"He's like a father figure to most of us, maybe all of us," senior guard Darius Theus said of Smart. "He does spend time with us off the court. I think that's what makes him so special, not just as a coach, but as a person."

Those words could have come from the Zips talking about Dambrot.

Smart brought up his often-told story about Dambrot taking him to Springside Racquet and Fitness Club on his first day on the job at UA in 2003, not knowing they were going to work out LeBron James. Smart said those sessions continued two or three times a week for two months.

What struck Smart later wasn't just his initial awe of James, the soon-to-be first pick in the NBA Draft, who pulled up in his Hummer. Smart was touched by Dambrot's gesture.

"It says a lot about Keith," Smart said. "He didn't know me from anyone. Why would he include me in that?

"Because Keith's been fired, been through tough times, he really reaches out and tries to treat people so well who are going through tough times. There's no way that can benefit him or help him in any way. That's something I've always admired about Keith and that I try to emulate."

They are also cut from the same cloth when it comes to competitiveness. While VCU is favored because of the problems UA is expected to have without Abreu against VCU's full-court press, Dambrot won't back down.

"We've got a good chance," Dambrot said. "We're better than people think. Relatively speaking, this is the best team I've had other than when I had LeBron in high school."

Dambrot felt the gamesmanship from Smart earlier Wednesday when they ended up sitting together at the coaches' meeting.

"He sat down next to my jacket. So I said, 'Oh, it's going to be like that,"' Dambrot said.

There is at least one thing about Dambrot that Smart won't emulate - his choice in T-shirts. On Sunday, Dambrot's wife, Donna, tweeted a picture of him she took two weeks ago with Dambrot wearing one from VCU that reads "You Don't Want to Go to War With the Rams."

When Smart's wife, Maya, saw it, she wanted Smart to put on a "Fear the Roo" shirt from his UA days.

"I said, 'No way. I'm not wearing that. Maybe after the tournament," Smart said.

A rising star like Smart who has entered the basketball-crazy president's universe wouldn't dare be caught in a TwitPic flashing Zippy the Kangaroo ears. Unless, of course, Dambrot told him to.