Arizonaโs locker room was a joyous place following Saturdayโs Pac-12 Tournament championship win over USC.
Players posed for photos with the Pac-12 championship trophy and what was left of the net that coach Sean Miller and players had just cut down. Deandre Ayton, fresh off arguably the best game of his brief college career, declared that his new name was Josh.
Why Josh? According to Ayton, he just felt like a Josh.
Amid the celebration, senior Dusan Ristic told Ira Lee, who hasnโt played since returning from a concussion, that his time will come.
โTake your time and wait. You will see it, itโll change,โ Ristic said before taking a chug of Gatorade.
Leeโs response: โYeah, he tells me that everyday: โpatience.โ All that good senior talk.โ
The teamโs personality was on full display all week thanks to a conference rule that demands each team open its locker room to the media after games. The Wildcats were goofy, driven, confident.
Rawle Alkins couldnโt keep himself from laughing when talking about his thunderous dunk over USCโs Elijah Stewart in Saturdayโs title game. He then asked reporters if he thought that dunk was better than the reverse slam he had against Oregon State back in January.
Ayton seemed to be more exhilarated about the dunk than Alkins was.
โHe needs to go to jail for that. โฆ Iโve never seen a dunk like that,โ Ayton said. โThat was some 2K animation stuff.โ
Ayton may be 7-foot-1, 260 pounds and have the stature of a beast, but heโs still a kid at heart. While Ayton showed a bubbly personality during Arizonaโs run in Las Vegas, he also jumped into a variety of topics. He firmly believes that he will be the No. 1 pick in Juneโs NBA Draft, and that thereโs no player in the country nearly as competitive as him.
Ayton talked about about last monthโs game at Oregon, where he was taunted mercilessly by the Ducksโ students. Fans waved checks and 100 Grand candy bars at Ayton every time he touched the ball, a reference to ESPNโs report that coach Sean Miller had discussed paying him $100,000 to come to Arizona.
Ayton scored 28 points and grabbed 18 rebounds.
โAll eyes are on me, and Iโm gonna put on a show,โ he said. โIโm an entertainer. I like to entertain.โ
Heโs also not afraid to share his two cents about officiating.
โI just feel like the refs allow guys to guard me any type of way, but when I come down and protect myself, itโs an offensive foul. ... Itโs probably because theyโve never seen a guy my size before,โ he said.
Josh โ err, Deandre โ Ayton is now the face and voice of a team with dreams of the Final Four. And wouldnโt that be something to talk about?
