An Arizona reserve heading into the NCAA Tournament averaging 0.4 points per game in just 10 brief appearances so far in 2023-24 will be the avatar of the Wildcats’ season — that is, if UA can reach its ultimate goal of cutting down the nets in Glendale’s State Farm Stadium.
And that’s an avatar in a literal sense.
Caleb Love changed his profile picture on X (Twitter) and Instagram on New Year’s Day to a close-up photo of the back of teammate Luke Champion’s home jersey. The navy-blue “Champion” switched above the blue with red trimmed “24” offered a clear statement about Love’s intentions for this postseason.
For Champion, a walk-on newcomer to the UA roster this year, the choice was not intended that way.
“(The staff) asked me what number I wanted. I saw the options available and 24 I thought was a cool number,” he said. “But obviously, with the ’24 season and the last name being ‘Champion,’ it looks pretty good.”
As the calendar flipped to Jan. 1, eventual Pac-12 Player of the Year Caleb Love posted on X (Twitter) his “#NewProfilePic”: a shot of the back of teammate Luke Champion’s jersey, completed with “CHAMPION” and “24” — an obvious homage to Love’s goals for the Wildcats this season.
Indeed, the No. 24 carries prestige in the basketball world. Moses Malone and Kobe Bryant both won NBA Most Valuable Player awards sporting No. 24.
At UA, Matt Muehlebach was the Pac-10 Tournament MVP while wearing No. 24 in 1990, 13 years before Andre Iguodala began his rise to stardom in the same digits as a Wildcat.
As for adding his own important stamp on the jersey, Champion said Love first broached the idea before this year’s Pac-12 Player of the Year updated his social media.
“It was our (summer) Israel trip,” Champion said. “I didn’t even think about it. And then he was like, ‘We’re going to get that championship in ’24. It dawned on me right there.”
UA opens the 2024 NCAA Tournament on Thursday in Salt Lake City against Long Beach State, looking to begin the six-game journey to the main prize of a national championship.
The Wildcats are 1 for 2 on their quest to stack titles in 2024, winning an outright regular-season Pac-12 championship before falling short at the conference tournament in Las Vegas.
Contributing to UA’s pursuits in his own and it paying off in championship opportunities is exactly what led Champion on a circuitous route from Suwanee, Georgia, to Tucson.
Luke Champion doesn’t see a ton of minutes for second-seeded Arizona. But the 6-8 forward adds length and versatility to the Wildcats’ scout unit that, should the UA make a deep March run, will prove ever-valuable against the nation’s top competition.
“I wanted to be a part of a bigger program and impact practice and bring energy [to scout team], he said. “I always grew up thinking Arizona would be an awesome place to do that.”
Scout-team players have an oftentimes overlooked role in shaping championship contenders. But their ability to learn and recreate the tendencies of opponens on the quick turnaround of the NCAA Tournament schedule make their contributions particularly vital at this time of year.
When Gonzaga reached the National Championship Game for the first of two times with current UA head coach Tommy Lloyd on staff as an assistant — that was at the last Final Four played in Arizona, 2017 — Bulldogs players talked extensively scout-team guard Dustin Triano’s importance.
Champion fills a similar role for UA, which means much more to the Wildcats’ title hopes than any jersey number. He adds length at 6-8 and versatility, which earned him buzz as a top-25 recruit in the state of Georgia and landed him a spot at Samford. He wore No. 21 for the Bulldogs as a freshman in 2020-21.
Serendipitously, Samford enters the 2024 NCAA Tournament as winners of the Southern Conference championship and a No. 13 seed opposite Kansas in the Midwest Region. Though part of a different region, the Bulldogs and Jayhawks are, like Champion’s current team, playing Thursday at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on the tournament’s first full day of action.
“I’m so happy for them,” Champion said of Samford. “My first year (at Samford) was Coach Bucky’s (McMillan) first year there as well, and he said one time throughout our four years there, they would (make an NCAA Tournament).”
Making his way toward his goal at UA, however, Champion transferred to Div. II Missouri Western where he kept the No. 21. St. Joseph, Missouri, was his last stop between Homewood, Alabama, and Tucson, but not without a detour of sorts through Spokane, Washington.
It was via Gonzaga, the alma mater of Champion’s father, Mike, that the forward made it to UA. Mike Champion played for the Bulldogs from 1983-87 and had a connection to Lloyd through the program.
Gonzaga has become a veritable NBA hotbed commensurate with the program’s rise to national prominence over the last 25 years: Chet Holmgren is making a push for Rookie of the Year on a surprise Oklahoma City Thunder team, Andrew Nembhard has teamed in the Indiana Pacers backcourt with UA product Bennedict Mathurin, and Domantas Sabonis is a triple-double machine for the Finals hopeful Sacramento Kings.
When Mike Champion debuted with the Seattle Supersonics in 1988 — wearing No. 41 — he was just the second Gonzaga Bulldog ever to suit up in the NBA.
The first was a guy named John Stockton.
Like his father, Luke Champion now has the chance to leave his own imprint on a proud basketball program’s legacy.
Former Arizona Wildcats men's basketball player and longtime Major League Baseball legend Kenny Lofton saw his name placed in the UA basketball Ring of Honor at McKale Center Saturday, March 2, 2024, during a UA blowout win over Oregon. (Courtesy Arizona Athletics)
