Coach Lute Olson has taken a program and turned them into a national contender.  Too bad that was in Iowa.  But he plans on doing it again in Tucson.  And he already has the template from his days coaching the Long Beach State 49ers right after the master program builder himself Jerry Tarkanian.  The Wildcats will play one of the toughest schedules in college basketball this season. Olson knows the best way to get the attention this team needed is to play anyone, anywhere just as those 49ers did and just like the Shark’s Runnin’ Rebels are doing in the Big West. When Olson came to Tucson a few years ago he had already helped those two programs but he knew he had a diamond in the desert if he could get some recognition for his new program so he is going back to the old Tark template and playing anyone.  He also recruited the West Coast heavy but knows he needed big national TV games to reel in the kids.  He tried to get games with all of the heavyweights and since he has such a great rep in the coaching field some said yes. He had to travel to most of them but that didn’t matter.  What mattered was they would be on TV.  And the kids would see his exciting style of basketball and they would come.  He just came from the Hawkeye State so he fully understands the concept of build it and they will come.  He started getting his team on TV last year especially in the west and even got a few games that started before midnight in New York.  Olson has some other major problems when he got here that have nothing to do with TV but how to keep his program together.  You see the guy that Olson replaced was the first black coach at a Major University in the country.  Fred Snowden had taken over from Fred Enke who had lead the Wildcats through the Border Wars.  And by border wars we mean the old school days of playing in the Border Intercollegiate Athletic Association.  If you think the WAC does not get recognition then the BIAA was truly a band of marauders lost in the desert. Long before the joined and left the WAC the Wildcats were stuck in a league with the likes of hated rivals Arizona State plus several other southwest programs.  Texas Tech, Texas Western (now UTEP of course), both New Mexico schools and Northern Arizona were the primary schools involved here but unless you were lost on route 66 you had no idea these schools even existed.  Snowden came in and immediately got things moving forward in Tucson and he recruited players from the urban areas of the Midwest, especially his old stomping grounds of Detroit.  This worked and the arena that once hosted 1000 kids was quickly up to 5000 and the admin decided to go all in.  They green lit the construction of the McKale center, a state of the art 14,000 seat arena built specifically for basketball.  Named after legendary Wildcat coach Pop McKale (the moniker of Wildcat actually came from a sportswriter who said his boys played by a bunch of Wildcats back in 1914 and it stuck) this arena gives this program something most others do not have at least west of the Mississippi. Olson is no idiot as he would not have left the Hawkeyes to come west if things were not in place to build a dynamic program.  The problem was that Snowden was moving things forward in Tucson and though his record did not show it, the team was making progress. His first year in the Pac-10 was a disaster, however, at 3-15 and when the admin had a shot at Olson, they pushed all in.  Most of his players he recruited from those big cities decided to stay but were apprehensive about this sharp dressed slickster with the silver tongue from North Dakota.  Olson has made his reputation as a smooth operator in the JC ranks in Long Beach (before he took over for Tark for the 49ers) and knew how to recruit but he had never wandered into the urban areas of these big cities.  LA kids were one thing and he has got his claws in there but the hardest kids he ever had to convince was not to go somewhere but to stay in Tucson after he replaced Snowden.  So far so good as they all stayed but there were rumors of dissension and with some of these kids supposedly wanting to test the early entry avenue to the pros and of course the new easy transfer portals, who knows if he can keep these kids around.  He better or he might not have a full team.  At least of Pac-10 level talent as Olson completely relied on Snowden’s boys last year.  Olson supposedly has a superb new class coming in including some big-time transfer kids from some major schools but he better have a nucleus to build on especially in the mighty Pac-10.  Well, he has at least one superstar already on the roster so just four more spots to fill.  And the best thing is he did not have to leave Tucson to find his vanguard. 

Leading the way for the Wildcats is sophomore forward Sean Elliott.  Elliot could be the best small forward on the West Coast.  Really!!  This Tucson product has all the skills you need at this level and combines that with an innate basketballs sense of how to play the game.  He uses his six eight frame to post up smaller guys but is most effective when he was running with his teammates on another Wildcat break or filling it up from the perimeter as he has a great touch.  He can finish.  He is a solid rebounder.  He is a great team player who can pass and defend.  The team may revolve around him but he is unselfish and does not have a problem sharing the ball and responsibility.  But when the game is on the line he wants the ball.  He is a keeper and Olson knows how important he is to this program.  The Wildcats have never had anyone on their roster even near as talented as this kid and that includes all of them midwestern kids but maybe even more important is how popular he is with the hometown fans. It does not hurt when you are building a program that your star player is born and raised in the city you represent.  

