Arizona Wildcats

[Tsmaz]

There seems to be a strong feeling out here in Tucson that The Arizona Wildcat basketball team will get into the final and the opponent will be Duke.

My own feeling though not a given is that they will make it to the final four.

That the Wildcats finished the regular season strong was anticipated by many perhaps due in part to the death of Bobbi Olsen who was the wife of coach Lute Olsen; she was very popular and this has given some inspiration to the team.

[iFroggy]

I think that they will make it to the Elite Eight, but not further.

[Tsmaz]

Originally posted by iFroggy
I think that they will make it to the Elite Eight, but not further.

Maybe, but we all remember the 96-97 season when the expectation was even less. They looked shaky in winning their first two games and then eliminated no. 1 Kansas and ended up winning the championship.

[Tsmaz]

I must say; it's quite a team that can seem to be losing it's edge and on the verge of being shut down for most of a half - and still trail only briefly and hold the lead for 95% of the time and win! Illinois just could not apply the clamps.

GO WILDCATS!!

[Marc]

Originally posted by Tsmaz
I must say; it's quite a team that can seem to be losing it's edge and on the verge of being shut down for most of a half - and still trail only briefly and hold the lead for 95% of the time and win! Illinois just could not apply the clamps.

GO WILDCATS!!

Yeah, congratulations on the win. Unfortuntately for me, it was your Wildcats who got to the Final Four, not mine. Next year, though... :) I think Arizona is good, but not good enough to beat a team like Duke, or even Michigan State for that matter, sorry.

[Jackson]

I dunno. I think Arizona wil beat Michigan State. I also think Duke will win, but don't count Maryland out.

[Tsmaz]

Originally posted by M. James

Yeah, congratulations on the win. Unfortuntately for me, it was your Wildcats who got to the Final Four, not mine. Next year, though... :) I think Arizona is good, but not good enough to beat a team like Duke, or even Michigan State for that matter, sorry.

Well; the way Arizona is playing, I'm not counting them out until it actually happens.

[Tsmaz]

Most impressive performance by the Wildcats so far. One thing they are really doing well is winning the turnover battles. About six times on the same type of move they came up with a steel; looked like replay.

They ought to make T-shirts with the same slogan that has appeared on some signs - FOUR BOBBIE.

[Marc]

Originally posted by Tsmaz
Most impressive performance by the Wildcats so far. One thing they are really doing well is winning the turnover battles. About six times on the same type of move they came up with a steel; looked like replay.

They ought to make T-shirts with the same slogan that has appeared on some signs - FOUR BOBBIE.

Yeah, one more is right. I'm really pulling for them because I have sympathy for Lute Olson. And plus, I never pull for Duke.

[PeterDewar]

I picked AZ at the start of the tourney in all my brackets. Gotta love em. For a few reasons:

Obviously its not Luke's year. Gardner is from Indiana where I live. And the talent is awesome!

[Nate]

Well, its over. Duke won. Too bad, was rooting for Arizona.

[Marc]

Yeah, but at least we know Olson is coming back next year... they should be good, despite minus Loren Woods.

[Spike]

Great season by the Wildcats. They were pre-season #1 so a lot of people had them winning the National Championship and they came full circle (going through the pain of Bobbi Olson's death) and just coming one step short.

I thought going into the game that Arizona should have tried a Triangle and Two with the emphasis on Battier and Jason Williams but that wouldn't have worked because Dunleavy really stepped up as that 3rd scorer and hit some big outside threes. Billy Packer in the past when doing his pregame analysis of the Championship Game has used the reference, "The Unknown Soldier" and Dunleavy who during the season was kind of inconsistent, disappearing at times really stepped up when Duke needed him to. So props to him.

