Ex-Arizona Wildcat Colton Smith fails to qualify for Wimbledon | Greg Hansen

– Arizona's 2025 tennis All-American and Big 12 champ Colton Smith discovered how difficult it is to qualify to play at Wimbledon. Last week, he was one of 128 male players in a qualifying tournament to get the final 16 spots in Wimbledon's main draw that begins Monday. Smith won in the first and second rounds before being eliminated in the third round. Smith entered the event ranked No. 188 in the world.

– I watched former Arizona center Henri Veesaar in 10 or 12 North Carolina games last season and am convinced he will play in the NBA for a decade or so. But he needed another year with the Tar Heels to build enough strength to appeal to NBA scouts. Now that the 52nd overall draft pick is an Atlanta Hawk, he will probably spend as much time in the weight room as on the gym floor. There's no way he can play the screen-and-roll game yet with the NBA's bigger, stronger 5-men. He is also a below-average defender, but his shooting skills will keep him in the league.

– UA track coach Andrew Dubs lost a significant piece to his coaching staff last week when Dino Dodig accepted an offer to become an assistant coach at USC. Dodig coached previously unknown Hollan Powers to fourth place in the NCAA women's heptathlon finals earlier this month. Dodig also coached freshman Antone Smith to an 11th-place finish in the NCAA in the triple jump; Hollan and Smith both set UA records this season. He coaches the long jump, triple jump and heptathlon/decathlon.

– I saw a few lists of Arizona's first-round NBA draft picks recently that didn't include Larry Demic. That's quite an omission. Demic was the No. 9 choice in the 1979 draft — the Magic Johnson draft — and went on to start 68 games for the New York Knicks before he began playing in the EuroLeague. Demic, a 6-9 power forward from Gary, Indiana, now 68, went on to have a career in the copy machine business. His senior season at Arizona made an impact; he became an All-Pac-10 player, averaging a double-double, 19.3 points and 10.8 rebounds. Hard to forget someone that prolific.

– When Wyndham Clark won the U.S. Open last week, he was greeted on the 18th green by his father, Randall Clark. Sound familiar? Randall was a regular on the Arizona tennis team in the mid '70s but afterward returned to his hometown, Denver. Wyndham didn't consider attending his father's alma mater. He chose Oklahoma State and later transferred to Oregon.