Michael Wright, one of two players to start every game for Arizona last season, is skipping his senior year to enter the NBA draft.
“I think we are all working toward the goal of being professionals and I think this is my time to go after it with all my energies,” the 6-foot-7-inch, 238-pound forward said Monday.
Wright had 10 points and 11 rebounds in Arizona’s loss to Duke last week in the national championship game.
On Sunday, forward Richard Jefferson, a key to Arizona’s drive to the championship game, also declared for the draft after saying earlier that he’d be back next season. Jefferson averaged 11.3 points, 5.4 rebounds and 2.7 assists in 35 games.
– Jan van Breda Kolff is leaving Pepperdine to become coach at St. Bonaventure. He led Vanderbilt to an NCAA berth in 1997 and the NIT three times. He had a 47-18 record at Pepperdine, reaching the NCAA tournament in 2000 and scoring a first-round upset over Indiana. Pepperdine went 22-9 this season, advancing to the second round of the NIT.
– Assistant John Phillips was elevated to head coach at Tulsa, getting a four-year contract with the NIT champions. Phillips, an assistant for four years, also coached two years at Oklahoma State and was a 17-year high school head coach in the Tulsa area. He was hired at Tulsa by Illinois coach Bill Self.
– Connecticut basketball coach Jim Calhoun passed up a lucrative offer from South Carolina, the Journal Inquirer of Manchester reported Monday. Calhoun, who led the Huskies to a national championship in 1999, turned down South Carolina’s latest offer Sunday.
