Wildcats young, older pick it up at Pro League
By: Lance Madden
Issue date: 6/20/07 Section: Sports
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That day, the current Harlem Globetrotter and former Arizona Wildcat played in a 40-minute game in the Tucson Summer Pro League. Then he traded in his No. 23 El Charro Café jersey and slid a No. 23 M3 Moore Law firm jersey over his huge afro in preparation for another game literally two minutes later.
The TSPL, now in its fourth summer, features competition unlike any the Globetrotters see.
"You know basically day in and day out what you're going to do out there on the basketball court as a Harlem Globetrotter," Edgerson said. "Out here, it's a different ball game, because you're playing with guys that you're not used to playing with. And the rules out here are different; we're playing professional rules."
And don't forget about the steep competition.
The league features elite high school and college players, and sometimes NBA veterans.
Edgerson, or "Killer" as he is called as a Globetrotter, is just one of several former Wildcats who participate in the league.
Kelvin Eafon and Corey Williams - who hosted Edgerson during his recruiting visit to Arizona from New Orleans - play larger roles.
Eafon played for the Arizona baksketball team from 1994-1995 and was an All-Pacific 10 Conference running back on the football team from 1996-1998. These days, he is the league's director of player personnel and scouting. He also seeks out and invites top players from the NBA and Europe to play each summer in the TSPL, and this year, play has been extended to Phoenix from merely St. Gregory College Preparatory School in Tucson.
Williams founded the TSPL in 2004 because he was "tired of looking for a good game to play." A Wildcat under current UA head coach Lute Olson from 1992-1996, Williams plays and coaches in the league, as does his former teammate Eafon.
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