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The evolution

Arenas displays new look as he prepares for next season

Perhaps it was former UA guard and future NCAA coach Josh Pastner who said it best.

"The great thing about being a freshman is that you eventually become a sophomore," he said.

This statement holds water for sophomore-to-be Gilbert Arenas, who has experienced what it is like to be a freshman, and now wants the title erased from his name.

"Let them experience what it is to be a freshman," Arenas said of the new recruits for UA. "What Loren (Woods) did to us, we will do to them. We didn't get any slack. He said he didn't like us, we didn't get any calls. If he fouls us, he gets the ball back, but if we touch him, it's a foul."

If in-coming freshmen Travis Hanour and Andrew Zahn want to find a teammate to emulate, maybe the best person for them to imitate would be Arenas.

He is an energetic character on a team filled with jokesters, and while he likes being a prankster and acting like a kid most of the time, Arenas still finds time to work on his game and better himself at what he loves most - college basketball.

"His work ethic is pretty good and he loves the game," UA assistant coach Rodney Tention said. "There's no doubt he will work hard because he knows if he gets better, then the team gets better."

Understanding his role

Arenas came into the Arizona basketball program in August as an unknown - a player who was banking on redshirting the season.

His work in practice paid off, though, as he won the starting job from then UA sophomore guard Ruben Douglas. Facing decreased playing-time, Douglas then transferred to New Mexico a week into the season, leaving Arenas as the starting two-guard all season.

But, as Arenas and Douglas know from last season, just because you start one year, it doesn't mean that the position is yours the next.

"It makes you work harder, but there is always someone out there working harder than you," he said. "You have to think that I am not starting any more, and you have to work like you are working for a starting spot."

With that in mind, Arenas began working to keep his starting position immediately following the NCAA tournament, where the Wildcats lost to Wisconsin 66-59 in the second round on Saturday, March 18.

Arenas said the next season would start Monday, March 20 and he wasn't lying.

"I was shooting around for about 20 minutes and then I went into the weight room," Arenas said of his workout that Monday. "I always have motivation when I am working out, but it felt a lot different."

It felt different because Arenas knew it would be a long time before he suited up in an Arizona uniform again, but that didn't halt his preparation for next year.

"I'm real excited. I think the season is about to start even though it is only about what, seven more months," he said. "I have been lifting, working on my legs, running games at the Rec Center. Just moving around, running without the ball. I'm working hard to try to perfect some moves to show Richard (Jefferson) in practice."

Back to the stomping grounds

In order to perfect some of those new moves, Arenas is going home for the summer to North Hollywood, Calif.

There, he will workout at his alma mater, Grant High School, play pickup games at Venice Beach and work at the Michael Jordan Camps in Santa Barbara, Calif., which he has done in the past.

Working at the Jordan Camps is something Arenas enjoys, not only because he gets to work at a basketball gym, but he also gets to meet Jordan.

"I sat down with him and we even played on the same team," he said. "There was like 30 kids there and he picked five of us to play with him against the rest. He played four games with us and he was a little rusty. But he is still Michael Jordan."

The work Arenas does over this summer will prepare him to be one of the main targets on a deep and talented UA team.

"Gilbert needs to spend a lot of individual time on his own going game speed," Pastner said. "Playing pickup games, you may only get 12 touches throughout the game and may only shoot five times. He needs to play, but he needs to do individual stuff with a lot of repetitions. He can't say I am going to shoot 500 shots, he needs to make 500 shots."

Arenas not only plans to play pickup games and work at the Jordan Camps, he is also going to heed Pastner's advice and spend a lot of time on his own.

He said he is going to get up a 6 a.m. in order to go running and shoot at a court by his house. His routine also includes doing 100 pushups and 200 sit-ups when he wakes up and before he goes to bed.

"I have talked to some NBA people and they say his potential is the sky," Pastner said. "He has tremendous potential, but that is only potential. If he continues to work on his game, the sky is the limit."

A new look

Besides working on his basketball game, Arenas has also spent time changing his appearance.

He isn't wearing Armani suits yet, but he does have a new haircut that consists of corn rows.

"Jason (Gardner) and I have been saying we were going to do something different," Arenas said. "Ever since I got it braided people have said I look like Michael Dickerson. So I think I am going to keep it to have a little of Michael Dickerson in Gilbert's body, just maybe a little more flashy."

As much as Arenas likes his new Dickerson-esque look, the coaching staff just wants to see him perform like the former UA All-American.

"He can look like Michael, but all we really care about is if he plays like Michael," he said.