Kerr to be GM

This coming from Paul Coro over at the Republic.

The Phoenix Suns plan to name Steve Kerr as the team's President of Basketball Operations and General Manager in the coming days, replacing Mike D'Antoni as the team GM to keep his focus on coaching.

Kerr, an original partner in Suns Managing Partner Robert Sarver's 2004 purchase of the franchise, will complete his duties as a TNT analyst for the Eastern Conference finals before the team makes the announcement next week. Kerr, who helped facilitate Sarver's opportunity to buy the Suns, has been one of Sarver's trusted advisors in basketball decisions over the past three years.

D'Antoni will maintain the title of Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations but will report to Kerr, a former University of Arizona star and Suns player who won has five NBA championship rings from playing with Chicago and San Antonio. Kerr has worked as a TNT analyst since 2003.

Into the losers bracket we go....

ASU softball was downed 2-0 by Northwestern. Now we play Depaul tomorrow at 7 in the losers bracket.

UGH.

The northwestern pitcher threw a 1 hit shutout. She was on fire.

Scherzer finally signs with Dbacks

Another round of last-minute negotiations with agent Scott Boras ended positively for the Diamondbacks on Wednesday night as they came to terms with first-round pick Max Scherzer.-azcentral.com

Scherzer strikes deal.....(azcentral.com)


I'm glad this deal finally worked out. Scott Boras can be a horrible agent to try and work with and if the Dbacks couldnt hammer out a deal Scherzer would go back to the draft. Now the Dbacks have a great young arm in their system.

100 things....

As the temperatures go into the 100’s I have complied a list of 100 things that make Arizona a great sports state. This list includes, people, places, memorabilia, history, food, events, clothes, all sorts of things. IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER. This list will include University of Arizona things too, just a heads up. If any of these need clearing up, post in the comments section and I’ll try to clear them up for you. So as you’re complaining about the heat just think about all these things that make Arizona great. And remember, it’s a dry heat.


1. 2001 World Series

2. Luis Gonzalez

3. Brandon Webb

4. Randy Johnson

5. Curt Schilling

6. Bob Brenly

7. Thom Brennaman

8. Bank One Ballpark

9. Teal and purple

10. Sedona red, sand, and black

11. Diana Taurasi

12. Phoenix Mercury

13. US Airways Center

14. The Vet

15. The Gorilla

16. Triple overtime finals

17. Jerry Colangelo

18. Sir Charles

19. Al McCoy

20. SHAZZAM!

21. Steve Nash

22. Coach D’Antoni

23. Bryan Colangelo

24. Thunder Dan

25. Cooperstown

26. Amare

27. Purple and Orange

28. Hairy and Hairyson

29. Tucson Sidewinders

30. Arizona Sting

31. Super Bowl XXX and Super Bowl XLII

32. Glendale Arena

33. Phoenix Flames

34. Phoenix Phantoms

35. Arizona Diamonbacks

36. Phoenix Coyotes

37. Jeremy Roenick

38. Bulin Wall

39. Wayne Gretzky

40. Brett Hull

41. CuJo

42. Shane Doan

43. Connie Hawkins

44. KJ

45. Paul Westphal

46. Arizona Rattlers

47. Two Time AFL Champs

48. Danny White

49. Phoenix RoadRunners

50. Arizona Cardinals

51. Phoenix Cardinals

52. Jerry Maguire

53. I’m a Sun Devil Jerry!

54. Glendale Stadium

55. Jake Plummer

56. Cardiac Cards

57. Cardinal Red

58. “They are who we thought they were!”

59. 1998 Playoffs

60. Pat Tillman

61. Emmit Smith

62. KTAR

62. Hohokam Park

63. Cactus League

64. Spring Training games

65. Surprise Stadium Complex

66. Phoenix Roadrunners

67. University of Arizona

68. Lute Olson

69. Mike Bibby

70. 1997 National Champs

71. 4 Final 4 appearances

72. Agent Zero

73. Steve Kerr

74. Jason Terry

75. Teddy Bruschi

76. Insight Bowl

77. Fiesta Bowl

78. 2007 BCS National Championship

79. Desert Swarm

80. 3-time national baseball champs- U of A

81. Territorial Cup

82. Dennis Erickson

83. Whizzer White

84. Sal Bando

85. Dustin Pedroia

86. Barry Bonds

87. 1987 Rose Bowl

88. Reggie Jackson

89. Paul LoDuca

90. Pat Murphy

91. T-Sizzle

92. Fat Lever

93. Ike Diogu

94. Phil Mickelson

95. Frank Kush

96. 19-0 Shutout of Nebraska

97. Todd Heap

98. Herb Sendek

99. 5-time national baseball champions- ASU

100. Arizona State University

Missing From List: Bill Bidwell

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5 Things you need to know about....Monmouth

One of our readers, Mark, has broken down the 4 teams in the ASU Regional for the College World Series. First up is Monmouth College....


