Andre Iguodala, who played two seasons at the UA, said that he was so consumed by the pressure of playing that he did not "have any fun off the court."

DAVID SANDERS / ARIZONA DAILY STAR 2002

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Two of the me-first, early-departure principals involved in the downswing of Arizona basketball, Philadelphia 76ers forward Andre Iguodala and Los Angeles Clippers swingman Marcus Williams, last week described an unhappy insight into their Tucson days.

"It was painful,'' Williams told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. "We won 20 games but the standards there are so high. The last few games it was like no one wanted to be there. It got nasty.''

The high-maintenance Iguodala told Sports Illustrated: "I don't miss college life at all. I was so focused on trying to play on the court that I didn't have any fun off the court.''

Perhaps it has been an excess of negative karma that helped to scuttle the Wildcats in the era of I'm-in-this-for-me players such as Iguodala and Williams. But it should also be a reminder of what the players go through in a high-stress program and reinforce the idea why elite-level players sign with Arizona. It isn't to make the dean's list.

In March, Forbes ranked, by overall value tied to everything from ticket revenue to alumni donations, the top college basketball programs. The top five: 1, North Carolina; 2, Kentucky; 3, Louisville; 4, Arizona; 5, Duke. It estimated the individual value of those five programs in excess of $22 million each.

In UA hoops, the warm-and-fuzzy boat sailed years ago.

One of the enduring personalities of UA sports, former lineman and athletic administrator Clarence "Stub'' Ashcraft, died Friday night of natural causes. He was 89.

Ashcraft unofficially owns the consecutive-games record at Arizona Stadium. He watched 395 UA home football games from 1945 to 2007. I saw him at the press elevator for last year's home finale, against Oregon. Stub was in a wheelchair, and in failing health, but would not miss a game.

He played at Arizona from 1938 to 1941 after becoming an all-state lineman at Phoenix Union High School. No conversation with Stub was complete without his version of Arizona's epic 1941 game at Notre Dame (a 38-7 Irish victory).

Stub was the UA's athletic facilities coordinator for 17 seasons; he retired in 1983 after being The Man in Charge of Everything at UA games at Bear Down Gym, the new McKale Center, Arizona Stadium and Sancet Field. He is survived by Jane Ashcraft, his wife of 59 years. Services are pending.

Jay John's decision to accept a position on new Cal basketball coach Mike Montgomery's staff last week ended speculation that he would return to Tucson and replace Kevin O'Neill on Lute Olson's staff.

The man most likely to get that job is former Arizona State assistant coach Russ Pennell, who was Rob Evans' top assistant with the Sun Devils for six seasons.

That might not go down easily with Arizona Wildcat fans, but Pennell fits three needs Olson has: availability, affordability and the fact that he would be no threat to Olson as a possible successor. Nor would it be a surprise if Olson makes a further change on his coaching staff when the O'Neill situation is settled.

Pennell is coaching the top Phoenix AAU team, the Arizona Premier, a team that includes mega-prospect Matt Carlino, a Gilbert sophomore-to-be who was offered an Arizona scholarship when he was 13.

Masters champ Trevor Immelman had some success in Tucson. He reached the final group of four at the inaugural WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship in 2007. He lost in the semifinals to eventual champ Henrik Stenson but earned $575,000. This year, Immelman again was ousted by Stenson, in 25 holes, the longest match of the tournament. … Former UA football coach Dick Tomey not only lost former UA safety Jeff Hammerschmidt from his San Jose State coaching staff this spring, he has now lost another former UA safety, the personable and hard-working David Fipp. Typical of his generosity, Tomey helped Fipp join the San Francisco 49ers coaching staff last week. Fortunately, Tomey was able to hire as his defensive coordinator Kent Baer, who has served in the same capacity at a Pac-10-record four schools: ASU, Stanford, Cal and Washington. … While preparing for the on-going Jordan Brand Classic at Madison Square Garden this weekend, incoming UA point guard Brandon Jennings taped an interview with ESPN in which he named Gilbert Arenas, Mike Bibby and Salim Stoudamire as his three favorite UA guards. Stoudamire? "He's a lefty like me who never misses,'' Jennings told ESPN.

