 |
| |
|
 |
 |
||
 |
 |
||
 |
|||
EVENTS
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE
|
Closer Look Complex Edgerson a steadying influence on Arizona
Updated: Sunday March 25, 2001 9:59 PM
By Jack McCallum, Sports Illustrated SAN ANTONIO -- Last Thursday, the day before Arizona met Mississippi in the Midwest Regional in San Antonio, Arizona center Loren Woods wanted to correct one piece of information offered by his teammate, forward Richard Jefferson. "Richard said we had five or six goofballs on this team," said Woods. "I'd like to say we have 12 or 13 goofballs. In fact, the only one who isn't a goofball is our kindergarten teacher, Eugene. Eugene's the guy we try to lock in the closet so we can have fun." Eugene Edgerson is, literally, a kindergarten teacher. All right, was a kindergarten teacher, and, if he has his druthers, will be one in the future. He is perhaps the only 6-foot-6 guy with a Final Four ring (from his freshman year), a '70s-era Afro and a goatee who has spent months cutting out bits of construction paper and planning bulletin boards that herald the coming of spring. "That's my passion, being in the classroom," says Edgerson. That's where Edgerson spent last year after dropping out of basketball to fulfill a promise to himself to get his teaching degree in four years. Then -- cut to the theme from "Shaft" -- Mean Gene returned to play the role of part-time on-the-court muscleman, fulltime off-the-court Kindergarten Cop. If you watched Arizona win the Midwest this past weekend, you probably thought your TV set had suddenly switched to an old ABA game, or perhaps a "Mod Squad" rerun, when it caught Edgerson in action. Besides the giant Afro and the goat, he wears elbow pads, knee pads and high socks, the whole aspect stamping him as an Artis Gilmore lookalike in an era of shaved heads and tats. Oh, he's got his tat -- a fraternity emblem burned into his left bicep -- but you hardly notice it amid all the accoutrements. Sometimes you don't notice Edgerson on the court either. In Sunday's 87- 81 win over Illinois that put the Wildcats in the Final Four, Edgerson had only five points. But, with a soft pivotman like Woods in the game, getting quality minutes from Edgerson is an absolute necessity for Arizona. He bangs bodies, takes pressure off of Woods because he's strong enough and mobile enough to guard almost any interior player, and has a decent offensive game around the basket. Further, he's bound to be even more important in Saturday's semifinal against Michigan State, the best rebounding team in the land. You don't really think Arizona wants Woods to match up with the Spartans' muscular Andre Hutson for 40 minutes, do you? In fact, Edgerson, along with starting forward Michael Wright, made a statement on Sunday. Here's what it said: Arizona isn't a bunch of soft, West Coast-style players who will buckle at a challenge. And no challenge is more formidable than the one offered by Michigan State. "I'm blessed to be here," said Edgerson after the game. "And I will continue to play the role I'm supposed to play, doing the little things, staying tough, reminding everybody of what our mission is." Class, Michigan State awaits. Stop acting like a bunch of goofballs and get down to business.
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
