By
Keith Carmona
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Funniest Moment
When the media floodgates opened to Arizona's locker room for pre-Final Four interviews Friday, the Wildcat reserve players were all donning T-shirts saying, "No comment."
They were sick of doing interviews, tired of having microphones jammed in their faces and truly wished that they didn't have to answer anymore questions about their NCAA Tournament experience.
Forget about Arizona's All-Americans. Freshmen Jason Ranne, Travis Hanour and Andrew Zahn, sophomores Mike Schwertley and redshirt Rick Anderson, and senior John Ash wanted out of the spotlight.
At least that's what their shirts seemed to indicate.
Actually, the T-shirts were an alert to the news reporters and television crew members that just because they didn't play as much, that didn't mean they needed to be avoided.
"In Kansas City and San Antonio, there would be an imaginary line that none of the media would cross, so we figured that we'd make a joke out of the whole situation," Ranne said. "Sure, those are the big dogs over there getting interviewed, but we need some loving, too."
Even funnier, though, was that the T-shirt club kept it a secret from their head coach Lute Olson, who was off doing interviews when they debuted the new apparel.
"We think it's hilarious, but he might not agree," Anderson said. "For now, the joke's on us."
Best Interviewee
Duke senior forward Shane Battier began the season with several goals.
Aside from wanting to become the nation's Player of the Year, Battier promised he wouldn't use a single sports clichˇ in responding to reporters' questions.
"I asked my sports information director to help me avoid all those old, tired clichˇs this season," Battier said. "You hear so many players talk about 'taking it one game at a time,' 'giving 110 percent' or 'letting their game come to them' that it gives athletes the stereotype of only being able to speak in trite phrases. I've tried hard this year to break myself of that."
It's a strange goal for one of NCAA's top players, but the dividends are paying off. While Battier had reporters swooning after his play in the tournament, the media conglomerate in Minneapolis was knocked off their feet by Battier's near-perfect soundbite.
"I think I've made it this entire season without using one of those clichˇs, but I've got two games left, 'So it ain't over 'til it's over,'" Battier joked.
Biggest Snub
Sophomore guard Gilbert Arenas was key in carrying the Wildcats into the NCAA Finals, and even though he had a subpar performance against Duke while nursing a sore shoulder on Monday, he was left off the All-Tournament Team.
UA junior forward Richard Jefferson and senior center Loren Woods earned the honor, along with Blue Devils Battier, Mike Dunleavy and Jason Williams. However, Arenas, who averaged 14.5 points per game in the tournament, was not included.
Perhaps the All-Tournament team award should be renamed the Players-of-the-Final-Game award. Jefferson, Woods, Battier and Williams are deserving of the nod, but Dunleavy only scored 22 total points in the three games prior to Monday's final.
Dunleavy was rewarded for hitting three consecutive three-pointers to bury Arizona, but was held to four points and seven points against Maryland and UCLA, respectively. Hardly All-Tournament statistics.
Best Bargain
For the UA students who wanted to go to the Final Four, but couldn't get ahold of tickets - you should've booked a flight to Minneapolis anyway.
Prior to Saturday's semifinal games, hundreds of Arizona, Michigan State, Duke and Maryland students were on the street outside of the Metrodome trying to hawk their tickets to the chagrin of entrepreneurs who thought they'd be able to get at least twice the face value of their $140 seats.
Some fans were able to buy scalped weekend passes for as little as $50 for an upper-deck seat and $75 for lower-level tickets.
After Michigan State and Maryland were eliminated Saturday, Spartan and Terrapin fans hoping to unload their tickets before heading out of town complained about the $20 street price the seats had fallen to.
Biggest waste of time
There is absolutely nothing special about the Mall of America. Instead of traveling to Minnesota to visit this so-called Mecca of capitalism, you can get the same experience right here in Tucson. Just head to the Tucson Mall and walk around inside about six times and you have seen Mall of America. The behemoth shopping center fills its four floors by containing multiple Champs Sports, B. Dalton Books and Victoria's Secret stores, just to name a few. There's a movie theater and a variety of typical mall food (Sbarro's, A&W Root beer, etc.), just like in Tucson. Sure, there's a roller coaster in the middle of the mall, but it's not any more exciting than what you'll see at Spring Fling this weekend.
So if the colossal mall is Minneapolis' biggest attraction, save your money and stay in Tucson. There's no reason to go watch the Twins, and the Metrodome hasn't booked a future NCAA Tournament yet, so just steer clear of the Twin Cities.
Best Downtown Amenity
If there is one thing that Tucson could adopt from the Twin Cities, it would be the indoor walkways. Driving downtown in Minneapolis, cars pass under skyways that enable pedestrians to walk from building to building without having to bear the frigid weather. Rumor has it that you can walk across Minneapolis without ever having to step outside. In the summer months - when Tucsonans sweat out 100-plus degree weather every day - similar skyways equipped with air conditioning could be useful when making the trek from the Park Student Union to the Modern Languages building.
But rioters would probably smash them, too. So forget it.
