The NCAA tournament is about basketball but also so much more: the fans, bands, cheerleaders, etc. The 1st/2nd rounds are taking place in 8 cities around the country and we could not be more excited to be there in person! HoopsHD is covering all of the angles so you can look forward to a cascade of coverage in the days ahead. Jon Teitel commences our coverage from San Diego with the Arizona press conference.
I asked Dalen Terry whether his team has won 31 games because they are cocky or they are cocky because they have won 31 games. He said that if he waves to the opposing fans or if Kerr Kriisa sticks out his tongue then it is just their personality and gets them going. It is not anything intentional: just another edge for their team to use to keep winning.
I asked Coach Tommy Lloyd about facing an opponent with a great scorer like Tanner Holden (37 PTS vs. Bryant) and whether his defensive philosophy is to let anyone else BUT the great scorer try to beat him or to let that guy score as much as he wants because he is just 1 player. He said that they will play a normal defense to start because the Raiders have other good players like Grant Basile. In a single-elimination game you want to do your best to guard everyone well. Holden is a natural scorer who scores a lot of 2s and 1s, which is really impressive.
I saw 2001 national runner-up/current Arizona director of player relations Jason Gardner hanging out at open practice and asked him if any of his old teammates might be dropping by this weekend. He said that Justin Wessel should be here, and that the further the Wildcats go the more alumni might show up. 
I finished up by taking a few photos of the team preparing to take the court for open practice:
Oumar Ballo: 
Christian Koloko: 
Kriisa and Lloyd taking in the view: 
Bennedict Mathurin: 
Terry looking RIGHT at me: 
and Azuolas Tubelis: 