Channing Frye's squeaky-clean image and likeable personality may be no surprise to anyone within the greater circle of college or pro basketball.
But there's another certainty – at least among those close to the UA basketball camp – about a different former Wildcat star's National Basketball Association draft prospects: Any team that passes on Salim Stoudamire will be sorry.
"I know if somebody needs a shooter on that team and they don't pick him up they're going to regret it," said Frye, a likely top-10 pick, a luxury his former teammate Stoudamire can't boast, despite shooting better than 50 percent from three-point range and earning First-Team All-America consideration as a senior.
Stoudamire's on-court ability has never been in question, even when he came down with an ankle injury during this month's pre-draft camp in Chicago.
CBS sportsline.com senior writer Gregg Doyel listed Stoudamire third on his list of Chicago camp losers, writing, "Of all 60 players who accepted invitations to the camp, Stoudamire was the most likely first-round pick. With his NBA range, Stoudamire would have stood out in Chicago, where three-pointers were made at a 28-percent rate."
Doyel's assessment was solely based on the injury, not what Stoudamire could do with the ball in his hands.
Stoudamire, the oft-maligned four-year UA starter, was expected to not only show off his ball-handling skills – the 6-foot-1, 179-pound college shooting guard will likely be called upon to handle point guard duties in the NBA – at pre-draft workouts, but also must show that images of discontent that plagued him throughout his UA playing days are a thing of the past.
"The questions about Salim are not about his shooting ability," said UA assistant coach Josh Pastner, noting Stoudamire's shoot-anytime-anywhere mentality coupled with his inexplicable range. "The questions are about his body language and his attitude out there."
Pastner, who said Stoudamire could be picked anywhere from the early 20s in the first round to the middle of the second round, said Stoudamire's real chance to prove himself will come when he shows up for individual workouts with prospective teams and goes through the pre-draft interview process.
"The NBA is going to check the background," Pastner added. "They're going to do their homework and see what they find."
If teams actually take the time to sit down with Salim, according to UA athletics director Jim Livengood, they're likely to find more than meets the eye.
"Basketball is one of the few sports where you're so up-close – baseball isn't; football isn't – basketball you're so up-close to where you can see a facial expression," Livengood said, making note of Stoudamire's now-infamous on-court scowl as a Wildcat.
"The hard thing is, once you get that tag of being a little bit difficult and being a potential attitude, getting rid of that tag is not easy. That shelf-life does last a long time."
A game-winning bucket waiting to happen, Stoudamire propelled the Wildcats to victory with a game-saving three-pointer from the top of the key at home against UCLA in February, a fallaway from the left side to knock off Oklahoma State in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament, and a runner down the lane against Arizona State in the Wildcats' regular season finale, a win that gave Arizona yet another Pacific 10 Conference championship.
Despite his obvious in-game heroics, Stoudamire's future isn't nearly as clear-cut as Frye's. Where Frye is slated to go in the top 10 of next week's draft, a spot that would earn him a guaranteed three-year contract worth nearly $1.5 million per year, Stoudamire will be playing for much less money, with virtually no guarantee to boot.
"Too many days we'd like to have things in very nice, neatly, perfectly wrapped packages, that's not the real world," Livengood added of Stoudamire's rocky UA career. "Anybody who passes on Salim and they have a chance to pick him and he's somebody that would fit – anybody like that, my recommendation would be to sit down with and spend some one-on-one time – you'd come away with a completely different look at the young man."
It might be a baby step, but among Stoudamire's first moves toward creating a new image: trimming his infamous coif down from its previous afro-like state.
Richard Paige, UA associate director of media relations, who's responsible for any and all media contact with Arizona men's basketball players, likens Stoudamire's change in appearance to that of any recent college graduate cleaning up for a job interview.
"The questions about Salim are never on-the-court questions, they're off-the-court questions. If he comes through and he's well-shaven and clean and dressed right, that creates a good impression," Paige said. "The only difference is that he's trying to play basketball, not applying for a job at Merrill Lynch."