The End of an Era?

When Lute Olson arrived in Tucson, Arizona, at the end of the 1982-83 college basketball season, he was inheriting a program that had hit rock bottom. In that 82-83 season, the only season for head coach Ben Lindsay, the Wildcats won only four games and only one game in Pac-10 Conference play. They were the worst team in the conference by far. I remember going to a game that year at McKale Center, the opponent was either Oregon or Oregon State, the Wildcats were trounced early, and there couldn't have been more than a thousand fans in an arena that seats almost fifteen thousand. It was so quiet you could hear the players grunt. It was depressing.

I didn't know much about Olson, except that he had built a consistent winner at Iowa. I doubted whether he would be able to do much in Tucson. The UA was basically a football school, and Larry Smith was building a program that was going to consistently go to a non-major bowl game and beat arch-rival ASU almost every year in the 80's.

And then a funny thing happened. Olson recruited an average player that no one else wanted named Steve Kerr, and he convinced local high school phenom Sean Elliott to stay home, instead of accepting a scholarship at Kansas or North Carolina, or any of the other powers that wanted him. The Wildcats posted a winning record in Olson's second season as head coach and made the NCAA Tournament. They won their first Pac 10 Conference championship in Elliott's freshman season. In the 87-88 season, Kerr's senior season, the Wildcats spent a good portion of the season ranked number one in the country (for the first time in school history) and made it all the way to the Final Four. Many fans in Tucson still feel that was Olson's greatest team.

Ah yes, the Tucson fans. They simply fell in love with Olson and his teams. They were talented, the program was clean and bereft of trouble-makers, and they won. Oh, how they won. And the ghost town that had been McKale Center was soon sold out to season ticket holders, year after year. The waiting list for tickets was daunting. Lute Olson became the most beloved celebrity in town, and he and his wife were treated like royalty.

The season after that first Final Four season ended in disappointment. The Wildcats were a number one seed in the NCAA Tournament that year, and they were upset in the Sweet 16 by a young, talented UNLV team that would win the National Championship a year later. The morning paper the next day ran a photo of senior and favorite local product Sean Elliott crying on his mother's shoulder in the hallway right after the devestating loss. It wasn't his fault his team lost, Sean almost single-handedly carried the Cats that night. It was the first upset loss Lute would suffer in the tournament, but it was not to be his last.

Every year, Lute would re-load his team with star players, and every year they won 20 or more games and made it to the Big Dance. The early 90's were marked by devestating, first round upsets to teams like Middle Tennessee State and Santa Clara (although to be fair, Santa Clara did have some guy named Steve Nash leading them). The Cats soon became labeled as tournament chokers, that is, everywhere except in Tucson. Meanwhile, future NBA stars such as Brian Williams, Chris Mills, and Damon Stoudemire came and went. In 1994, the Wildcats went to their second Final Four, as Stoudemire and his talented supporting cast tasted victory in the tournament for the first time. But they were beaten in the Final Four by eventual champion Arkansas (with Bill Clinton rooting for them in the stands) and the following year, Stoudemire's senior season, they were once again upset in the first round.

For the 96-97 season, Olson convinced Phoenix high school superstar Mike Bibby to bring his immense talent 120 miles south to Tucson, where he would join talented players like Miles Simon and Michael Dickerson to form a potent line-up. The regular season was a disappointment, however, as the Cats finished the final weekend with losses to UCLA and USC for a fifth place conference finish. The Wildcats limped into the tournament that year licking their wounds and under the radar. No one gave them a chance. They came from behind with six minutes left in the first round game to pull out a victory over South Alabama. They came from behind in the second game as well, this time beating College of Charleston. The Sweet Sixteen game pitted them against mighty Kansas, the number one seed and top ranked team in the nation. Once again, no one gave the team from Tucson a chance. But the Wildcats believed in themselves, Lute Olson threw a bunch of towels on the court in practice, and asked his team if they were just going to throw in the towel, or give it their best. The fired-up Wildcats pulled off the upset of the tournament, and beat Kansas. In the next game, they had to go to overtime to beat Providence, and the Cats were once more going to the Final Four. Again, no one gave them a chance against mighty North Carolina and Kentucky. In the semifinal game against North Carolina, the Tar Heels (with Vince Carter) exploded to an early thirteen point lead, but Arizona dominated from that point on, and easily won. For the first time, Olson's Wildcats made it to a final game. Their opponent was Rick Pitino's Kentucky Wildcats, the reigning champions. The game was classic and epic, with the lead swinging back and forth, and eventually went to overtime. In the overtime, the Cats missed every one of their field goals. They did, however, score ten points on free throws, and that was enough to win the game, and the national championship. Lute Olson and the Wildcats had once and for all thrown off the label of tournament chokers, and the championship was the very first basketball championship in the school's history. The city (and much of the state---yes, even Phoenix) went wild. The next day, there was a victory parade and a celebration in the football stadium. 60,000 people (including me) were there to celebrate the amazing victory. That championship remains the greatest sports moment in Tucson history.

The ecstasy would prove to be short-lived. The team was upset by Utah in the round of eight the next year, and life got back to normal. The 2000-01 team proved to be loaded with future superstars, like Gilbert Arenas, Luke Walton, Loren Woods, and Richard Jefferson. Injuries and personal tragedy would plague the team. Lute's beloved wife, Bobbi, the "mom" of every Wildcat team, passed away on New Year's Day. Lute took a six-game leave of absence, and the team floundered. When Lute came back, the team re-grouped and rallied to win another championship for their coach in honor of Bobbi. The team would get all the way to the final game, where they were beaten barely by a very talented Duke team. Still, it was the fourth time Lute would lead a Wildcat team to the Final Four.

The seasons after that would always end in disappointment. The teams were loaded with talent, would win 20-plus games in the regular season, make the Big Dance, only to lose early. Lute ended up re-marrying in 2005 and was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame. Despite the consistency of every team, there was definitely something lacking.

Which brings us to this year. This year's team is talented, with probable future NBA stars such as Jerryd Bayless and Chase Budinger. But just before the season began, Lute inexplicably took an indefinite leave of absence. It soon came out that Lute and his wife, Christine, were having serious marital problems. Assistant coach Kevin O'Neill took over, and Lute will not return this season. In his absence, his team has floundered. There have been flashes of brilliance, with several wins over top 10 teams, and a couple of near misses against Kansas and Stanford. But there have also been losses, far too many of them. They have been swept by hated rival ASU for the first time in 15 years. To date, they have won 16 games, but are only 6-7 in conference play. There are five regular season games left, and the Cats probably have to win three of them to get to 19 wins, a .500 conference record, and a berth in the Tournament. At stake is a streak of consecutive tournament appearances that now numbers 23, the second longest such streak in NCAA history. Winning three of the remaining five games won't be easy, not the least of which since the team has lost four of the last five. The Cats have games remaining at UCLA and Washington State, and have little or no chance of upsetting those teams on the road. That leaves games against USC (at USC) and the two Oregon teams at home. It's a daunting task. Even if they do manage to win those three games, the Cats are still very much a bubble team. The Cats could also make it in if they suck it up and win the Pac-10 Tournament, but they would probably have to beat UCLA, probably Stanford, and maybe ASU. It doesn't look good.

If the Wildcats don't make it into this year's NCAA Tournament, the world won't end. The people of Tucson won't commit hari kari, and life will go on. Every streak must end at some point, it's inevitable. There will be a basketball season sometime when the Wildcats will not qualify for the Big Dance. I just hope it does not end up being this season.