Monmouth (36-22-1, Northeastern Conference Champions)

Monmouth University, a private 4-year University, is located in West Long Branch, New Jersey.

1st baseman Andy Meyers is the clear offensive leader of this team, putting up a .395 batting average, 9 homeruns, 64 RBI's, and a .605 slugging percentage in 58 games.

UConn transfer Kyle Messineo was successful 41 times on 45 attempts stealing bases this year. He led the team in On Base Percentage (.484) as well, so limiting Messineo's impact will be a key to putting away the Hawks.

Pitchers Ryan Buch (9-2, 2.17 ERA) and Brad Brach (9-2, 2.72 ERA, 6 complete games, 4 SHO) will be the featured starters for the Hawks during this regional. Lefty Matt Coulson (4-3, 5.52) is also dangerous, pitching 7.2 innings and only giving up one run in the NEC championship game. Look for Brad Brach to be the starter against the #1 seed Devils.

Monmouth relies way too much on their starting pitching to be effective playing from behind. Matt Frazier (3-1, 4.87 ERA) is their only effective long relief pitcher, and their closer Justin Esposito (3-1, 2.14 ERA, 10 saves, 9 K/9) is solid, but this is the only production Monmouth has had from their bullpen all season. If the Sun Devils jump out to an early lead, you can put the Hawks to bed.

CWS Preview

Projected CWS field: Vanderbilt, Texas, Arizona State, South Carolina, Cal State Fullerton, Clemson, Rice, Arkansas

Who will win it all: Arizona State

Thats according to Kyle Peterson of ESPN.

The rest of the article is linked but that is the most important part.

CWS Outlook......(ESPN.com)

Happy Memorial Day

Have a good memorial day guys, go have some beers, cook up a bbq and enjoy this past weeks 4 game sweep against the Astros by the Diamondbacks. Ps. its my Aunt's new puppy, already a little Dbacks fan.

ASU = Super Regional Hosts

Arizona State University was selected Sunday as one of 16 regional host sites for the 2007 NCAA Baseball Championships, the NCAA announced. This marks the 17^th time that Arizona State has been selected to host, and the fifth time in the past seven years. -thesundevils.com


ASU Selected host........(thesundevils.com)

Just read this...

Here at SportsCactus we have taken a decidedly pro-ASU view on things seeing as how we are ASU students. That being said what happens down south in Tucson isn't really our concern. As long as we beat them I will be happy. So without further ado, here is the most recent article from Tucson. Take a gander...


http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/05270525stinkytucson.html

Tocchet pays price for gambling

From the AP, Former NHL player Rick Tocchet pleaded guilty Friday to running a sports gambling ring, but might not have to serve any jail time.

Tocchet, who played for Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, Boston, Washington and the Coyotes in a career that spanned 22 seasons, is on leave from his job as an assistant coach for the Coyotes. He pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to promote gambling and promoting gambling. Such offenses usually do not carry a jail sentence for first-time offenders.


Tocchet pleads guilty.........(azcentral.com)

ASU-2007 Pac-10 Champs!!!

Well the Devils won their first Pac-10 Championship since the North and South divisions joined together. Jeff Metcalfe has the article and explains it better than I could.


ASU Clinches Pac-10 Title.....(azcentral.com)

I do have some pictures and a video of the final out though.

Tough past few days.

First Arizona loses the 2011 Super Bowl to Dallas.

Then the Hawks get a top-3 pick in the lottery meaning that the Suns dont get their pick.

Brandon Webb continues to get owned by Colorado...(how does this happen), though thankfully Dbacks pulled out a win.

Some good things though,

ASU Baseball plays Arizona for the Pac-10 title this week. If ASU wins 1/3 games they will be outright Pac-10 Champs. woohoo.

ASU Softball is progressing nicely towards their run to the Championship.

Chad Green was stable enough to be moved out of ICU.

So thats about it, off the ASU game soon, and hopefully with have some great news/pictures

Eyes on the....next season?

Well folks, thats all she wrote. Spurs move on to the Western Conference Championship game. Suns move on to the offseason. Maybe next year will finally be the year. Who knows. The Suns had as good a chance as any this year to win the title. Things didnt go their way between suspensions and foul calls and all sorts of things. Spurs win, Suns lose. Game over.

