rebounding numbers.

“I have never seen him rebound the ball like he’s rebounding,” Miller said. “You look at him — he looks like an NBA center playing college.”

Wednesday against ASU, Tarczewski grabbed a career-high 15 rebounds, just two games after he pulled down a then-career-high 14.

Coming into this season, in fact, he had only two games in his career at McKale Center with 10-plus boards. In the last five games alone — home and away — Tarczewski is averaging 11.8, and on the season he’s getting 9.0 rebounds per game, a career-best mark.

Wednesday he tied UA great Sean Elliott for ninth all-time with 808 rebounds in his Wildcats career.

“As a big man, sometimes you can worry about not getting the ball or scoring enough,” Tarczewski said. “But somebody told me one time it’s not about the numbers, it’s about the letters. It’s about how many wins your team has.”

Tarczewski is now nine behind A.J. Bramlett, 16 behind Ernie McCray, 24 behind Michael Wright, 29 behind Bill Reeves and 53 behind Anthony Cook. Arizona has four regular-season games remaining.

“As he’s come down the home stretch of his senior year,” Miller said, “he’s made rebounding his calling.” 

The big number 

15:37: Time left in the first half when ASU made its first basket of the game on a Gerry Blakes layup. The Sun Devils fell behind 17-7, but went on a 10-0 run to tie it up. 

Simon says ... announce 

Some of Arizona’s favorite basketball alumni have been piling into McKale Center recently to watch the Wildcats.

Wednesday, an all-time favorite returned — 1997 Final Four most outstanding player Miles Simon.

Simon was on the ESPN2 broadcast, alongside play-by-play man Dave Pasch, who’s often paired with Bill Walton.

At halftime Simon chatted with his former coach, Lute Olson.

During the broadcast, Simon wished his father a happy 70th birthday and joked that he’s the second-best player born on Feb. 17.

The other — Michael Jordan. 

Other Simon says ... play 

Miller has begun to pare down his rotation to eight players or so, as the NCAA tournament nears.

Justin Simon, a true freshman guard, is not among the eight, at least right now. Simon checked into a game for the first time since Feb. 3 against Washington State, and by the time he did, the Wildcats were leading 82-51 with 6:07 remaining. 

Throwing in the towel? 

In the midst of a huddle late in the game, ASU coach Bobby Hurley threw a white towel into the air and out of the way.

At that point, the Sun Devils were losing by 24 points with almost 16 minutes remaining. 

Designated walk-on 

Every year, one walk-on player on Arizona’s bench naturally becomes a fan favorite. In the past, notable popular walk-ons have included Max Wiepking, David Bagga, Drew Mellon and Dondre Wise.

This year it’s Jacob Hazzard.

Hazzard checked in at the 3:48 mark to loud cheers; ZonaZoo chanted his name.

Then he made a fadeaway jumper and the crowd — and Arizona’s bench — went wild.

Hazzard, a senior, has scored 29 points in his career.