Luke Walton has fond memories of the late Maurice Lucas. Photo by Christopher Hanewinckel-US PRESSWIRE

Former Arizona Wildcat forward Luke Walton spoke with ESPN Los Angeles about his namesake, former NBA player Maurice Lucas, who died at the age of 58 because of bladder cancer.

Lucas was a great friend and Portland Trail Blazers teammate of Bill Walton.

(Unlike many men of Luke Walton’s age, he was not named after Luke Skywalker of the Star Wars saga. His first name is in honor of Lucas.)

Luke was asked how his dad described Lucas to him:

“He always told us the greatest two teammates he ever had were Larry Bird and Maurice Lucas. He had nothing but great things to say about him, on and off the court. His character. The person he was. It’s obviously tough, knowing my dad just lost one of his best friends. He always spoke very highly of him and every time we saw him, he was always great to us. A lot of fun to talk to. To hang out with. A big, loving, caring type of man.”

Read more of the Q&A at ESPN.com.

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QB Nick Foles is showing complete command of the UA offense/Photo by Rick Osentoski-US PRESSWIRE

NOTE: This part of the weekly “Nothin’ But The Notes” column at WildcatSportsReport.com, written by me and Javier Morales. Follow the link for more football and loads of basketball recruiting.

One of the many encouraging things about Arizona’s opening game against the Toledo was the absolute control, the calmness, that quarterback Nick Foles showed.

Even when the offense sputtered in the first half, there was absolutely no panic, and first-year quarterbacks coach Frank Scelfo said that comes from Foles being a dedicated student of he game in the offseason.

“The thing with Nick is that he’s knowledgeable,” Scelfo said. “He knew what he was doing. He felt comfortable with the game plan. It’s like taking a test and knowing the answers. He had a great offseason.”

One thing Scelfo and head coach Mike Stoops mentioned as an area of improvement is getting to the line and getting the ball snapped fast.

“We have a chance to put the defense at a little bit of a disadvantage is we can pick up the tempo a little bit more,” Scelfo said.

Trivia question
Did you know that there are seven former Arizona football assistants who are now head coaches at some level of college football? Probably not. Question is, how many can you name? Answer below.

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