Current and former Wildcat stars square off on the court
With an average of 38.5 points per game, you might say current Arizona basketball player Hassan Adams owns the new Tucson Summer Pro League. However, former Wildcat Corey Williams, who currently serves as League Operator, is the actual owner and founder.
Williams played at McKale from 1992-1996 and was the captain of the team his senior year. After coming back to Tucson each year from Europe, where he plays professionally, and not being able to consistently find games, Williams started the Tucson Summer Pro League presented by Hidden Valley Inn Restaurant and Saloon.
"There's so many of us that are playing professionally and when we come home for the summer we need a place to play, so I got the idea (about) a league we could have. But I never expected it to be this big. It was just an idea that I had," Williams said.
Players in the league range from incoming freshman Daniel Dillon to crowd favorites Miles Simon and Gene Edgerson from the 1997 national championship team. Even Jason Gardner and DeeDee Wheeler are playing.
The games are Wednesdays and Thursdays at 6 p.m. and 7 p.m., with quadruple headers on Sundays beginning at 4 p.m. This week only, weekday games begin at 8 p.m.
The games, which are free, are held at the Jewish Community Center on River Road and Dodge Blvd. Even Williams has been amazed at the turnout.
"I can't believe the response that we've been getting," Williams said. "I knew that Tucson was a basketball town, but not that we would get 500 people to a summer league game. It's Father's Day and it is standing room only and I think that is unbelievable, but I think that is testament to the program here at Arizona."
The TSPL is also the first NCAA sanctioned men's summer league to include women. UA forward CoCoa Sanford became the first female to tally points.
"My adrenaline was rushing, it was like playing during the regular season," Sanford said about scoring the first points. "I didn't know how big it would be, I wasn't thinking about it at the time, afterwards when they announced it and people were coming up to me and little girls were coming up to me like 'it's great.' Only then did I see the impact."
The current UA players in the league are Adams, Sanford, Dillon Channing Frye, Matt Babcock, Mohamed Tangara, Chris Rodgers, Matt Brase, Isaiah Fox, Beau Muhlbach, Salim Stoudamire, Wheeler, Anna Chappell and Katrina Linder.
"It is definitely a great opportunity, not only for us, but for people from the city to come out and watch us play," Frye said. "We get better skills because we are playing with better people and all around better talent. You play in a situation where a crowd can do a lot of things with people's games and help them with their confidence - help them work on things that they may not be doing."
The list of players who are not expected to participate regularly includes names like Luke Walton, Richard Jefferson, Jason Terry and Damon Stoudamire. The league runs through July 22, with playoffs to follow.
According to Williams, getting the chance to play with younger Wildcats like Adams, is "a lot of fun." Adams' and Williams' team, Steakout Restaurant, is tied for first with a record of 2-0, along with Bon Voyage Travel, Frye's team, and Fidelity National, Rodgers' team.
In order for the current Wildcats to be eligible, Williams had to get background checks on all the coaches, make sure the venue was legitimate, stagger the scholarship male players to one per team, give the NCAA a list of the student athletes participating and not charge for admission or parking.
"We really have to make sure this is run on the level to involve the student athletes, but I am glad we did, both the women and the men," Williams said.