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Gardner hopes to carry on legacy

Arizona Daily Wildcat UA freshman point guard Jason Gardner goes for a layup during the Capitol City Classic All-Star Game this summer in Washington, D.C. Gardner will be counted upon to carry the torch in a long line of UA point guards, including Damon Stoudamire, Mike Bibby and Jason Terry.

Damon Stoudamire, Mike Bibby and Jason Terry.

These are just three point guards who have earned All-America honors at the University of Arizona in the 1990s.

Following in their footsteps is Jason Gardner, a 5-foot-10 freshman from Indianapolis, who won the state championship at North Central High School and the Mr. Basketball award for the state of Indiana last season. Gardner was also a McDonald's All-American and one of the top high school recruits in the country.

"I think there will be a lot of pressure, but I think everybody will help me out," he said.

If the pressure gets to be too much, at least he can talk to Luke Recker, a junior transfer from Indiana. Recker was also Mr. Basketball for Indiana and a McDonald's All-American before starring for two years with the Hoosiers.

"It's kind of nice to have another Indiana high school basketball player here, let alone a Mr. Basketball," Recker said. "We can always talk about that and joke around with each other. I know a lot about his game, I've seen him play a lot of games, so it'll be nice to get out there on the court and actually be able to play with him."

Head coach Lute Olson says Gardner just has to go out and play because there isn't any time to worry about the weight on his shoulders.

"There's no slack time out there for him to think about pressure," Olson said. "Right now, that position is still wide open and probably will be for some time. I think Jason has been used to pressure, and he'll deal with it well."

Already, his teammates are giving him praise and are willing to work for him. Redshirt senior Eugene Edgerson liked Gardner from the moment he met him.

"First of all, he's a good person, you can sit down and have an intellectual conversation with him," Edgerson said. "He knows what's going on, so I liked that about him first of all. I think he needs to build his strength, but his game, he's got game, he just needs more playing time."

Gardner chose to attend Arizona because of the team's up-tempo style and reputation of developing quality point guards, the school's College of Business and the weather. Gardner has found Tucson weather to be beneficial to his asthma, which he has had problems with in the past.

The comparisons between Gardner and Stoudamire, Bibby and Terry are inevitable. At 5-foot-10, 178 lbs., Gardner is bigger and stronger than Stoudamire (who was 142 lbs. entering his freshman year), better defensively than Bibby was his freshman year and in a better position to see more playing time than Terry was.

"(Gardner and Bibby) are very similar in terms of their competitiveness," Olson said. "They know how to win, they've been the key ingredient for the wins at their high school. Jason pretty much took him on his shoulders and carried the team to that state title in Indiana.

"Mike's bigger, but Jason will be a very good defender right off, where Mike had problems his freshman year. I don't think we'll have to be concerned about whether Jason can guard people."

Gardner respects the tradition before him, but hopes he can make a name for himself during his time at Arizona.

"Coach Olson's never said anything about me being like Terry or Bibby or anything, that's what's helped out a lot," he said. "The players haven't said, you need to do this and this and this."

Gardner talked with Stoudamire over the phone before he made his decision.

"I just started watching the things Damon does," Gardner said. "I talked to him on the phone a couple times, he told me Arizona is a real good school, but he didn't want to influence my decision. He just said I made a great choice coming here to play for Coach Olson, and that's what everybody is saying."