JERUSALEM β The Arizona Wildcats held two workouts Saturday, and the one trainer Justin Kokoskie was most worried about had nothing to do with basketball or a gym.
It was the Wildcatsβ nearly three-hour tour of Jerusalemβs Old City, on a day when the temperature soared into the 90s and humidity into the 40s.
Anticipating the draining day ahead, including a subsequent two-hour basketball practice, Kokoskie started handing out fluids before breakfast. And about a quarter of their busβs cargo hold was stuffed with cases of bottled water.
βI was trying to push fluids all day,β Kokoskie said during the Wildcatsβ βotherβ workout, a two-hour practice inside Jerusalemβs YMCA. βA lot of water. A lot of elecrolytes. I was walking around with bottles of waters and juices.β
Thanks to confusion about the dayβs dress code, which called for modest clothing inside the holy sites of the Old City, some players inadvertently made it a little tougher on themselves. Teased about wearing black sweatpants in the heat, guard Jaden Bradley said he thought he was supposed to wear pants, while center Will Menaugh said he did, too, but that his sweatpants didnβt feel right.
So Menaugh wore jeans. And a black shirt.
At least Menaugh is a Tucson local, so maybe heβs got a different sort of blood that helped. In any case, it all worked well enough. The Wildcats put in their two-hour practice without any sort of cramping or hydration issues, then went back to their hotel for a two-hour break before a meeting and dinner.
βI feel good,β UA coach Tommy Lloyd. βThese guys are young. Theyβre built for it.β
A tree is born
One of the lighter moments on the court Saturday came when graduate assistant coach Przemek Karnowski successfully defended a play under the basket. Karnowski, a 290-pound former Gonzaga standout center, had joined a team of mostly walkons who wear green jerseys while facing the rotation players.
Except Karnowski did so while wearing a red T-shirt instead of a green jersey, giving associate head coach Jack Murphy a branding idea as he celebrated with the green team.
βThey call us the Christmas Tree!β Murphy said.
Maybe we have it easy
Arizonaβs tour guide Saturday, Shai Zalait, took a humorous twist to one of the endless conflicts in Jerusalemβs history, this one between the Romans and Jews.
Describing himself as a secular Jew β he was working on Saturday, during the Shabbat, after all β Zalait said the Romans worked seven days a week and killed Jews who refused to work on a Sabbath rest day.
He then asked how other people can get away with actually taking two days off a week.
βItβs a scam!β he said.
Saturday night live
While the Wildcats were told Friday night about Shabbat, when most businesses and transportation shut down between sunset Friday and about an hour after dark Saturday to allow for a rest day, its unique ending developed around them Saturday.
It was especially visible in an outside retail area near their hotel and in Jerusalemβs Center City.
The plazas and sidewalks around Jaffa Street were still mostly just after sunset. But before long a few businesses began rolling up window security screens as if it were morning and turning on the lights because it was actually nightfall.
Then everybody else did the same.
By midnight, tables at the many snack bars and restaurants were full. At an ice cream shop, closed entirely during Shabbat, the line snaked out the door. And the streets were full, again.
Bear Down Jerusalem
Among the most prominently displayed items at the first T-shirt shop the Wildcats walked past in the Old City looked both familiar and foreign.
It was a shirt with the Arizona βBlock A,β and the Hebrew spelling of βUniversity of Arizona.β
Several UA players filed into the shop for a look around, though it might also be noted that in a more subtle area of the shop, the ASU pitchfork logo could be found on another shirt. The shop also sold shirts for Alabama, Indiana, Oklahoma, USC, UCLA and several other schools.
As well as one for βJewbaccaβ and one encouring basketball players to βJust Jew It,β both with figures that wore Jewish hats.