Bear Down Wildcats

CBCat wrote:
Absolutley loved that team and Wright was my favorite to watch.
Can anybody share oersonal knowledge how Lute came to recruit Wright and why he chose AZ all the way from Chicago? Thanks

I believe it was our own board resident Gimino who discussed this on 1290 the other day. This was in the days before all the social media, the focus
on recruiting rankings, etc. Arizona got word that Wright was interested in Arizona so they went to visit him at Farragut and then got him
in for an official visit. He had a couple other schools interested (can't remember which ones) but committed on his official and never visited any other schools.
(Please correct the parts I got wrong Anthony.)

That team was so damn good. How many pros/draftees on that team? Arenas, Walton, Jefferson, Woods, and Wright? And despite never being a pro, Gardner was an all american several years and won the Naismith Award. Not the most loaded team we have ever had, but it's up there. Plus three of those guys left early, imagine what things would have been like the next year. Frye, Salim, and Bynum were all on the following year's team.

I might be biased only being around the Arizona teams from about 97 until about 2006 on various levels, that group on a more personal level, but I can't think of a better group of guys in all of those years. Walton, Wright, Arenas, RJ, Wessell, and Woods were all really cool guys who didn't act like they were big shots and mingled with anyone like they were just another student. I was never around Edgerson at that time, but have run into him several times since and he's a friendly guy. Gardner wasn't a jerk by any means, but he was the only one in that group who you could tell was Mr. Basketball without knowing the program or someone telling you. That was a special group. Won't name names, but the teams before and after, minus Iggy and a few others, were generally standoffish or walked around like they were the kings of Tucson (which some were).

Best starting 5 to me.

And if Arizona beats Duke that year, guarantee you Michael Wright gets more than a free-agent tryout in the NBA.

Dammit. So much to write about this. So aggrieved. Wright was the best power forward in the Lute Olson era not named Anthony Cook or Pete Williams--and even then, in the discussion.

He did not deserve this fate. I can't even bring myself to type RIP to him yet.

catgrad97 wrote:Wright was the best power forward in the Lute Olson era not named Anthony Cook or Pete Williams--and even then, in the discussion.

Agreed. I started following UA BBall when I showed up in 95 and the teams Wright were on were incredible and so entertaining. It was hard to pick a favorite on those teams but Jefferson and Wright had to be there, with Wright taking a slight advantage for me. He was the best true power forward I've seen since I started following. An animal on the blocks and seemed like everything he shot went in at some point - he must've rebounded 90% of his misses and put them back it seemed, sometimes getting 3 shots with 2 boards before they went in, but always finished the job. He was not the highest jumper but was the quickest to the ball and was always in the right spot. If he were a couple inches taller he would have had a very nice NBA career I'm sure.

Crazy.

Ray Owes and Ben Davis were no slouches either and are two guys people tend to forget about. Both were around 15 and 9 type of guys.

Wright was a second-round pick of the Knicks. Surprised me that he left. Didn't surprise me that he didn't stick. Too short for PF. But Mr. Consistent at Arizona. If he had RJ's personality, he'd be far more popular.

Only big mistake was stepping over end line in tournament game, which gave ball back to Oklahoma. Eduardo Najera then banged a three for the win. But we would've had to vacate that game anyway.

When the team struggled, the best play was to get it to him and watch him draw a foul. Good FT shooter, who was once whistled for taking too long.

If he had returned: Gardner, Stoudamire, Walton, Wright, Frye, with Ricky Anderson in the rotation. Without him, Sweet 16. With him? Who knows.

Read that Roz, who had Illinois background, is the guy who landed him. Said Wright was so quiet he never really got to know him.

Agree that that was our best starting five. But thin bench.

http://espn.go.com/blog/cleveland-caval ... ael-wright" target="_blank

Richard Jefferson remembers former Arizona teammate Michael Wright

NEW YORK -- Richard Jefferson can’t remember the specifics of the last time he saw his former University of Arizona teammate Michael Wright. But he remembers the feeling playing alongside the "big man" who was the same height as Jefferson at 6-foot-7 yet regularly went toe-to-toe with behemoths down low.

"He was the toughest guy that I’ve ever played with to this day," Jefferson told ESPN.com before the Cleveland Cavaliers' shootaround at Madison Square Garden on Friday morning. "Because he was a quiet guy, undersized power forward and just his work ethic and how he approached things."

Wright was found dead Tuesday, his body covered in black garbage bags in the back of an SUV in Brooklyn. He was 35.

Jefferson, preparing to play a game against the New York Knicks on Friday night just miles away from where Wright was discovered, was still processing the news as investigators continued to work the case.

"We don’t know a lot of the details, and unfortunately, because of the high quality of journalism, there was about four different reports -- suicide, not homicide, this, that," Jefferson said. "So it’s tough to speak on something that you don’t know what any of the details are, how truthful any of the details are. But it is a really, really sad, messed-up situation to have a friend murdered."

Jefferson and Wright entered Arizona together in the fall of 1998. They capped their collegiate experience as juniors, leading the Wildcats to the NCAA national title game, losing to Shane Battier and Duke 82-72. They both declared for the draft after that season, Jefferson going No. 13 in the first round to Houston before being traded to New Jersey and Wright taken No. 38 in the second round by the Knicks.

Though Jefferson has carved out a pro career that has lasted 15 seasons and Wright never played a game in the NBA before finding a niche overseas, he insists Wright was the better player in college.

