KEVIN KLAUS/Arizona Daily Wildcat UA sophomore center Channing Frye gets hammered by two defenders while going up for a shot against Gonzaga Saturday in Salt Lake City. Frye finished with 22 points and 12 rebounds in the double-overtime win.

ANAHEIM, Calif. ÷ UA was able to shoot around at the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim for 50 minutes yesterday, but many Arizona players are already familiar with the surroundings.

Some of those memories are good, some bad for UA, which holds a 3-1 mark in the Pond.

The only loss came to Utah on March 21, 1998, when the Utes shocked the No. 1 seeded Wildcats in the West Regional Final, 76-51.

"You have to be mentally prepared to play wherever you are," UA senior Rick Anderson said. "I love shooting there."

Anderson's Pond memories date back to when he was at Long Beach Poly High School, where he played in a game against Jason Kapono of Artesia.

"It was my senior year, and I had a bum ankle and shot only 3s," Anderson said. "I had a headband to keep my hair out of my face. We only lost by six."

Walton also played in tournament games at the Pond when he was at University High School in San Diego.

"I'm comfortable here, but I did lose an overtime game in high school so I have bitter memories as well," Walton said.

The best of the West

The one common theme of questioning to all the coaches during media day revolved around the strength of the West bracket.

With perennial powerhouses Duke, Kansas and Arizona, along with Notre Dame, all playing out west, many are saying this could be a Final Four in its own right.

"We definitely felt the West was the toughest region," Duke freshman J.J. Redick said.

Some feel Arizona will have the biggest advantage because of its proximity to Southern California and the distance the other teams have to travel.

But that logic might not hold true this weekend.

Arizona has a 25-15 record when playing in the West Region and has been placed in the West three of the last four years. The last time UA made it to the Final Four was in 2001 when it was in the Midwest.

A ÎSweet' family affair

Notre Dame sophomore Jordan Cornette might be splitting his attention between his game out west, and the east conference.

His older brother Joel, a member of the Butler Bulldogs, has a game against Oklahoma tomorrow.

The brothers have tough tasks ahead of them, as their teams are playing the No. 1 teams in their respected regions.

Walton knows ND well

Bill Walton will be watching in the stands today with a little more motivation than usual.

In 1974, when Walton was with UCLA, the Irish ended the Bruins' '88-game winning streak 71-70 after being down 70-59 with 3:22 remaining.

"He talks about it all the time; the game ruined his life," said son Luke Walton with a smile. "But that loss really has nothing to do with (today's) game."

No motivation for KU

If Kansas is trying to find a little extra motivation for its game against Duke, it might not want toward look to Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski.

"Coach K" called Kansas forward Nick Collison the best player in the U.S. He also had kind words about Jayhawk guard Kirk Hinrich.

"He has tremendous competitive courage," he said. "He revels in moments others shy away from."

Kansas not distracted

It seems that everybody these days is being considered a candidate for the UCLA head coach job.

So, with Kansas head coach Roy Williams in Southern California, it's not surprising that his name come up as a replacement.

However, the longtime Jayhawk head coach doesn't consider it a distraction as his team is deep in its tournament run.

"My team believes in me and my focus is with them," he said. "I have had no problems with distractions and it hasn't been a distraction to the guys. Now if it were Elle Macpherson, then it might be a distraction."