Sweet Sorrow as Bitter End Approaches at Arizona

The years seem to have whooshed past like fast breaks for Arizona basketball player Jacinda Sweet.

The senior guard who filled up the score book, ran the floor and was the terror of the city while at North Hollywood High now wonders, “Where has the time gone?”

She has eight games left in her college career.

“I can’t believe it,” Sweet said.

There is almost no time left to make right what went wrong. Sweet said she spent too much time trying to fit into Coach Joan Bonvicini’s structured half-court offense and never unleashed the talent that made her a Parade All-American in high school.

“I wanted to play like I used to play,” she said. “I didn’t want to be thinking, just playing and getting it done.”

Sweet certainly got it done at North Hollywood, averaging 23 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and five steals per game in her 1990-91 senior season.

“I liked to play with abandon,” she said. “I liked to run. I don’t think I’ve ever shown my basketball ability here. I had a difficult time adjusting to my coaches--and that went on for years.”

Sweet said she played on instinct in high school. But when she got to Arizona, she found that she lacked fundamentals and knowledge of strategy.

Bonvicini elected not to redshirt Sweet and started her in 23 of 28 games her freshman season. Sweet took her lumps, averaging 21 1/2 minutes and 5.6 points while making only 35.6% of her shots.

Bonvicini wanted Sweet to play under control and Sweet was intent upon playing that way. Somewhere along the way, Sweet lost herself.

“(Bonvicini) expected a lot from me,” she said. “They said, ‘You need to learn this.’ And I took it too literally. I was too intense about it.

“If you have the physical game, if you’re a great shooter, a great penetrator, a great defender . . . you should let that come out and play your game.”

By her own admission, Sweet was a great penetrator, a good shooter and a poor defensive player.

“When I put my mind to it, I’m a good defender,” she said. “But I’ll take offense over defense any day.”

Sweet started only six games as a sophomore. She played fewer minutes and scored fewer points.

There were two bright spots, however. Sweet scored 17 points in a victory at UCLA, while old friends and teammates watched from the stands. That summer she was selected to play for the West team in the U.S. Olympic Festival.

But precious time was slipping away in her career at Arizona.

Sweet came back to start 26 of 27 games last year. She averaged 10.1 points, made 92% of her free throws in conference games to lead the Pacific 10 Conference and had 87 assists. Finally it looked like Sweet was on the same page as Bonvicini, who had a 371-132 record at Long Beach State but a 46-57 mark in her fourth season with the Wildcats.

Sweet has shown some flashes of the past this season: 30 points against Northern Illinois, 11 rebounds against Cal State Fullerton. But those numbers are far below her season averages of 13.4 points and four rebounds.

But as the only senior on a team with eight freshmen, Sweet has taken it upon herself to become a leader.

“She’s a great player, a great leader and she’s become a great friend,” said starting forward Michelle Giordano, a freshman from Buena.

Although she had never averaged more than 10 points prior to this season, Sweet will finish with 970 points in her career if she maintains her 13.4 average. That would put her eighth on Arizona’s all-time scoring list.

“Great,” Sweet said. “I wasn’t aware of that. Maybe that will make me feel that I’ve accomplished something here.”

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Giordano’s time: Cal, Indiana and George Washington almost landed Giordano, who led Buena to a Southern Section championship as a junior, scored 1,614 points in four seasons and was chosen Ventura County player of the year last year by The Times.

But the 6-foot-1 freshman chose Arizona because it offered the best chance to play right away. It was a good decision.

Giordano has started 11 of 21 games, including the last six. She had a season-high 31 minutes Saturday in a 79-71 loss at Washington, the Pac-10’s second-place team.

The Wildcats (9-12) slipped to 4-5 in the conference and into seventh place. But Giordano said she is not concerned with winning and losing as much as she is with controlling the low post and making the adjustment to Division I basketball.

“It’s very physical and a lot faster, and you’re playing somebody good every single day,” she said.

Giordano is working to hold up her end of the bargain. She averages 6.4 points and 4.8 rebounds in slightly more than 21 minutes a game.

“Hopefully, every year my numbers will increase,” she said. “Right now I’m just having fun. That’s the whole point for me.”

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Around the country: In men’s basketball, Washington has decided not to redshirt freshman Alex Lopez (Campbell Hall), who is averaging 12 minutes in his past seven games. In 17 appearances, the 1994 Times Valley player of the year averages 1.7 rebounds and 1.8 points. . . . Jason Hartman (Thousand Oaks), also a freshman at Washington, ranks fifth on the team at 7.5 points per game. He has made 51% of his shots and had a season-high 20 points in a 71-61 victory over Old Dominion on Dec. 22.