Cream of a Dying Crop

This was supposed to be finished and posted last night, but due to artistic differences with my editor we couldn't get it out before the release of the selections. As a result, there will be a short addendum at the end addressing the selection.



First and foremost, I would like to relate that the illustrious and

redoubtable Bill Simmons, that paragon of virtue and humor, the height of internet sports writing, has made it very clear that he has never been to our blog, that he has no intention of going to our blog, that he has been writing his stories such as the Super Bowl Diary for over a decade, that he would not deign steal such puerile and trivial ideas as may be portrayed in such a blog, and that the suggestion that any of the above should not be the case is neither absurdly humorous, nor grounds for interrupting his precious work hours with a facetious email
in that vein. 

I would at this point apologize, but given his avowal of non-readership it would seem to be supererogatory. Plus, I seem to have got my tongue stuck in my cheek. On to the thoughts of the hour.



The University of Arizona's basketball program sits balanced on the edge of a quarter. Quarter? As in 25? As in consecutive tournament appearances? 

Just wanted to make sure everyone at home was playing along. For the last few years the program has been mired by mediocrity, making headlines only when a coach got divorced, had a stroke, was announced as the successor, was fired from being the successor, retired, came out of retirement or was filmed naked running through the campus. 

Ok, maybe that last one didn't happen. 

In any event, almost all of the news coming from Tucson has been underscoring the demise of a truly great basketball program. I have already gone over what that feels like for us fans, here. One of the things that I think is sad about this slow and painful descent into obscurity is that we forget exactly how great the Wildcats have been.

So I bundled up in my favorite UA sweats and forayed into the World Wide Web to quantify our greatness. 600 wins over the 24 seasons, more than UCLA, less than Duke... Why doesn't UNLV have their record posted anywhere in the whole of the internet? 14 All-Americans, more than UNLV and UCLA added together, double what UConn had... How did both Richard Jefferson and Gilbert Arenas not make even a third team? Only the one title... Blast it all, this confounded interweb is like the mother of all haystacks and I'm trying to find a whole bunch of needles to compare thier lengths. 

Why couldn't someone just bundle all the information I'm looking for together in a neat and tidy package?

Oh wait, they did. ESPN has given us an accounting of the relative brilliance of all of college basketball by counting down the most prestigious programs in the country since the 84-85 season. 

They picked that year because it was the first season that the NCAA tournament field expanded to 64 teams, but by happy coincidence it is also the year that the Wildcats began their Streak of tournament appearances. 

Behind such gaudy numbers as 21 conference titles, 22 20-win seasons, 24 NCAA berths (the only school to make it every year since the expansion), 5 No. 1 seeds, 11 Sweet 16s, four Final Fours, 1997 national title, 39 NCAA tourney wins, 14 All-Americans, 7 NBA top-10 picks, with zero losing seasons, ESPN rates UA as the 5th most prestigious school in the country. 

Ahhh, that's about right. We are far enough behind Kentucky that even if the referees weren't wearing Devil Blue in '01 and if the '05 Elite Eight game had been played on a nuetral court we would still be sitting at five.

While such hypoteticals as exactly how much Duke boosters paid the referees, or how many generations of their descendents were promised tuition waivers, are academic and fruitless, there are some hypothetical conversations that serve to nurture the memory of these great teams, of all of those years that everyone in Tucson eagerly awaited the printing of the brackets every March so they could write ARIZONA in the center box and then fill out the rest of the later. 

I had one such conversation while sitting in a bar with a friend of mine over a year ago. The gist of the conversation was a spin on the classic question of which of these teams was 'The Best' to wear the red and blue, but more particularly, in a single elimination tournament which team would win, as head to head is always the standard for true comparison. 

How would the the brilliant backcourt of the '97 team fare against the size we brought to the court in '03? The buddy I was having this conversation with happened to be with one Steve Rivera, sports writer for the now defunct Tucson Citizen paper. He put the idea together in a brilliant, interactive online article which everyone enjoyed and for reasons that escape me is no longer on their website. 

Kinda like the way that Fox cancels only their most popular shows. Given that I can't redirect you to his more thoroughly researched and professoinally written article, I am going to attempt to not recreate it, but rather create it anew here for you, in the spirit of celebrating the fading light of the Wildcats as we stand on the brink of the end of an era, with Selection Sunday looming ominously on the morrow.

The seeding of this Streak tourney was established first by NCAA finish, making the '97 team the first overall seed, and then by record making the '87 team the bottom sixth seed. as 24 doesn't break as evenly into a tournament bracket as you might hope, 1 and two seeds got a first round bye, with 3-6 and 4-5 being the opening matchups. We will deal with the line up that played in the most games, so Gilbert Arenas would be in for the '01 team, but Steve Kerr would still be out for the team in '87 after blowing his knee in the summer. So, with no further ado:


No. 1 Seeds —

1997 - The team that failed to string together six consecutive victories all year burned through the tournament, famously being the only team in the tournament's history to best three No. 1 seeds en route to the title. 

