Although the Wildcats cruised to their 17th title in the 18-year history of the Fiesta Bowl Classic Monday, UA lost its star player again.

Arizona senior forward Luke Walton returned to the Wildcats Saturday night in the teams' 95-69 win against Davidson in the first round of the tournament. He added 6 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists in just 19 minutes of action. This was Walton's first game after missing the Wildcats two previous ones, including the 65-66 loss to Louisiana State in Baton Rouge.

Walton gave the Wildcats (7-1) a much-needed boost and the team seemed to play better when the senior leader was on the court.

"(Walton) creates big problems for other teams on the offensive end and gives guys good looks on the defensive end," senior guard Jason Gardner said. "He's a work horse and is our leader out there."

However, as quickly as Walton was put back into the Wildcat's rotation, he was again hit with an injury. With 9:40 left in Arizona's 85-71 win over Boston University in the championship game, Walton stepped on Garnder's foot and reinjured his right ankle.

Head coach Lute Olson said that it was a completely different injury than Walton had suffered earlier in the year, but that it would most likely keep him out of the team's Pacific-10 Conference opener in Oregon.

"It would be difficult for him to be ready to play this week," Olson said. "You can't make up for someone like Luke being gone. He's the guy that really leads this team."

Olson said senior forward Rick Anderson would need to fill the void left by the pre-season All-American and that he would expect him to do so. Anderson missed Arizona's opening round game against Davidson due to the flu and "personal reasons" that Olson did comment further on.

On a more positive note, Arizona did have a few young players that stepped in and contributed. Freshman guard Hassan Adams, the team's leading scorer (14.4 p.p.g.) continued his strong play while being named the tournament MVP. Adams averaged 17.5 points and 6.5 rebounds in the Wildcat's two games in the tournament.

Besides the contributions the Wildcats got from Adams, the team also got a big boost from freshman guard Chris Rodgers. Rodgers, who came into the weekend averaging under 9 minutes a game, played an average of 17.5 minutes during the tournament and scored a career high 14 points in the Wildcats first round win. Besides Rodgers point production, the freshman gave the team a big spark on the defensive side of the ball.

"I've said all along he is our best defensive guard," Olson said. "He really did a great job of harassing people when he was (on the floor)."

Along with Adams being named the tournament MVP, both Walton and sophomore guard Salim Stoudamire were named to the all tournament team. Walton averaged 11 points and 7 rebounds in the two games, while Stoudamire averaged 17.5 points and lead the Wildcat's perimeter attack.

Arizona will open Pac-10 play on Thursday Jan. 2 in Eugene against No. 9 Oregon (9-1).

"Every game counts in the Pac-10 and we will be ready to go when we get to Oregon," Gardner said.

The Arizona Daily Star reported that freshman guard Will Bynum didn't make the team's trip to Oregon.

Bynum, who contemplated transferring after last season but said he was happy in Tucson, has struggled to get on the court as of late.

Rodgers has been playing in front of the Chicago native and that has kept Bynum on the bench.

He played only seven minutes in Monday's 85-71 win against Boston, scoring two points. A log jam of guards has pushed Bynum further back in Olson's rotation.

Bynum is averaging 7.8 points and 2.8 assists per game over an average of 16.6 minutes per game.