By Brian Penso
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Friday March 21, 2003
SALT LAKE CITY - With the NCAA tournament perennially being full of upsets, its no wonder that the first two days of action this year saw many of the top-ranked teams either knocked off or pushed to their limits.
After downing No. 16 seed Vermont with easy Thursday, top-seed Arizona should see its first true test, facing No. 9 Gonzaga on Saturday at 3:40 MST in the Huntsman Center.
UA head coach Lute Olson said the Bulldogs may not have a high seed, but they are playing just as good as any team that is remaining in the tournament.
Over the past five years Gonzaga has gone from a "Cinderella" program to one of the nation's most potent NCAA tournament teams.
The Bulldogs have made the Sweet 16 three out of the last four years and the Wildcats realize that they are going to have to play their best basketball to come away with a victory and move on to the next round.
"I've always been impressed with their inside-outside game," Olson said. "They go inside more, it seems like every time down the court they pound it inside. All of their three perimeter players can knock shots down. They are as good as any team in the country and I haven't seen a one or two seed team that wouldn't receive a severe challenge from them."
Arizona won its only meeting with the Zags, a 101-87 victory in Tucson back in November 2000.
Both teams are similar, first attempting to get the ball inside and but still having a variety of players that can hit an open perimeter shot.
Offensively, UA runs its scheme through senior forward Luke Walton, which will cause a few different match-up problems for the Zags.
Olson uses Walton at the small and power forward positions, and Gonzaga head coach Mark Few said that leads to a tough defensive assignment for the Bulldogs.
"He is a great player," Few said. "He has a tremendous feel for the game and that is his strength. We have to give him a lot of different looks. We're going to try a lot of different things and see which one works. He is just a tough match up."
Walton may cause the Bulldogs problems defensively, but the key match up to focus on will be between West Coast Conference Player of the Year Blake Stepp and UA sophomore Salim Stoudamire.
Stepp averaged nearly 18 points and six assists over the course of the season, and Olson will once again ask Stoudamire to take on the challenge of defending the opponents top perimeter player.
"Salim was voted two years in a row by his teammates as the defensive player of the year," Olson said. "He reacts to a challenge and relishes those."
Few said Stoudamire is a tough defender but the Zags need to swarm him when he has the ball to avoid giving him open three point opportunities.
"He was born to score," Few said. "Scoring is something that comes real easy for him. He can hurt us in a lot of ways. We need to know where he is at all times."
Besides the Stoudamire-Stepp match-up, UA's front line should have its hands full with Gonzaga sophomore Ronny Turiaf, who scored 22 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in the win over Cincinnati.
Inside, the Wildcats will counter with senior Rick Anderson and sophomore Channing Frye.
The two post players average 23 points and over 14 rebounds per game combined.
"Channing Frye has been their most improved player," Few said. "He is a real force inside. He is the key to their success."
Over the last 11 games Frye has averaged over 17 points per contest.
"I don't realty look at one person, but I look at Gonzaga as a whole," Frye said. "They are a good team and we need to focus on our basketball."
Thirty minutes following the Arizona-Gonzaga basketball game, No. 3 Duke will take on No. 11 seed Central Michigan.
