SALT LAKE CITY - Salim Stoudamire will have a little extra motivation for Saturday's game against the Zags.

In high school, Stoudamire and Gonzaga guard Blake Stepp, both played basketball in the state of Oregon, at Lake Oswego and South Eugene, respectively.

During their prep careers, Stepp was named Oregon State Player of the Year, which Stoudamire thought was an award he deserved to win.

"I remember him getting player of the year," said Stoudamire, now a sophomore at UA. "I was mad about it because I thought I was in the running. I never faced him until now. I'm going to get my redemption on the court. I'm very eager to face him."

Arizona head coach Lute Olson said he is very impressed in Gonzaga's recruiting process and the way they have been able to find the hidden gems.

Gonzaga faces the tough challenge of trying to recruit top players and sell them on a small school environment, which is tough when schools such as Arizona and UCLA are in the recruiting mix out west.

"They have a knack for finding a guy who two years down the line will be a really good player," Olson said. "They get them in the weight room and develop them on the court."

Gonzaga and Arizona faced off for the first time in their respective schools history back in 2000.

The Wildcats defeated the Bulldogs 101-87 in Tucson.

Gonzaga head coach Mark Few said that a matchup between the schools in Spokane would be a great game, but Olson has not agreed to the game.

"I would love to get them in Spokane," Few said. "It would be a great game. I kid with Lute about it, but he never laughs."

Olson said smaller schools such as Gonzaga have problems scheduling high profile teams to come and play them on their home court.

"We have 19 sports at Arizona," Olson said. "We're a main money-maker. We can't afford to go away much. That's the problem with Gonzaga scheduling high profile teams such as ourselves."

With CBS covering the NCAA tournament, television timeouts are longer than most games, which Olson said has affected the tempo of the game.

Playing in Utah and battling the altitude has caused players to tire more quickly, but the television timeouts have allowed Olson to rest players more during the timeouts rather then actual minutes during the game.

"The timeouts are long, but we know that," Olson said. "CBS is paying a lot of money so they need to allow for commercials. It does allow you to go with your top people more. You can get a guy out before a timeout and sit him for a couple of minutes and he's ready to go back in after the timeout."