Just four days before the deadline to withdraw from the NBA draft, Chase Budinger did not sound like a player returning to school.
"All I can say is two years of Arizona was a great experience,"
Budinger said after working out for the Suns on June 12. "I had a great time there."
Then, sensing that his status as a first-round pick in the NBA draft was not solid, Budinger reversed course in the hours before the June 16 deadline.
He took two weeks off to rest at his home in Encinitas, Calif., returned to Tucson, enrolled in summer school at Arizona and started working out on the court again.
It wasn't that tough a transition, he said in a recent interview:
Q: Looking back, was that one of the tougher decisions you've had to make?
A: It was a very tough decision. It actually did go down to the wire. Me and my family sat down and wrote out the pros and cons, talked for hours about everything. It came down to my feelings. It was about an hour before the deadline, just a gut feeling that I wanted to come back for another year.
Q: Have you had any second thoughts since then?
A: Like I always say, the past is the past. You can't do anything about it. All I can do is look towards the future. So that's what I'm trying to do. Look forward to this season, look forward to the big games we're playing, look forward to practice every day and trying to get better every day.
Q: Was it hard to be certain about the advice you were getting?
A: I talked to Jerryd (Bayless) and he said the same thing: So many people are telling you different things, and some of those things aren't true. It's tough to trust what people are saying, so it comes down to a gut feeling, I guess. Coach O (Lute Olson) was giving me text messages, calling me, kind of recruiting me and telling me things that were going to happen this year, compared to last year.
Q: Did last year's experience, with a (Kevin O'Neill) system you said did not fit you, complicate your decision?
A: There was a lot of chaos out there. There was a lot of thinking going into this whole process. Me and my family really pinpointed every little aspect of the pros and cons. The big thing coming back was Coach O. I had a great time my freshman year playing that style. I'm happy we're going to get back to that.
Q: Was there anything beneficial about last season?
A: Definitely. At the next level — hopefully I'll be able to get there — there's going to be times when you have different coaches. There's going to be times when you have the yellers and screamers, and times when you have the quiet, talk-to-you kind of coaches. I think it was beneficial for me for a year to get that yelling-and-screaming type of coach.
Q. After getting NBA feedback, what's different in your game now?
A: Last summer was probably the most rigorous summer that I've had. I tried to gain some weight. I'm about 217 now. There was a lot of criticism that the next level is just so much more physical, so you need your body in tiptop shape. You need to be bulkier, because the guys are so much bigger, they hit harder and you need to be able to take those types of hits.
Q: What are you doing to prepare for being UA's No. 1 go-to option?
A: The thing with me is I've always got to keep my confidence up. That's always the thing with me. Right now, I'm trying to work on my leadership skills. I know I'm going to be a leader on the team. I'm trying to get their respect, as they're trying to get mine. I'm trying to get them to follow me.
Q: Can you play shooting guard if needed?
A: Yeah, I'd feel comfortable. In Coach O's motion, the two (shooting guard) and three (small forward) are pretty interchangeable.
Q: But what about having to guard a two?
A: I might be guarding a smaller person, but I've just got to use my head more guarding a quicker guy. We'll be going to a zone, too.
Q: It seemed like you were mentally gone (to the NBA). What was it like coming back to school?
A: It seemed pretty normal. The real thought process you have to have is the mind-set of, "I'm going."
You can't be indecisive during those workouts.
It's fun to be back. Arizona's a great school. My teammates are great. We're working hard and the social life has been a blast. It's not bad being back. To me, it's not all about making money. It's about playing basketball. It's just the love of the game.