Mike Bibby and Miles Simon, All-Americans and future NBA and Euroleague stars, respectively, featured prominently in the team's success, and Michael Dickerson led the scoring, averaging almost 19 points a game.

2001 - We got robbed. I refuse to accept anything other than horrendous bribing, blackmail, or dark satanic magic as the explanation for the officiating in the final three minutes of this game. 

This is the roster we put on the court that year: Loren Woods (All-American), Richard Jefferson (NBA All-Star), Gilbert Arenas (NBA All-Star), Michael Wright (All-American), Jason Gardener (All-American), with future All-American and likely NBA champion Luke Walton coming off the bench.

1988 - The class that thrust the Wildcats into the national conversation for the next 20 years built around Sean Elliott, with a supporting cast that included future NBA players Steve Kerr and Tom Tolbert, breaking the 30-wins mark for the first time in program history.

1994 - Before becoming NBA Rookie of the Year, Damon Stoudamire and All-American Khalid Reeves highlighted the second team from Tucson to make it to the Final Four.


No. 2 Seeds — 


2005 - The last great Wildcat team, featuring Salim Stoudamire and Channing Frye, to break the 30-wins mark and played in one of the most painful games in UA sports history. 

Would have been a great game against UNC for the championship had this game been played anywhere outside of the state of Illinois.

1998 - Mike Bibby returned to lead the Cats to their second 30-wins season and a No. 1seed in the tournament before getting bounced in the Eilite Eight.

2003 - On the back of the Tucson Citizen was a full page color photo of All-Americans Walton and Gardner with fellow senior Rick Anderson lounging in the back of a convertible, under a caption reading big and bold: NATIONAL TITLE OR BUST. 

Kirk Heinrich's block of Gardner's three-point attempt in the waning seconds of the Elite Eight matchup with Kansas meant bust.

1989 - In his senior year, sans Kerr, Elliott won the Wooden Award for being the nation's best player, taking the Wildcats with him to the Sweet Sixteen.


ROUND 1 —


(3) 1991 v (6) 1987 - With Kerr out for the year, a young Elliott and the only tourney team of Lute's to not make it to 20 wins face Brian Williams, Sean Rooks and Chris Mills.

(4) 1990 v (5) 1999 - This iteration of the Williams/Rooks combo take on a senior All-American Jason Terry accompanied by Michael Dickerson and a young Jefferson.

(3) 2002 v (6) 2006 - Following the devastating crash of the Illinois game in '05 and the loss of Frye and Stoudamire to the NBA, Hassan Adams leads a young team against the equally draft drained core of Walton, Gardener and Anderson.

(4) 1995 v (5) 2007 - Lute's final team with Chase Budinger and Marcus Williams (affectionately known as the Cancer) meet senior All-American and Pac-10 Player of the Year Damon Stoudamire.

(3) 2000 v (6) 2004 - Andre Igoudala and Hassan Adams spent most of the year fighting for who would be higher on SportsCenter's Top-10, and with Stoudamire and Frye learning the inside out game the '04 Cats go up against Arenas, Jefferson, Wright and Woods in a match up of two of the most athletic teams we have seen come through Tucson.

(4) 1993 v (5) 1985 - Lute's first Pac-10 title saw the welcoming of a young man named Sean Elliott to McHale, joining Tolbert and Kerr here to challenge Stoudamire, Reeves, and Mills.

(3) 1996 v (6) 2008 - Kevin O'Neil's lone entry into the foray featuring freshman sensation Jarryd Bayless and an unrefined Jordan Hill take on freshman Jason Terry and Miles Simon.

(4) 1986 v (5) 1992 - Elliott, Kerr and Tolbert win Lute his first conference title and here meet up with Rooks, Mills and Reeves as a freshman.





So that's the first round. Who do you like? Leave your picks in the comments, and check back to see how the tourney goes. Here are my three quick thoughts on this year's tournament selection:

1— We earned it, with wins over quality teams like Gonzaga, Kansas, Washington, and UCLA to put us over the edge.

2— As long as we let you put us in, you put us in. To break the Streak we have to make it definitive, like UNC did by going 8-20 in '02, or when Duke went 13-18 in '95, or when Kansas went on probation in '89, or when Kentucky went 13-19 before their 2 year probation from '90-92. And yes, I did just call out the 4 programs ranked higher than us according to ESPN.

3— Here is your No. 12 v. No. 5 upset, all wrapped up in a neat little bow. Don't say I never gave you anything.