"I didn’t even know who he was," Jefferson said. "He wasn’t even on a top-25 or top-30 [recruits] chart and all of the sudden he came to Arizona and he was our best player. And it wasn’t because of some crazy physical ability. He wasn’t tall. He wasn’t super fast or athletic. He just worked and worked extremely hard."

Wright averaged 15.1 points on 57.5 percent shooting and 8.4 rebounds in his three seasons with Arizona. Jefferson averaged 11.2 points on 49 percent shooting and 5.0 rebounds. Wright's most memorable game might have been helping Arizona to an 80-61 rout of Michigan State in the Final Four while matching up with his mirror image for the Spartans.

"He was Zach Randolph. That’s who he was," Jefferson said. "You look at Zach Randolph’s game and he was a carbon copy of that. It was eerie. We played against Zach in the Final Four and it was eerie watching two left-handers go against each other that just couldn’t jump two inches and would just bang you and battle you. I think Zach was a little surprised to find someone that was as similar to him."

Jefferson said he has been in touch with former Arizona players and teammates on a text message chain in recent days as they all share stories about Wright while searching for answers.

"We came in as freshmen together, played all three years," Jefferson said. “It was ... Yeah ... It’s ... There are no words, because knowing Mike and knowing who he was and what he meant to a lot of people, it’s just tough to fathom him going down in just pretty much a senseless killing."

Tribute at the end:

Two of Michael Wright’s most prominent former teammates, Richard Jefferson and Luke Walton, are leading fundraising efforts to establish an endowment honoring the former UA forward, who was found dead in New Jersey earlier this month.

Walton and Jefferson each pledged $13,700 toward an endowment intended to benefit a former UA athlete who comes back to school to finish an undergraduate degree. Memphis coach Josh Pastner agreed to chip in $5,000 while former UA manager William French pledged $1,500. A number of former players, managers and coaches are giving $1,000, including: Lute Olson, Jack Murphy, Jason Gardner, Miles Simon, Peter Hansen, Justin Wessel, Jason Stewart and Sean Hennick, along with longtime super fan/donor George Kalil.

The campaign has collected pledges of over $50,000 so far, with a goal of $100,000.


http://tucson.com/sports/blogs/pascoe/a ... &id=201408" target="_blank

So nice. Have so many loaded ex-players that reaching $100,000 should be a breeze.

Richard Jefferson is an awesome human

Alieberman wrote:Richard Jefferson is an awesome human

Werent his parents missionaries?

Yes.

It's still shocking that this is real. It's nice to everyone come together, even Josh Pastner to contribute to such a great cause.

So freaking sad.

Neither the Daily Star article or the referenced report from North Jersey.com make any mention of a motive, which is kind of crappy reporting.

Hope those two pieces of shit rot in jail the rest of their lives.

LBdCactus wrote:Neither the Daily Star article or the referenced report from North Jersey.com make any mention of a motive, which is kind of crappy reporting.

Hope those two pieces of shit rot in jail the rest of their lives.

Agreed! Exactly my thoughts too.

Can't report what they ain't saying. (See: Trier thread)

http://newjersey.news12.com/news/arrest ... 1.12552128" target="_blank

No motive has been released for why Wright was killed.

They either don't know. Don't believe what they've been told. Or aren't saying for strategic reasons.

Happens all the time.

Drugged him, bashed his skull in, then dumped the body could just be a simple robbery. Maybe MW kept a lot of cash around the house. Since this took planning it wasn't a spur of the moment crime.

Well, one of the murderers was known as King Victor of Brooklyn. So the dude likely has some Spanish in him (Victor) and he is a Latin Kings gang member. That gang prefixes their birth names/gang names with King. If you check his photo, he has notches in his eyebrows. 3 on the left and possible 2 on the right. 3+2=5, and the Latin Kings are associated with the number 5 because of their alliance with the People nation (5 pointed crown, 5 pointed star, rolling dice with the 5 showing, etc). If he isn't a Latin King, you have to be involved in some shady stuff at a high level to have a nickname like that in a tough place like Brooklyn. Otherwise you are food for the real stickup kids.

Few possible angles: The rumor of Michael Wright's sexual preferences and the men found out -homosexuality is one of the biggest sins to gangs, cannot recall if he was Muslim, they also are perceived to be intolerant of that; Wright got into a financial bind and "sold his soul" to get out and couldn't come up with the payback money; Wright double crossed them and this was revenge; Wright stumbled upon something shady that went down and the men were worried he was going to sing. Based on my being around Wright several times in my youth and what everyone else says about the dude, the last option would be my guess.

The robbery angle doesn't make sense. Wright didn't make NBA money, not sure someone like him was making more than 100k a year. You stumble across cash Wright kept in the house, you wait for him to leave and you stage a burglary, you dont kill the dude. Unless there was some sort of business deal where they set him up, he shows up with a suitcase of money and they robbed him. In that event, you set him up and get the baby gangsters and kids trying to make a name for themselves to do it. Then again, a long-term Latin Kings gang member or a high-level goon (needed to have that nickname), can make whatever cash Michael Wright has on hand in a day or two on the streets without killing anyone.

Pascoe isn't the only Columbo.

Michael wright was in a gang? Wut?

C'mon, can we not do that? Please??

That's a whole lot of Gangland episodes.