Nic Wise's dad, Greg, left, coached his son as a sophomore at Hightower High School in Houston, and John Lucas, right, a former NBA coach, tutored the younger Wise during summer camps attended by pro and college players.

James S. Wood / arizona daily star 2006

Other articles by Bruce Pascoe:

UA recruiters look down the road Freshmen mean array of options Now that's a switch Like Fogg, Williams will come in unseen Cats gain one more of USC's recruits NY duo sure they can make it here It's not Rocket science: Chase faces challenge Hill goes No. 8 to Knicks Budinger traded to Houston RocketsHill chosen No. 8 overall by Knicks

Construction
West-Press
Printing Mechanical
Komatsu Equipment Co
Resident Field Mechanic Sales and Marketing
Everready Glass
Sales Reps Trades/Construction
RANCHO RESORT
MAINTANANCE POSITION Health Care
Dependable Health Services
Physical Therapists Health Care
CENTRAL ARIZONA COLLEGE
DIRECTOR OF HEALTH INFORMATION MANAGEMENT Health Care
Sierra Tucson
Eating Disorders Program Coordinator

More than 4 1/2 years after Nic Wise committed to play basketball at Arizona, he finally became what his coach calls a "counter," a player you can depend on to produce every game.

He will probably never forget it.

On Dec. 8 in Chicago, typically slow-starting Arizona was sputtering out of the gate worse than it ever had before, trailing Illinois 12-0. Wise entered the game after five minutes, made a steal, then assisted a Jawann McClellan layup on the same possession.

Wise, a sophomore, played the rest of the game and all of the overtime period, helping the UA pull out a 78-72 victory, with 11 points, eight assists and only one turnover.

"Coming off the bench, and being a sparkplug," Wise said he remembers about that game. "I knew our players looked tired and sluggish. In order for us to win, I had to come out with some intensity."

In eight games since then, Wise has had at least five assists five times, and he has scored in double figures four times. Across the board, his statistics blow away his freshman-year numbers, when he was essentially the ninth man off the bench — if he got off the bench at all, playing in only 22 of Arizona's 31 games.

Formerly known as much as anything for being the high school freshman who famously committed to the UA as a 15-year-old, Wise has suddenly become, as UA interim coach Kevin O'Neill likes to say, a counter — an accountable guy who can do the job as a starter or sixth man.

"He didn't play at all last year so it's really his first time playing," O'Neill said. "I've put him in some difficult spots, but I think he's responded really well for a guy that didn't play much last year, and I think he'll keep getting better."

Back in Houston, Greg Wise saw it coming. Not just your typical proud father, he coached his son as a sophomore at Hightower High School, saw him bolt into the top 10 at his grade level as a freshman, watched him cope with mononucleosis as a sophomore and was there when he rebounded to become Texas co-Mr. Basketball at Kingwood High School as a senior.

Greg Wise just was not sure when the door would open.

"I'm not that surprised at all," said Greg, now the coach at Yates High School. "I just knew if he got the opportunity, he could do it. There are some plays he can make that other people can't make, like that steal at Illinois. Those kinds of plays you can't really teach. He just has a knack for making those plays, and really I think he can play much better than he has so far. I think that the people in Arizona haven't seen what people in Houston have."

Entering Arizona in the fall of 2006, Nic Wise had no reason to expect it would take so long. Having committed to the Wildcats in April 2003, he prepared for three years, playing high school and summer ball at high levels, while working out with ex-NBA coach John Lucas' gang of high-level pro and college players during the summer.

Even before his freshman season officially started, Wise joined the Wildcats for an exhibition swing in British Columbia during the 2006 Labor Day weekend, averaging 10 points and 2.5 assists per game. Two months later, he played 28 minutes over the Wildcats' first two regular-season games.

Then Wise began dropping in and out of Lute Olson's rotation, and recorded double-figure minutes only twice after New Year's.

Suddenly, all that swagger he brought from Texas was gone.

"I know it did" affect him, Greg Wise said. "Any kid, if you play some and then you don't, you're not really sure. When he first went down there, he had as much confidence as anybody.

"When he went to Canada, his confidence was at an all-time high, and then after the first couple of games he wasn't playing. It got to him."

At the same time, Greg Wise said, Nic knew he was at least part of the problem. Listed at 190 pounds last year, Wise's weight crept near the 200 mark, too much to keep him quick at 5 feet 9 inches.

So Nic embarked on an aggressive off-season diet and exercise program, working out in Tucson and Houston. He even went so far as to gain grocery shopping advice from Neil Rampe, UA's associate director of performance enhancement, throwing fatty and sugary foods out of his cart.

Wise reported back to Tucson in the summer near 170 pounds.

The difference is obvious.

Wise has double the amount of steals (28) as anybody else on the UA roster, and he has had the stamina to play nearly unlimited minutes in smaller matchups or, as he did for four games, when starting guard Jerryd Bayless was out with a sprained knee.

Wise played all 40 against Memphis and Oregon, in Bayless' absence, and 41 in the UA's overtime loss at ASU last week. In front of his father and about 100 other friends and family at Houston on Saturday, he played "just" 30 because of foul trouble.

Now, Wise is playing well enough that even with Bayless back, there are more questions than ever about whether he should remain in the starting lineup. O'Neill, who prefers to match up his starters based on an opponent's size, said he's thinking about it even for tonight's game against upsized Stanford — whether to go small with Wise and Bayless, or big with Bayless at the point and perhaps Kirk Walters at center.

O'Neill knows with Wise he loses size but he won't have to worry about losing the ball. Wise has nearly a 2:1 assist-to-turnover ratio and O'Neill says his decision-making has improved dramatically.

"He's become more confident as the season's gone on," O'Neill said. "He's a guy that plays with confidence, and I've talked to him about managing the game instead of just playing the game."

Taking over the team without Bayless helped his confidence considerably, Wise said, but so have those talks with O'Neill.

"It all has to do with KO," Wise said. "He keeps pushing me and pushing me every day. He knows what type of player I am, so every day I'm always talking to him, getting close and closer to him and he's getting confidence in me as well."