JACOB KONST/Arizona Daily Wildcat Senior All-American swimmer Emily Mason, the 2005 NCAA champion in the 500-yard freestyle event, joins former UA basketball star Channing Frye as the UA's recipients of the Pac-10 Conference Medals.

Men's hoops schedule released: Cats to face champ UNC

As if the task of repeating as Pacific 10 Champions in 2006 wasn't hard enough for the Arizona men's basketball team following the departures of All-Americans Salim Stoudamire and Channing Frye, it's the Wildcats' non-conference schedule that could pose the biggest problems.

The Wildcats, coming off their third-ever 30-win season and 18th consecutive 20-win campaign, released their tentative 2005-06 schedule last week, a slate that includes potential match-ups against four of the past six NCAA Champions.

Arizona will square off against defending National Champion North Carolina on Jan. 28 in Chapel Hill, N.C., right in the heart of the Wildcats' Pac-10 Conference schedule.

UNC won't be the only Atlantic Coast Conference team on tap for Lute Olson's 23rd UA squad, however, as Virginia, which beat Arizona by 18 in Charlottesville, Va., last season, visits McKale Center to open the Wildcats' home schedule.

The Cavaliers' visit to Tucson comes after Arizona heads west once again, joining host Chaminade, 2004 NCAA champion Connecticut, 2002 National Champion Maryland, 2000 National Champion Michigan State, 1993 title winner Arkansas and national powers Gonzaga and Kansas in the eight-team Maui Invitational Field in Lahaina, Hawaii.

"Our non-conference schedule is definitely challenging again," UA head coach Lute Olson said in a press release. "If you look at the Maui Invitational field, I don't think there has ever been a better tournament than that one. Regardless of what happens to us there, I think we will come out of that with a much better awareness of what we need to do in order to get better."

The Wildcats also welcome St. Mary's, fresh off an NCAA tournament berth out of the West Coast Conference, Utah, which reached the Sweet 16 in 2005, and Northern Arizona to McKale Center. The Wildcats defeated the Utes, 67-62, at home last season.

Arizona will also host its annual Fiesta Bowl Classic in McKale Center again Dec. 19-21. Central Florida, Sam Houston State and Western Kentucky join the Wildcats in the four-team tournament.

Arizona fell a game short of the Final Four in 2005 after a heartbreaking 90-89 overtime loss to top-ranked Illinois in the Chicago Regional Final of the NCAA tournament.

Under Olson, the Wildcats have reached 21 consecutive NCAA tournaments while posting a winning more than 80 percent of their games over the past 18 seasons, the best such mark in the nation.

Arizona returns three starters from their 2004-05 Pac-10 title team. Junior Mustafa Shakur returns at the point guard spot after averaging 8.1 points and 4.5 assists per game as a sophomore. Senior guard/forward Hassan Adams returns after averaging 12.7 points, six rebounds and 2.8 assists per game a year ago. Ivan Radenovic returns for his junior season after averaging 8.6 points and 5.5 rebounds per game in his second season in Tucson.

- Compiled from Staff and wire reports

Senior swimmer Mason, hoops star Frye win Pac-10 medals

Just days before he expected to hear his name called at the National Basketball Association draft, and just weeks after he was given the Pacific 10's lone male sportsmanship award for 2005, former UA basketball star Channing Frye was still racking up the hardware.

Frye, a second-team All-America selection during his senior season, joins senior All-American swimmer Emily Mason, the 2005 NCAA champion in the 500-yard freestyle event, as the UA's recipients of the Pac-10 Conference Medals, the Pac-10 announced last week.

Frye averaged nearly 16 points and eight rebounds per game during his final season for the Wildcats, leading Arizona to a 30-7 record, including a 15-1 mark in McKale Center and the team's second Elite Eight berth three seasons. Mason, winner of multiple All-America honors during her senior season, won her second NCAA individual title in 2005 after setting the NCAA record in the 500-yard freestyle event at the 2004 NCAA championships.

Conference Medals are awarded annually to each member institution's outstanding senior male and female student-athlete based on the exhibition of the greatest combination of performance and achievement in scholarship, athletics and leadership.

The Conference Medal winners will be honored at the State Farm Pride of the Pac-10 Luncheon held in Los Angeles in conjunction with the Pac-10 Men's Basketball Tournament next March.

- Compiled from Staff and wire reports