'SNL' skit makes impression on Bill Walton; Dave Heeke makes it to LA

LOS ANGELES — Five days after watching himself spoofed on “Saturday Night Live,” analyst Bill Walton gave the kind of approval only he could.

“It was very nice to have someone to talk to,” Walton said when asked what he thought of the “Weekend Update” skit.

Huh? As he did in a long-winded tweet last Sunday, Walton appeared to be saying he enjoyed the chat he (actually, SNL’s James Austin Johnson) had with Weekend Update host Michael Che during the Feb. 25 show.

“There I was, alone in my hotel room, in glorious Oregon, trying to come down, from the veritable quandaries of yet another scintillating buzzer-beating ending to a Conference of Champions BB game,” Walton tweeted Sunday, after working Oregon’s dramatic win over OSU a day earlier. “I had the TV on, suddenly, I was watching and listening to myself, and it all came into focus, and everything was crystal clear.”

Walton said Thursday before calling the Arizona-USC game at Galen Center that he actually did watch live as the segment played out, starting with when Che introduced Walton as an NBA analyst who is “also, overall, a little weird.”

The mock Walton answered appropriately.

“Michael, I am an athlete. I am an analyst. I am a spiritual nomad. I am a curious nymph in God’s astonishing garden,” he said, adding that his spirit guide was a “headless Babylonian priestess.”

Che then asked “Walton” repeatedly if the Lakers would make the playoffs. As he can during Pac-12 broadcasts, Walton swerved around verbally while appearing to also be calling a game.

“Yes, the Lakers can make the playoffs if they can answer one simple question: Is there an afterlife?” the mock Walton said. “And what scientific basis is there for the persistence of their soul after death? Ooh, foul on Davis. That’s his fourth.

“Only unity with the stars, our place in the massive firmament, to be cradled in our creator’s magnificent bosom…”

Uh-huh. So, when asked again before Thursday’s game what he thought of the skit, Walton responded this way:

“Looking forward to working with quality play-by-play guys like Michael Che.”

Hoop head

When Arizona athletic director Dave Heeke showed up at Galen Center on Thursday, he was actually taking in his ninth game over the past two days.

That counts the UA women’s basketball teams game against UCLA in the Pac-12 Tournament earlier Thursday — after which he hopped a quick flight from Las Vegas to Los Angeles — and seven games Heeke had queued up on his iPad.

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That sort of thing is necessary when you’re a member of the NCAA Selection Committee, as Heeke is for the first time this season.

Assigned to closely monitor the Mountain West, WAC and Sun Belt conferences while being the second monitor for three others, Heeke said he took in Boise State’s 66-60 win over San Diego State on Tuesday while also watching several other Mountain West games, some ACC action and Sam Houston State’s overtime win over Stephen F. Austin on Wednesday.

Although nine times two hours per game equals 18 potential hours of basketball over that 48-hour period, Heeke admitted he flips through games to watch only the action.

“It’s like the coaches when they’re scouting,” Heeke said.

Celebrity Wildcats

Among those in the crowd behind the UA bench on the northeast side of Galen Center were former UA standout Gilbert Arenas and former UA guard Lamont Frazier, along with Heeke and UA president Robert C. Robbins.

Bad kitty

Standing in the front row of USC’s student section, directly behind the north basket and across from the UA bench, were nine students with USC-colored jerseys painted onto their chests. The first eight featured a single letter, while the ninth had an exclamation mark.

When they stood up together, they spelled “BAD KITTY!”

But there’s traffic

Despite USC’s surge into NCAA Tournament consideration, the immense seeding considerations on the line for the Pac-12 Tournament and the vast presence of Arizona alums in Southern California, the Galen Center upper deck was only about a third full Thursday.

That translated to about 7,000 fans in the 10,258-seat arena, located just three miles south of downtown Los Angeles. According to the box score, USC later announced a crowd of 7,043.