News and notes from Boulder, Colorado, where the Arizona Wildcats are taking on Colorado.
Scary time for Baltic-born CatsAlways appearing to be plenty motivated, Arizona guard Kerr Kriisa had even more to play for this weekend.
“I knew was a big day with Estonia Independence Day and everything going on in the region,” said UA associate head coach Jack Murphy, who was the lead recruiter for Kriisa and the Tubelis brothers. “It’s a big deal to see what’s happening in Ukraine right now. That impacts guys. The center of the world right now is in the backyard of some of our guys on the team.
There was only one issue: The Wildcats charter flight out of Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport was scheduled to be in the air just as another critical game in the Pac-12 race — between USC and Oregon — was expected to finish. Among them: Moving hands to the left or right like windshield wipers, answering “Brick” when someone says “Let’s build a house,” and the old standard, “You’re Not Gonna Make It,” sung to the tune of Twisted Sister’s “We’re Not Gonna Take It.”
Both of them could have come back to take advantage of the extra year of eligibility afforded to athletes who participated in the COVID-stricken 2020-21 season but Battey said he felt it was time to move on.