Fallout from last night

All of this is from the Arizona Republic....


Spurs forward Robert Horry said Wednesday that his two-game suspension for his Game 4 foul on Steve Nash might have had more to do with the person getting fouled rather than the foul's severity.

"If it would have been anybody but Steve Nash it probably wouldn't have been two games," Horry told reporters after the Spurs' shooting session. "But Steve Nash is a great player, MVP, focal point for the NBA now so they have to protect their players."

Horry downplayed the action.

"I was going to try and take a charge and then I thought . . . he's too fast," Horry said. "So I'm like, 'I'll just bump him a little bit,' and as you know, the great acting skill Steve has, when you hit the floor and flop, and he's like 'Oh, I'm dying over here.' ...

"It happens. I really wasn't trying to hurt him. I like Steve, he's a good person, but sometimes in the playoffs things are blown out of perspective."

Pop trivia

After years of being typecast as classy and boring, the Spurs' reputation has taken a beating in this physical series.

"It's ridiculous," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "All of sudden we're the old Detroit Pistons. I've been trying for a decade. We've been working every year and . . . the last three days we're there."

Free throw

Asked if he knew "Stu sucks" shirts (targeting NBA executive Stu Jackson, who made the suspension recommendations) were being sold outside US Airways Center, D'Antoni said, "So my shipment finally came in, huh?"

He's baaaaaack

Chad Goldstein #*

F

6-9

241

Jr.

--

--

Scottsdale, Ariz.

Desert Mountain H.S.

DESERT MOUNTAIN HS '04: Twice earned all-state 5A honors (Arizona), including selection to first team as a senior, second team as a junior... Also named to Jewish Sports Review All-America first team, along with fellow Aggie freshman Jesse Lopez Low... Key stats: averaged 19.5 ppg, 12.7 rpg, 3.8 bpg, 2.0 apg as a senior, 15 ppg, 10 rpg, 3.6 bpg as a junior... Also 54 percent from the field, 77 percent from the line in 2003-04... Senior season included selections to All-Scottsdale, All-Desert Valley Region, East Valley Tribune all-state and Arizona Republic all-state first teams... Scored 33 points with 23 rebounds and six blocks in 2004 Arizona High School All-Star Game... Member of Arizona Stars AAU team for seven years... Also played two years of golf for DMHS.


He's back on the team as a walk-on. Welcome back Chad.

Loren Wade Trial Begins

A sad day in Arizona sports today as the Ex-ASU running back Loren Wade begins his trial in the death of former ASU football player, Brandon Falkner. We all know the story so there is no need to re-hash it but SportsCactus will be following the trial and providing updates as they become avaliable. Lets hope for everyones sake, it is a fair and fast trial.

How does Dirk celebrate stealing the MVP away from Nash?

Found this just strolling around the internet. You stay classy Dirk.

Horry, Diaw, Amare= Suspended

Ok well Big Shot Bob clearly deserved the 2 game suspension after shoulder checking Nash into the scorers table. Diaw deserves his one game suspension as well. Amare on the other hand, I don't think should have been suspended. Yes he came out far but so did Duncan and I see he will be escaping punishment once again. Stern has really screwed this one up. We know Stern is a fan of the old school, so obviously a team like San Antonio appeals to him. He doesn't want the Suns to succeed. It will feel really nice to take a 3-2 lead tomorrow in the series just to see the look on Stern's face.

Callaspo Arrested

Diamondback player Alberto Callaspo had been arrested for criminal damage and assault.

Phoenix police were called to a domestic abuse this afternoon around noon. They determined at that time they had probable cause to arrest Callapso.

...oops.

Steve Nash is a beast

Tony Parker's head met Steve Nash's nose, head on Sunday afternoon and guess what, Tony went down and Nash stood his ground. Score one for the Suns and MV3.

Ho hum....

It's been very slow these past two weeks. The Suns start their series against the Spurs today pitting the best regular season defense against the best regular season offense. The D'Backs are rolling along, they seem to be firing on all cylinders right now. ASU athletics are cruising along, the Devils baseball team is looking forward to another trip to the college world series as is the softball team. Not much else is going on. I'll be at the D'Backs game tomorrow, pictures will follow. Also later in the week after finals and whatnot are over and I have some free time I'm going to throw together a fun little feature in honor of the Suns series with the Crybabies....err...Spurs.

Bye Bye LA

Ding dong the witch is dead. The Suns worked the Lakers all night defeating them 119-110. I have nothing more to say. LA is done and the Suns move on. Raja Bell is a father and Kobe has quite the long offseason ahead of him.

Suns take down lakers in 5......(espn.com)