Channing Frye, Stoudamire's teammate for four years, told reporters here that the two barely knew each other for three years. On the second day of school to start their senior year, Frye said Stoudamire approached him and said, "You want go to lunch?" In total disbelief, Frye said he blurted out, "Are you kidding?"
Stoudamire spent the better part of 30 minutes talking about how he's trying to be more tolerant, more open.
Arizona's Salim Stoudamire is shooting 51.5 percent overall and 51.5 percent on 3-pointers.
(Allen Fredrickson -- Reuters)
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"I want to be remembered as a good person," he said. "I am a good person and I want to display that. It's a matter of me figuring out that the people around me have my back, my best interests. I'm just not concerned about that clean-cut image. I'm a natural person. That's why my hair looks this way. I get angry at myself, but I try to channel that into a positive, but it's been a struggle."
But his shooting stroke is such a thing of beauty. You watch Arizona long enough, you'll wind up screaming at Stoudamire to shoot more, even though the Wildcats have so many good players. Asked why he doesn't shoot more, Stoudamire said: "My teammates may get mad and think, 'Salim is just out for himself.' I'm very conscious of that."
Doubtful they would. He has won three games with buzzer-beating shots this season. He erases teammates' mistakes. Shakur explains one difference between Redick and Stoudamire. Both are unstoppable coming off screens, Shakur said. But if the pass is late, Stoudamire simply rises above the defender and makes the shot regardless. Redick has to resort to Plan B.
Of course, this is Illinois' problem Saturday in the region final.
"He doesn't have to have his balance," Illinois guard Deron Williams said. "He doesn't have to square up. He lets it go and it goes in."
And Stoudamire does it more often, more precisely than any guard in the country, period.
