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November 20, 2006

11 Arizona

Bucking the big man trend, the Wildcats will go smaller and faster with a trio of explosive wings

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POS. PLAYER HT. CLASS KEY STATS
  Marcus WILLIAMS 6'7" Soph. 13.0 ppg 45.3 FG%
  Chase BUDINGER* 6'7" Fr. 33.6 ppg 10.8 rpg
  Ivan RADENOVIC [RETURNING STARTER] 6'10" Sr. 12.1 ppg 6.3 rpg
SG Jawaan MCCLELLAN 6'4" Jr. 4.0 ppg 1.5 rpg
PG Mustafa SHAKUR [RETURNING STARTER] 6'3" Sr. 11.2 ppg 4.7 apg
-- KEY RESERVE--
  Kirk WALTERS [RETURNING STARTER] 6'11" Sr. 6.1 ppg 1.52 bpg

Talk about a bad case of mistaken identity. Wildcats sophomore Marcus Williams received calls last season from people who thought he'd been suspended for stealing computers--an offense that was famously committed by another NBA prospect named Marcus Williams, who played at Connecticut. "They'd say, 'I heard you got some laptops,'" recalls the Arizona Williams, who also received a frantic message from his mother, Gayle, saying, "Maybe you should change your name."

Not to worry, Mom: The other Marcus Williams is in the NBA now, and your son is fast making a name for himself as one of the top swingmen in the college game. In fact, no team in the land has a trio of wings as explosive as Arizona's 6'7" Williams, 6'7" freshman Chase Budinger and 6'4" junior Jawann McClellan. While other elite outfits are building around big men, coach Lute Olson plans to go smaller and faster, complementing two seniors (6'3" point guard Mustafa Shakur and 6'10" Serbian forward Ivan Radenovic) with his wingman trio. "I'd love to have all three on the floor at the same time," says Olson, who believes McClellan has enough muscle to guard taller power forwards on the blocks.

Williams (above) has a deadly touch (43.5% from three-point range as a freshman), and Olson has asked him to be more vocal. "I'm expected to be the leader," says Williams, who turned heads in March by lighting up UCLA (25 points) and Villanova (24). "Freshmen sometimes defer to the older guys, but now I have the confidence to be a leader and take us to Atlanta."

STARTING LINEUP
COACH: Lute Olson (24th year)
[This article contains a table. Please see hardcopy of magazine or PDF.]

RETURNING STARTER *HIGH SCHOOL STATS

SCHEDULE

Nov. 12 at Virginia

Nov. 15 Northern Arizona

Nov. 19 New Mexico State

Nov. 22 Samford

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