Arizona basketball: On fisherman Zeus, Rondae's athleticism, Kerr

Casting off 

The Sonoran desert isn’t exactly full of fishing spots. 

At least, you wouldn’t think it would be.

Kaleb Tarczewski grew up in New Hampshire, in a log cabin built by his mother.

So, it should come as no surprise that Tarczewski likes to fish.

But, again, Arizona ain’t New Hampshire.

So what’s a 7-foot fisherman to do?

“I’ve been looking since I got there,” Tarczewski said of his move to Tucson, and search for somewhere to bring his fishing pole. “I finally found a good spot.”

That is, at a nearby golf course — he wouldn’t say which one — which has large-mouth bass.

Tarczewski has found his desert oasis.

“I like to get out there,” he said. “It kind of clears my mind, and it’s just crazy that you can still catch fish in the desert.”

"Zeus" grew up around fishing, surely, but still didn’t really develop an affinity for it until he was older. He fishes now during off-days, or when he needs a moment to himself. 

“It’s something I grew into as I got older,” he said. “Fishing is almost like golfing. It’s tough, you have to know what you’re doing and sometimes you go out there and you’ll be awful and won’t catch anything. It can be frustrating.

“But,” he added, “it reminds me of home.” 

Survey says... 

During the press conference portion of Friday’s media availability at Staples Center, Arizona’s players were asked to name the craziest, most athletic thing they’ve ever seen Rondae Hollis-Jefferson do.

Brandon Ashley and T.J. McConnell picked his dunk against New Mexico State from last season, which found its way to the top of "SportsCenter’s" Top 10 list.

Kaleb Tarczewski didn’t pick any moment in particular, simply saying that “anytime Rondae goes up to dunk, it's almost like he sprouts wings, he jumps, and it's almost like he continues to — he just keeps going. So it's pretty spectacular to watch. I'm fortunate he hasn’t dunked on me yet in practice.”

Stanley Johnson cited a time when Hollis-Jefferson jammed on a teammate in practice, but wouldn't say who.

McConnell mentioned another dunk, the one Hollis-Jefferson had over 7-foot-6-inch UC Irvine center Mamadou Ndiaye earlier this season. 

“That was definitely a thrill,” Hollis-Jefferson said, “A lot of energy going through my body.” 

Wisconsin's Entourage 

Badgers star Frank Kaminsky counts himself as a die-hard fan of the HBO show “Entourage”.

“I’ve seen Entourage like three times through,” Kaminsky said. “I could probably assign a lot of people to a lot of different characters.”

Of course, he called himself Vincent Chase, the lead character on the show. He said Badgers guard Jordan Smith was “E”, coach Bob Ryan is Ari Gold because he “yells at us all the time,” and guard Bronson Koenig is Lloyd, Ari Gold’s ill-treated assistant on the show.

“Why wouldn’t I be Vince?” Kaminsky said, smiling. 

He said it 

“I don't even think about the NBA, honestly. I think college is hard enough to figure out itself, especially for a guy like me coming in. I struggled for a little bit. So I just try to focus on college basketball and let the future be the future.” — Stanley Johnson, on his pro prospects  

Kerr writes 

Steve Kerr penned a piece, published on Friday, for The Players Tribune, an online publication where athletes write articles themselves. The topic: Arizona's win over North Carolina in the 1988 Elite Eight.

Of course, since he’s Steve Kerr, he spent most of the article raving about Lute Olson, Sean Elliott and Tom Tolbert, and not so much about himself.

“It was the greatest feeling I had ever felt in my life,” Kerr wrote. “We had done it. We had just accomplished what we set out to do at the beginning of the season: conquered Carolina and earned our ticket to the Final Four. It was just awesome.”