UA vs. Samford 11/22/06

Ok, here are all the notes I deemed noteworthy from the UA vs. Samford game, no deep analysis, just some cold notes. Am I blatantly biting SLAM's style of posting notes? Most definitely. For those of you who don't know a damn thing about Samford, join the company of 80 percent of the fans at the game. I think there were a few people in the crowd who couldn't get the name right thinking they came to see UA face Stanford and probably drove over in cars previously owned by John Voight. They should have replaced the Win-a-Buick Shootout with a "Guess what state Samford is from?" game. OK, enough here are my notes from the No. 15 Arizona vs. Samford game.

• Marcus Williams comes out to early warm-ups shunning society and his team with his iPod on. By far my favorite moment of the night was watching Marcus chose a song or perhaps make an entire playlist on the baseline while the rest of the team warmed up. I'm sure this does great things for the team chemistry.
• I don't know how the trend has quickly turned but many UA players have ditched the baggy 9XL tees in favor of warmup shirts that actually fit them.
• The Samford team comes out and resembles a team full of dudes who could have been extras in "John Tucker Must Die." Never seen so many preppy white dudes on one team especially from the state of Alabama.
• J.P. Prince, the Aaron Ralston of the team, is no where to be seen.
  
• Before the game Zona Zoo fans mock a Samford team manager who could be Daniel Radcliffe's long lost twin with chants of "Harry Potter." Necessary to go after a team manager? No. Still enjoyable? Yes.
• The game begin and Staf finds a cutting Williams for an easy two and Staf's nicest dime of the season.
• Budinger has an effortless six points in the first six minutes after starting 3 for 3.
• 11:46 marks the first break in the game as Daniel Dillon checks in for Budinger as the Cats lead 18-7
• UA 2-3 zone watches Samford whip the ball around the perimeter until there are three seconds on the shotclock. Samford finds a wide open three and hits it, causing Lute to look to bench and realize that he has no defensive specialist.
  
• At the 8:30 mark Marcus Williams has six boards and 12 of UA's 24 points.
• In the first half both teams can't get an offensive board to save their lives.
• An unlucky row in the McKale Center gets free Wienerschnitzel. I'm pretty sure the bums on Fourth Avenue who eat out of the trash are above eating at Wienerschnitzel.
• 6:45 marks the first time in Nic Wise's UA career that he goes inside the 3-point line.
• The band plays Peter Gabriel's "Sledgehammer." Epic.
• UA leads 44-18 as Shakur brings the ball down with 9.5 seconds left in the first half, when out of no where Lute calls a time-out.
• The cats come out of the crucial time-out and run an iso for Shakur at the top of the key where he jukes his way to the basket and connects on a difficult lay-up.
  
• Samford had many open looks from 3-point land but connected on only four and shot 6-29 from the field in the first half.
  
• Samford comes out in the second half and hits 4-5 of their first attempts - all threes.
• Samford ended up jacking up 43 from beyond the arc accounting for about 75 percent of their shots and a McKale Center record.
  
• 12:10 Budinger gets burned on the backdoor but makes up for it by stuffing the opponent (yeah it's bad I don't know any of the Samford players).
• Things the crowd needs to stop doing: Yelling "dunk it" any time Budinger touches the ball, especially when he gets it in a half court offense on the perimeter. I'm not sure if the crowd has watched too much And 1 Streetball on ESPN, but in real life the key does not magically open for players to show off a windmill dunk.
• 9:13 Jordan Hill meet your first minutes of the game
• 7:45 Fendi Cent finally gets some burn in the 68-44 blowout.
• It is at this point I also realize Marcus Williams has not logged a single minute in the second half. In fact the only starting to get decent time in the second half is McClellen.
  
• 5:48 Wise drives hard to key for what should be an and-one but gets tagged with offensive charging. Probably, Lute's favorite offensive foul of the season.
  
• 5:04 Juwann McClellen blocks somebody off the backboard but does not have full body spasms as was the case against New Mexico State.
• 3:40 Fendi gets two buckets and receives "Fendi" chants
• 2:36 The chants for David Bagga begin. The game is officially over.
• 1:36 Bagga enters the game. OK, now the game is officially over.
• Final 86-57
  

Nic Wise Moment of the Game: By himself on the left side of the court, he loses his mind breaks out some moves from NBA Street, gets some "oooos" and "aaaaahs" from the crowd then fades back and....air. About a foot short of the rim.

Sneaker Watch: McClellen all black Lebron 20.5.5...Shakur black Air Max 360 Basketball...Budinger and Radenovic white/silver Zoom Kobe 1...Onobun white/gold LBJ III...Williams black/gold LBJ III...Wise black/white Air Max Enforcer