First regular-season tilt between UNC, Arizona; Wildcats lead series 3-2
Tomorrow the Wildcats will embark on a four-game road trip, traveling up Interstate 10 to ASU before going to Chapel Hill, N.C., to face the Tar Heels and then flying to Los Angeles next week to play Pacific 10 Conference foes Southern California and UCLA.
Arizona basketball head coach Lute Olson said the Wildcats will continue to schedule games on the team's off-day during the first half of the Pac-10 season but will rest on their day off in the second part of the season.
"We probably did a few years ago, but we won't," Olson said.
Olson also said he schedules non-conference games to gain more exposure.
"It's strictly (for TV purposes)," he said. "Either it's going to be a national game that's televised or we wouldn't do it."
History lesson
Arizona has dominated its rival to the north, beating ASU on the last eight occasions and in 20 of the last 21 meetings. The Wildcats lead the all-time series 134-73.
The last time North Carolina and Arizona faced off was in the 1997 Final Four when Arizona came back from 11 down in the first half to defeat the Tar Heels 66-58 and reach the championship game, where it beat Kentucky to win its only national championship.
Assistant coaches Miles Simon and Josh Pastner were both members of the team. Simon scored 24 points in the game, which ended up being former North Carolina head coach and Basketball Hall of Fame inductee Dean Smith's final game.
Arizona is 3-2 all-time against North Carolina but has never played a regular-season game versus the Tar Heels.
North Carolina game special for Shakur
Mustafa Shakur, who hails from Philadelphia, will have six to seven family members in attendance at the North Carolina game to watch him play. The Tar Heels recruited Shakur but became interested late in the process.
Shakur said he never considered going to play for the Tar Heels and then-coach Matt Doherty because of their late start and because they already had current Charlotte Bobcat Raymond Felton playing point guard.
"To play them at their home, I think that's something everyone dreams of," Shakur said. Shakur said he idolized former Tar Heel Michael Jordan and has "tons" of Jordan brand clothes.
Olson ends Rodgers talk
Olson would not answer any more questions about dismissed senior guard Chris Rodgers. "We will not be discussing Chris in here nor will any of our players," he said. "This is about our team right now."
Olson also scolded the media for what he deemed "harassment."
"It is very upsetting to me when people don't respect the privacy of student athletes, following them across campus, following them home, sitting outside certain people's homes waiting for them to come out," he said.
Budinger takes official visit
Arizona class of 2006 signee Chase Budinger, from Carlsbad, Calif., took his official visit to Tucson this weekend along with his parents, Duncan and Mara, and trainer Trent Suzuki.
According to Suzuki, Budinger arrived Saturday morning, watched the team's shootaround, met with academic advisers and was given a full tour before going to lunch and the Arizona-California game.
"He loves it here. He loves the atmosphere, he loves the team, his (future) teammates, the coaching staff," Suzuki said. "He's really looking forward to getting here and playing at McKale and becoming a Wildcat."
"We're excited about Chase being here," said Arizona assistant coach Pastner. "Chase has been here before. It was a great visit, we're glad he had a good time. We love the fella, and he's going to be a great player here, and he's going to fit in very well just based on the character of the kid."
Starting lineup stays the same
After shuffling lineups throughout the season, Arizona will put the same lineup on the floor for the third straight game. Junior point guard Mustafa Shakur, who has started every game this season, will be joined by senior guard Hassan Adams, freshman forward Marcus Williams, junior forward Ivan Radenovic and junior center Kirk Walters.
Winning weekend gives Wildcats no bump in rankings
The Arizona men's basketball team (12-6, 5-3) continues to be unranked garnering nine votes in the ESPN/USA Today poll and three votes in the Associated Press poll after wins against Stanford and California. ASU (7-10, 1-7) is also unranked, but North Carolina (11-4, 3-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) is holding on in the ESPN/USA Today poll, dropping to No. 25 while being one spot out of the AP rankings.