On a Valentine's edition of 'GameDay,' even 2001 nemesis Jay Williams shows Wildcats love

In the final minutes before ESPN cameras panned their way around Tucson to open its "College GameDay" show, host Rece Davis walked over to the fans on hand and spoke of sacrifice.

Specifically, about the guy in the front row who held a sign saying “Thanks Honey For Letting Me Go to GameDay.”

It was Valentine’s Day, after all.

So while warming up the crowd of about 1,500 UA students and fans who showed up for the 8 a.m. broadcast, Davis pledged to make it worthwhile.

“We'll try to deliver all the sweet things that you want in this holiday,” Davis said, telling the crowd that UA coach Tommy Lloyd, point guard Jaden Bradley and famed DJ Mix Master Mike would make appearances. “We're gonna have a great morning. Thank you guys for getting up early, and let's see — one more thing: Let's bear down!”

Fully warmed, the crowd went wild, of course.

Then the cameras went live.

“It's unforgiving. It’s inhospitable,” Davis said on an ESPN voiceover, as a snake was shown slithering through the desert. “But if it’s your home, you know where the dangers lurk. And this is the terrain of the No. 1 team in the country.

“But Arizona is no longer perfect. They’re coming back home stunned from their first loss. Maybe vulnerable. Maybe headed for a dry spell.”

Davis paused.

“Ohhhhhh,” he said in conclusion, “I don’t think so!”

After that intro, Davis joined ESPN analysts Jay Bilas, Jay Williams and Seth Greenberg, breaking down whether Arizona or Michigan was the best team in the country.

Predictably, all mentions of the Wolverines met a background of boos.

“There’s a difference between the No. 1 team and the best team,” Bilas said. “Michigan and Arizona, No. 1 and No. 2, they’re very similar defensively. I think the difference is that Michigan shoots the 3 a little more often and a little bit better.

Bilas said Arizona relies more on the inside and might be the best offensive rebounding team in the country, before he and Williams dug into the experience issue.

Arizona has four key veteran players, led by Bradley, but starts three freshmen in guard Brayden Burries, Koa Peat and Ivan Kharchenkov.

Williams noted that since 1972-73, when freshmen were first eligible to play NCAA basketball, only three teams have won NCAA titles when their leading scorer is a freshman.

Burries leads the Wildcats in scoring with an average of 15.7 points, and Peat is second at 14.3.

“I will go with history,” Williams said, holding out his hands.

Back to homepage

Subscriber Login

Keep reading with a digital access subscription.

Subscribe now

Boos all around.

Williams made up for it with the crowd, however, by fessing up to his apparent-but-uncalled foul in the 2001 national title game, when he draped over the back of UA’s Jason Gardner while helping Duke win that game.

He concluded the show by revealing a T-shirt under his dress clothes that showed the infamous image of the moment, with the words "ARIZONA, it's your turn" underneath.

"I should have received my third foul in the first half," Williams said. "I rode you then, Arizona, and I'm not only gonna ride you now, but I'm gonna ride you all the way to the title game!

"It's your turn for the ride. Let's go!"

During a quieter moment Friday, an interview session at McKale, Williams and Greenberg both suggested Arizona’s 82-78 loss at Kansas might actually help get them there.

"As a former player and as a guy who watches a lot of basketball, it's good to get a wake-up call," Williams said. "Sometimes, when you're riding high, and you're playing well, the coach feels like he has your attention, and he does, but when you go through a loss, it just wakes you up a little bit, kind of snaps you back to reality.

"With this team, staying hungry, considering how much they win, is a really critical element to them finishing the deal this season.

Greenberg agreed that "game pressure" can make a coach's instruction really sink in.

"I don't think you have to lose those games," Greenberg said. "You want to win those games — but having those experiences before you get to the tournament, I think, adds value."

As is its mission to cover the college basketball news of the day, GameDay's show Saturday veered in and out of a focus on the Wildcats. The crew did several remote interviews with other coaches, including Florida’s Todd Golden and the only coach who had an unbeaten team left — Miami of Ohio’s Travis Steele, whose RedHawks moved to 25-0 after beating Ohio on Friday.

They generated more boos and indifference from the assembled crowd.

The more upbeat emotion picked up again, though, when "GameDay" brought in Bradley for a brief interview — Greenberg called him “the most underrated point guard in America” — and when Lloyd and former Wildcat Caleb Love made appearances.

In town for his induction into the Arizona Ring of Honor during halftime of Saturday’s UA-Texas Tech game, Love spoke briefly with Williams before both of them took half-court shots that missed, though neither one by much.

Now with the Portland Trail Blazers despite not being drafted last June, Love credited his mom and coaches, saying it was a blessing to be inducted. And when Williams asked about his relationship with Lloyd, Love called Lloyd a player's coach

“He cares about his players on and off the court," Love said. "He helped me a lot the two years I was here. He’s still in my ear, still coaching me to this day. I appreciate our relationship.”

Lloyd, meanwhile, spent a segment sitting down with the "GameDay" crew, talking about his friendship with Mix Master Mike (“he’s a GOAT,” Lloyd said) and, of course, about his players.

Among other things, Lloyd gave a shout-out to senior forward Tobe Awaka for volunteering to come off the bench this season, a move that allowed Peat and Motiejus Krivas to start inside, and spoke of his role as a caretaker for a proud Arizona program.

“This isn’t about me,” Lloyd said. “This is about, during my time and my watch, doing everything I can to make the team the best it can be."