Coach McMillan back at Arizona

Per Bruce Pascoe's article, it's good to see Santa Rosa Junior College Coach Craig McMillan still so connected to his alma mater.

At the Arizona Red - Blue scrimmage, a number of the 1988 Wildcat team members, a squad that earned Arizona's first Final Four appearance, will be honored: "...From the 1988 team: Lute Olson, Craig Bergman, Jud Buechler, Sean Elliott, Steve Kerr, Kenny Lofton, Harvey Mason, Craig McMillan, Matt Muehlebach, Sean Rooks, Tom Tolbert, Joe Turner and manager Eric Meyer..."

Check out a few appearances from then-player Craig McMillan in this 1988 video:

 

The 2011-12 Santa Rosa Junior College Bear Cubs

Santa Rosa Junior College finished 21-9 last season before being stopped in the state playoffs by eventual champion City College of San Francisco.

So far this season, SRJC owns wins against Yuba, CCSF, Ohlone and Shasta with a lone loss to Diablo Valley.

In this 2011-12 season, Coach Craig McMillan's Bear Cubs are a mix of youth and experience with Henry Gill, Luke Aston and Sama Taku as starters from last year as well as Kevin Aronis and reserve Erik Hanson.

Jordan Salley and Connor Gillett have also returned after injuries interrupted their respective seasons.

The newbies are Air Force Academy transfer Myles Jerrett (brother of Arizona commit Grant Jerrett) plus a trio of local backcourters in Xavier McCall, Bobby Sharp and Max Fujii.

Two other new talents are guards Tyler Imhoff and Jake Ashby, the latter out of New Zealand.

McMillan has led SRJC for 12 years and here's his take on some of his talent: "Due to his size, Max Fujii had D-2 offers but wants to play D-1" -- Fujii has already totaled 24 points in a game against Ohlone and 21 versus Yuba ... "Sama Taku was All-League last season and is consistently one of our best players" -- Taku scored 29 points against Diablo Valley ... "Jordan Salley didn't get [academically] cleared at Montana State last year and played hurt for us" ... "Luke Aston missed some games with a sore knee last season but is back" ... "Bobby Sharp is a really good shooter and had seven 3's and 25 points against Shasta."

He added "we have six locals in our rotation." Asked about the styles of play he employs, McMillan said, "95% of the time we play man-to-man defense and it's a motion offense 95% of the time but we do have some set plays."

The Bear Cubs are one of those tough-to-defend teams because the roster is loaded with a bevy of unselfish outside sharpshooters who can't be left alone, mixed together with talents who can score inside. McMillan also noted that his bunch understands the concept of spacing which only adds to the difficulty to defend them.

McMillan's assistants are:

Maurice Thompson

Troy Stevenson

photo unavailable

Ryan Cook

Here's the SRJC roster:

* Max Fujii Point Guard 5-10 Freshman   
* Bobby Sharp Point Guard 6-0 Freshman
* Sama Taku Point Guard 6-1 Sophomore   
* Kevin Aronis Shooting Guard 6-3 Sophomore       
* Jacob Ashby Shooting Guard 6-2 Freshman   
* Tyler Imhoff Shooting Guard 6-1 Freshman   
* Xavier McCall Shooting Guard 6-3 Freshman   
* Luke Aston Small Forward 6-7 Sophomore   
* Connor Gillett Small Forward 6-5 Freshman   
* Erik Hansen Power Forward 6-5 Sophomore   
* Myles Jerrett Power Forward 6-5 Freshman   
* Henry Gill Center 6-7 Sophomore
* Jordan Salley Center 6-6 Sophomore