On the surface, nothing has changed for Kyle Fogg. For the third straight season, he's the Arizona Wildcats' starting shooting guard.
But the landscape behind him has changed considerably.
Where Fogg took advantage of a wide-open chance to start as a freshman under Russ Pennell, and beat out Brendon Lavender early last season as a sophomore, he now has four other competitors for minutes at his position.
Lavender and freshman Daniel Bejarano have been facing him most of the time in practice, but there's also freshman combo guard Jordin Mayes, who has poise and a respectable shot.
In addition, coach Sean Miller says he wants to try forward Kevin Parrom at the position on occasion in an effort to shore up the Wildcats' troubles with offensive rebounding and defense.
It may be the stiffest competition on a team blessed with good competition at every position.
And Fogg is embracing it.
"It's good to have Brendon and Daniel pushing me," Fogg said. "That's one of the big differences between this year and last year, why we're going to make a bigger jump. Last year, we didn't have people battling at positions as we do this year. Now at every position, one through five, we're fighting for playing time. No one wants to sit on the bench."
The Wildcats' competition is greater this season not only because they added three new players - Bejarano, Mayes and juco forward Jesse Perry - but also because Miller has been stacking them at two different positions.
Parrom is mostly a small forward. Mayes is mostly a point guard. And Fogg is mostly a shooting guard who is playing some point guard in practice.
"I'm ready to take that role if something happens," Fogg said.
Before long, Lavender might even get a shot at point guard. Miller said Lavender has not played the point yet in practice but could become an option, with his 6-foot-5-inch height and shooting ability.
"Depending on who we play and how comfortable he is, I could see how possibly he could carve out a niche when MoMo (Jones) is out of the game," Miller said.
The versatility and size, Miller hopes, are means to improve his two top priorities - offensive rebounding and two-point field goal percentage defense.
"For our team to be at its best we're going to have to have some versatility," Miller said. "We have to have a different look. We're not big enough and physical enough if we just stand pat. We're trying to solve the problems as much as we can, and at the same time, play the style of play we want to play. So we're requiring guys to learn two positions and to play with different combinations."
Sunday's exhibition against Augustana, the same team that tied the UA in the second half of an exhibition last season, is another chance for Arizona to experiment with different combinations.
It's also another chance for players to keep fighting for every minute they can get.
"It's not necessarily who starts the game, but the amount of minutes they play," Miller said. "That's really where the competition lies."
On StarNet: Watch a video of Sean Miller discussing the team at azstarnet.com/video
Up next
• What: Augustana College at Arizona (exhibition)
• When: 4 p.m. Sunday
• Webcast: arizonawildcats.com
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