By
Chris Martin
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Wildcats to face host school Chaminade today
The UA men's basketball team will begin its season-long journey for a national championship today when they take on Chaminade at the Maui Invitational in Lahaina, Hawaii.
Senior forward Eugene Edgerson is anxious to prove to the basketball community that UA is for real.
"We know we have a lot to prove out there - not only to ourselves but to all the East Coast people," he said. "We want to show them that the West Coast is real good in terms of basketball, and we're not the punks they think we are."
The No. 1 Wildcats will face the Silverswords in the opening game of the tournament at noon. All games are played at the Lahaina Civic Center.
The Silverswords, a Division II school, finished in fourth place in the Pacific Division of the Pacific West Conference last season with a 13-13 overall record. Chaminade has won both of its preseason exhibition games against Yonsei University of Korea and the Northwest All-Stars behind the play of senior guard Drew Robinson, who averaged 16.5 points-per-game in the preseason.
Chaminade should be the least of the Wildcats' worries.
Four of the eight teams in the tournament are ranked in the top-15 - No. 1 UA, No. 6 Maryland, No. 8 Illinois and No. 13 Connecticut.
Dayton, UNLV and Louisville also will compete in the tournament.
"The main thing is we are going to learn a whole lot more about our team a week from now than we know now," Arizona head coach Lute Olson said. "We are going to find out what we do well and what we still need to do better."
While senior center Loren Woods will not compete in the tournament while awaiting the outcome of an appeal from the NCAA, sophomore guard Gilbert Arenas will likely return to the UA lineup.
Arenas didn't see time in Friday night's game, a 90-77 victory against Marathon at McKale Center, because he failed to fulfill "team obligations," according to Olson.
The UA players are expecting a tough tournament in which having Arenas in back in the lineup would certainly be beneficial.
"We are excited for the real games," junior forward Richard Jefferson said. "We aren't worried about dropping in the standings, this isn't (college football's) BCS. You don't have to win all your games to win a national title."
Arizona has never won the Maui Invitational in its two previous appearances. The Wildcats bowed out to Kansas in 1993 and Duke in 1997 in the championship games.
UA has won five straight regular season openers.
