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The new guys

UA fans may have to adjust their glasses, take their Vitamin C and actually read the names on the back of jerseys this year when the Wildcats take the floor.

Out of 16 players on this year's men's basketball team, eight of them have never before played in front of the McKale faithful in a game that actually counts.

It is a similar situation as last year, when Arizona had six new freshman on the team. This year, only four of the eight are freshman, with the other being a redshirt and three transfers.

Freshmen Gilbert Arenas, Jason Gardner, Robertas Javtokas and Mike Schwertley, junior transfers Loren Woods, Lamont Frazier and Luke Recker and redshirt freshman Luke Walton have all played in the Red-Blue Game, but when the ball tips off tonight in the Preseason NIT against Kansas State, all but one of them will be able to show the fans how they look in the Cardinal and Navy against another NCAA team.

Recker, who transferred from Indiana University after being a third team All-Big-10 player last year, will have to sit out a year due to NCAA transfer rules.

"It was a very tough decision, leaving Indiana was something hard to do," Recker said. "A lot of people questioned it because I played all the time, but it was something that I felt was best for me. I have a lot of goals for myself individually and as a team and I feel they can best be accomplished out here."

Gardner, like Recker, was also a Mr. Basketball in the state of Indiana after playing for North Central High School in Indianapolis. He, along with Arenas, will be a backcourt tandem that could be a force at UA for the next four years, barring a jump to the NBA by either one.

"I think we are going to be a good combo if we stay together. It's going to be a lot of havoc for a lot of teams," Arenas said.

Woods and Javtokas will supplement each other all year at the center position, with Woods garnering most of the playing time.

Woods' ability was proven when he came to UA from Wake Forest after the 1997-98 season, but he had to wait a year to play because of the same restrictions facing Recker this season.

He has had such an impact on his teammates this year that they named him co-captain along with senior guard Josh Pastner.

"As I indicated last year with him, I was impressed with his quickness, his passing ability. He has nice shooting touch with both hands, but the biggest single concern has to do with him being able to get down and get the leverage that is needed to hold his position," UA head coach Lute Olson said. "When your 7-foot-1 or 7-foot-2, even though he is 250 pounds, that is pretty slim when you put the weight over that much height. It is a matter of him continuing to work on getting down lower in post-up situations and we'll try to deal with that as we normally do with blocking dummies to knock him around as much as we can."

One of those players who will be there to knock Woods around will be Javtokas. A 6-foot-10 center from Lithuania, he was forced to sit out his senior year of high school due to Ohio transfer rules and had to gain a greater knowledge of the English language in order to qualify for college eligibility.

The coaching staff feels that Javtokas has a tremendous upside, but it will take some time for him to groom into a center that can play against other big men in the nation in game situations.

Walton and Frazier will also see plenty of time on the court during the season, with Walton playing both as a power forward and small forward while Frazier takes the roles of point guard and shooting guard at different times with the recent departure of Ruben Douglas.

Walton is coming off of a stress fracture in the navicular bone of his right foot, which caused him to medical redshirt last year. He still has four years of eligibility remaining.

"The thing that we need to still see more of with Luke is where can he best fit to do the things he needs to do," Olson said. "The thing is he has a great feel for the game, great hands and court vision. He needs to be quicker on the catch and release of the shot. He is not blessed with quick feet from a lateral movement standpoint, but on the other hand he really has game smarts and I am anxious to see how much those game smarts can overcome the lack of quick feet."

Rounding out the list of new faces in uniform this season is Schwertley, a 6-foot-5 forward, who joins senior guard John Ash as the only two walk-ons on the team.

As a senior at Brophy College Prep. in Phoenix, he averaged 15 points and eight rebounds per game.