Anyways, I thought Arizona kind of made a mistake in the 2nd half in ignoring Woods too much. Before the game Richard Jefferson was quoted as saying something like, "We know Duke's a good three point shooting team and we can hit the three also but if that shot isn't falling we'll go inside." I wish the team had listened to that line of thinking because Jason Gardner who was hitting the outside shot against Michigan State couldn't hit anything against Duke and Gilbert Arenas tried his hardest but he was pretty much a non-factor because of his injury as well.

They should have pounded it inside more with Wright and Woods because that was there all day, especially Woods. And if not that, at the very least, you know Richard Jefferson was the only guy hitting an outside shot (at least decently) for Arizona so what I might have done is just use a 2-man game with Woods and Jefferson and isolate everybody else on the other side of the floor.

[Spike]

Ouch, Richard Jefferson and Michael Wright have decided to enter the Draft early so I guess there goes any chance of Arizona getting back to the title game next year.

[Ranger Bob]

It is a shame. I was really impressed by their performance against Michigan State. Speaking of which, there are reports out that Zack Randolph and Jason (?) Alexander are also declaring for the draft - which will put Tom Izzo in the same boat as Lute.

But as long as they don't get an agent, I think the deadline for backing out of draft consideration is June 20 - give or take a couple of days. Perhaps their line of thinking is similar to that which Damien Wilkens (NC State) stated - declare but don't sign with an agent, go to the scout camps to be evaluated and make your decision after that.

[Spike]

Yeah, that's Jason Richardson. He's declared early. I think he's only a freshman too. I wonder how high he'll go and I hope he sure got the right advice.

I don't know about Randolph though.

[Marc]

After Jefferson and Wright left, now Gardener and Arenas have left. This is so sad, they would have definitely made it back last year, now, they won't be nearly as good, IMO. Here's a new freshly posted article on this: http://www.sports-central.org/sports/college_basketball/articles/article73.shtml

[NickHammy]

Looks like they're gonna suck next year.

[Spike]

How about Arizona coming from 20 points down in the 2nd half to beat U.C.L.A. yestersday?

I watched the last part of that game and it was sure something. Arizona is playing pretty well this season for a team that lost 4 of 5 starters to the N.B.A. Draft last Summer. It would have been 5 out of 5 too if Jason Gardner hadn't changed his mind.

[Marc]

Yeah, Arizona is still a good team after losing all their players to the NBA. I have never been sold on UCLA. They are so inconsistent, beating the No. 1 team and then losing a big lead to a lesser team. This is a team who has talent, but constantly loses to teams they should beat.

[Tornado23]

Olsen's done a great job with (for the majority) a young team. Gardner & Walton have really stepped up this season. They're a weird team though. They've had quality wins (MD, UF, UCLA) but they've also had bad loses (Oregon 2x - the Ducks aren't a bad team but not any better than UCLA). It'll be neat too see how long they last in the tourney.

[Spike]

So how about Arizona again sweeping the Bay Area schools (Cal and Stanford) at their respective homes?

I thought that was pretty impressive. Even though Stanford isn't as good as they were last year, they're still pretty good and still have Casey Jacobsen. And Cal had won 12 straight home games before Arizona shut them down.

[Marc]

Another good win for 'Zona. They've certainly overachieved this year, much to many's surprise.

[Hoop Dawg]

Arizona is two teams: The team that can beat Maryland, and the team that can lose to AZ State. If the first team shows up, a team that plays with fire, gets back on D, hits their open shots, plays like a team possessed, then they can beat anyone.

Luke Walton could replace Steve Kerr as AZ'z favorite basketball player of all time by the time he graduates. I know that is hard to believe, but remember I said it.

[Spike]

Wow, what a tough weekend for Arizona.

First they lose at U.C.L.A. on a last second shot by Jason Kapono.

And then today in a game they led several times, they end up losing to the Trojans when Jason Gardner hits the game tying three but walks with the basketball before the shot goes in, hehe.

[Marc]

Yes! This loss hopefully means Kentucky will not fall much in the rankings. Not that they matter, but still...