UA athletic director Jim Livengood will not, he says, "keep up with the Joneses'' and build an indoor football facility like the one Arizona State is building for about $18 million. "Our issue in August isn't the heat as much as it is the monsoon," he said. "There are other ways to spend that much money. We need to put down an artificial-type surface, yes, and we probably will. But we won't be spending money just because someone else is." … When New Mexico and Arizona play a Tuesday-Wednesday series at Kindall/Sancet Stadium, it will be old home week. The Lobos start three former Tucson high school standouts: freshman catcher Rafael Neda of Amphi, who led the club in hitting, .378, through Friday; junior second baseman Mike Brownstein of Sahuaro, hitting .323; and DH Drew McDonald, also of Sahuaro, who is hitting .253. The Lobos' pitching coach is Ken Jacome, former head coach at Pueblo High School and a two-year graduate assistant coach at Arizona. … Nick Candrea, brother of UA softball coach Mike Candrea, has been elected to the Arizona Baseball Coaches' Hall of Fame. He spent 30 years coaching at Phoenix Washington High School, winning the 1986 state title. Now, much like his brother's baseball-to-softball change, Nick is the softball coach at Paradise Valley Community College.

Amazing how things have changed in the UA-ASU softball series. As a freshman in 2005, Sun Devil pitcher Katie Burkhart gave up 16 hits and 10 runs to Arizona in a 10-3 loss. Last season, she lost a pair of 1-0 games to Taryne Mowatt in which Mowatt pitched a no-hitter and a two-hit shutout. Now, you can make a strong case that Burkhart, not Mowatt, is the best pitcher in college softball. … UCLA last week predictably hired Tennessee assistant Nikki Caldwell to be its women's basketball coach. She will be paid $300,000 annually. The UA hired another coach with Tennessee ties, Niya Butts, for $200,000. The qualifications for Butts and Caldwell are nearly the same. But the cost of living in L.A. is a significant issue, thus the separation in their salaries. … At Arizona, Richard Jefferson's top average was 11.3 points a game. He did not make the All-Pac-10 team. But in his just-completed seventh NBA season, Jefferson averaged 22.6 points and became such an aggressive force that he attempted 679 free throws. Both totals were in the top 10 for the NBA regular season. He has earned his NBA market-rate salary, which this year was $12.2 million. Now comes the good part: Over the next three years, Jefferson will be paid $13.2 million, $14.2 million and $15 million, which will give him a career total of $81 million by age 31. And then he will be eligible for a final contract.

Ironwood Ridge High School state championship basketball coach Brian Peabody was presented the Dick McConnell Coach of the Year award Wednesday at the ninth annual banquet of Tucson high school coaches. Distinguished former prep coaches, such as McConnell (who was Peabody's coach at Sahuaro), Ed Nymeyer and Roland LaVetter were in attendance.

Peabody then took his Tucson AAU team to Denver for the Double Pump Spring Basketball Classic, which opened Friday. Peabody has players from seven Tucson high schools, including Santa Rita's 6-foot-8-inch Darnell Shumpert.

This is a critical weekend for Shumpert, who helped Santa Rita to the state title game in 4A-II this season. He is being actively recruited by former Tucsonan Tom Asbury, now the head coach at Pepperdine, and by Penn State and Gonzaga.

Previous winners of the McConnell Award include Santa Rita's Jim Ferguson, Rincon's Rich Utter, Amphi's Pat Derksen, Tucson's Gary Lewis, Catalina's Jonathan Brown and Ironwood Ridge's Karl Pieroway.

While Pima College athletic director Edgar Soto sifts through about 15 applicants for the vacant PCC men's coaching job, likely to be filled in the next two weeks, Pieroway, who left Ironwood Ridge in 2007, is surely among the top candidates.

The UA's national championship men's and women's swimming teams held a celebratory banquet Friday night at the Jim Click Hall of Champions. It was a three-hour tribute to Frank Busch's "unique culture'' of team-first principles, in which no swimmer or coach is bigger than the team.

There were many tears and, more telling, the presence of former Arizona All-Americans such as Whitney Myers, Adam Ritter, Ryk Neethling, Simon Burnett and Bob Jackson, who still consider themselves part of a larger UA family.

The glow from those two NCAA titles should last through March 2009, when, on paper, Arizona again figures to be No. 1.