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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Trevor Hoffman celebrates after his 600th save Tuesday night/Photo by Jeff Hanisch, US PRESSWIRE

As a minor-leaguer who couldn’t hit, former Arizona Wildcat shortstop Trevor Hoffman had nothing to lose when he started over as a pitcher. His first time on the mound in this experiment was the Arizona’s 1991 All-Pro Alumni Game.

He hit his first batter.

Things managed to get a lot, lot better in the next two decades.

Hoffman, a future Hall of Famer and one of the most accomplished athletes to ever pass through UA, extended his major league record with a milestone save Tuesday night. He worked a scoreless ninth inning in Milwaukee’s 4-2 victory over St. Louis for save No. 600.

And baseball cheered.

The on-line blog headline at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel called it a “Classy ending for a classy guy.” Danny Knobler of CBSSports.com called Hoffman “one of the most respected men in the game.”

In a 2006 story for the Tucson Citizen, sports columnist Corky Simpson talked to former UA pitching coach Jim Wing about Hoffman and wrote:

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