Why not Arizona? In this headless horse race of a college season, there's no reason to think a sleeper like the Wildcats can't tear up the brackets come March - University of Arizona's basketball team

Basketball Digest, March, 2002 by Tom Kertes

EXCUSE ME, BUT JUST WHO exactly are these guys?

Arizona fans could be forgiven for experiencing spasms of such culture shock. Indeed, before the season began, any resemblance between last year's fearsome Wildcats and this year's clawless kittens was supposed to be no more than fleeting fabrication and pure whimsy.

That squad had more talent than any college team has a right to in this early (NBA) entry era of college hoops--in fact, it was the only team in the country that could potentially 0utduke Duke. But while that fabulously talented NCAA championship runner-up, with its five future pros, could have probably beaten the Chicago Bulls, this year's team has more babyfaced 18-year-old rookies, vaguely wandering walk-ons, and other assorted wannabes than, well ... the Chicago Bulls.

"Has any college basketball team ever lost more talent all at one time?" Wildcats coach Lute Olson ponders. "I really don't think so. At least I can't recall seeing one in all my years in this game."

Center Loren Woods has gone to the Minnesota Timberwolves, all seven feet of him. But at least he was a senior, so his departure was on schedule, leaving no one unprepared. And junior small forward Richard Jefferson--already a star on the emerging New Jersey Nets--was so athletic, so fundamentally sound, and just so darn good overall that, when the kid asked him for advice, Olson did not dispute his NBA readiness one bit. "I told him, when you got to go, you got to go," says the coach.

That was not the case, however, with junior power forward Michael Wright, a 6'7" insider who, due to his `tweener size, was seen as borderline NBA (and is now playing for pay in Poland). And it was especially not the case with sophomore shooting guard Gilbert Arenas, only an 18-year-old pup at the time of the NBA draft. "Gil should have stayed," the low-keyed Olson avers, displaying a flash of fiery passion. "Gosh, he's just a kid. He had no business leaving school or college basketball. He just wasn't ready, either as a person or as a player. It's as simple as that."

But, this being the age of the unstoppable, and often incomprehensible, early entry avalanche, Arenas left for the lure of the NBA arenas in spite of all good advice, leaving Arizona with more holes in its lineup than the golf course the gopher ruined in "Caddyshack."

Worse, the new and already infamous "8-5" rule kicked in, punting the short-rostered `Cats squarely in the butt. "We had five seniors leaving in total," Olson says. "And, at this point, we have already filled our five scholarships. So, when the two unexpected underclassmen left, we were not allowed to go the junior college, or any other, route and get more players."

"We had one starter back," Olson smiles. "Plus, in Luke Walton, one reserve who received some minutes last year. Otherwise, we were going to play a redshirt and five freshmen." That sounds about as promising as receiving stock-options from Enron. "Yup, I thought we were cooked but good," Olson says. "I thought it was going to be a long and painful process this season. I thought the days of being a national contender were over for us, at least for this year."

Which illustrates the danger of overthinking. Opening the season against an elite field in the Coaches vs. Cancer IKON Classic, this group of obscure Wildcats took to the hallowed floors of Madison Square Garden as if it was their own, putting a beating on a couple of preseason top-four teams in Maryland and Florida as if something that outrageous came to them naturally. "Heck, the Garden even intimidates me," smiles Olson, `Zona's head honcho for 19 years. "And I've been around a little while now. But these kids played as if the Garden, the big event, the level of the opposition, it was all a big nothing. I'm telling you, you could have knocked me over with half a feather."

Naturally, theretofore ignored Arizona immediately leaped into the national rankings. Then, perhaps not so naturally, the team proceeded to reinforce the shocking early impression it created by defeating highly-rated Illinois and well-regarded Texas and Purdue in the early going. Moreover, the team, in spite of hitting a tad shakier patch around Christmastime, continues to appear it will remain solidly in the national rankings all season.

But even if it doesn't--the young squad plays a hellish schedule--without a doubt `Zona has what it takes to participate, and even be a factor, in March. "And that's a lot more important," Olson says. "The weekly rankings are nice, especially for these young kids we have on the team this season. But, in spite of any ups and downs we'll surely encounter, we're building toward being at the top of our game when it counts."

"I really think we can do some business in the NCAA Tournament," the coach adds. "Those early games are our true level. The couple of games we've lost, we were missing Luke Walton, who's an irreplaceable part of our equation. But if everyone's healthy, yes, we be right there in March."

To which all those early prognosticators can only say a hearty, "oh, yeah?" What happened at Arizona, anyway?