Juniors Eric Money and Coniel Norman were the key players Snowden brought in from back east.  Both are from Detroit and came as a package deal and complement each other well.  Money is the cat quick point guard who can score and pass and plays great defense.  At 6’1 he understands the game well but also has some juice.  Norman is as confident as they come and for good reason.  This 6’5 wing is one of the best shooters in the country and easily led the Wildcats in scoring his first two years.  How good is he as a shooter.  He once made 30 in a row from the top of the key and soon after got the nickname of Popcorn.  Norman might not love all of the facets of the game (defense is not his thing) and he and Olson did not always see eye to eye but this kid can flat stroke it.  And in today’s world of the three those guys do not grow on trees.  Speaking of shooting, sophomore Steve Kerr is as good a long range shooter as there is in the country.  He can flat out let it fly.  He shot over fifty percent from three-point line in his first year in Tucson after Olson brought him in from Pacific Palisades in Cali.  Kerr’s dad is an ambassador and he was actually born in Beirut so he fully gets it when the fans holler for him to bomb away.  He is not overly quick or big but man can he shoot.  This trio in the back court is solid and can fill it up but supposedly Olson has made it a point to bring in as many guards as he can as he says he sees the way the game is transforming.  After all the classy coach understands he is not going to find another Alcindor or Walton anytime soon so he might as well go the other direction and build from the outside in.  Or is he? 

The Wildcats have a plethora of other good backcourt talent coming to Tucson and it might actually motivate some of the returnees to find other options.  Sophomore Kenny Lofton played often last year but decided to go and play baseball with the Indians as their leadoff hitter. He was good (and crazy fast) but not good enough to beat out Money and with all of these kids coming in decided to butter his bread on the diamond.  Senior Warren Rutland is the BMOC on the Tucson campus (he was just elected Student Body President) but he got surpassed on the Wildcat totem pole last year.  Rutland was a border refuge and was a bit out of place in the WAC but had no chance in the Pac-10.  He is just not quick enough for this league but no doubt Olson will keep him around for depth. Some others from the Enke days will probably be not so lucky.  Fellow seniors Roger Johnson and Ed Nymeyer are wings who barely played last year and are only hanging around to learn more about coaching as that is their future and they have had some good mentors to watch.  Hadie Redd is a 6’2 senior forward who changed this campus when he got a scholarship as he was the first African-American athlete on campus.  He had some good years but plays the same position as Elliott and is nowhere near that kind of talent and though he can jump 6’2 is not 6’8.  The only returning senior who actually could play again this year is Ernie McCray.  McCray is a 6’6 who bounced around the country with his Mom until settling in Tucson.  He was suggested to Enke after a booster saw him play and he quickly became the best big man on the team.  McCray can jump and is tough on the boards and does score a little but guarding the likes of Walton or Alcindor is not easy at 6’6.  This leads to the biggest issues on this team.  Inside play.  If the Wildcats are indeed to become a real player in the Pac-10 and beyond they must find some big guys who can at least hang with the elite post players of this conference.  I know easier said then done but at least Snowden did something right before he was exiled.   

Junior big man Bob Elliott (no relation to Sean) starts the year as the starter up front after another solid year in the paint. Another Michigan kid this time in the Wolverines backyard of Ann Arbor, Elliott is a heck of an on the block player.  He is by far the best big man this program has ever had and has maintained his role primarily due to his low post game. He has a great drop step and knows the game but is not as talented as some of the monsters in the Pac 10 and is hard pressed to defend Alcindor who scored 33 and 28 on him last year  But Olson loves Big Bird’s (he does kind of resemble that Muppet with his long arms and the way he bounces around the court) attitude and consistency, at least until one of his kids can beat him out.  Foremost on this list is fellow junior Eddie Myers who did not come from back east.  Myers is actually another hometown kid who can play and best of all he has size.  At 6’11 230, Myers is by far the biggest Wildcat but he is still a project.  He can board and is a decent defender but is nowhere near the rim protector you would expect.  Olson kept him in the doghouse most of last year (to the local fans chagrin) but this team needs him on the court unless some of these new kids can play. A few other carryovers were in the same boat as juniors Al Fleming, Bill Warner and Larry Demic did not play near as often as they were expecting.  Fleming started at the four next to Elliott for most of the year but only got a little over 20 minutes a game. This 6’7 215 board guy does not take bad shots and can bang but Olson wants more size.  Warner is only 6’5 so he was sent back to JV.  Demic has size at 6’9 225 and is physical but he barely played at all.  Too bad because the Wildcats need someone like him inside with a little toughness but Olson went more with his guys. Sophomore Anthony Cook played big minutes the second half and fellow first year guy Pete Williams got some minutes as well.  I will give these big men carryovers some kudos as none of them complained and played hard when they were in and are coming back for more.            

Arguably the most talented kid that Snowden brought in is junior wing Herman Harris.  A 6’5 high flyer from Chester Pennsylvania, Harris was a high school All-American that wanted to play in the sun.  He got his wish but he also got stuck behind the incredible talent of the Popcorn man.  Harris showed in a few games Norman missed he can flat get to the hoop and score and has got range but with Elliott now in front of him, his playing time has been limited at best.  Too bad as this kid might be the best of the bunch but on a team this good on the wings sometimes you have to bide your time.  But that hour glass is running out quick for this kid though after a 25 point game in the conference tourney last year I am sure Olson is thinking of ways he can get Harris on the court more often. 

The Arizona Wildcats behind Coach Lute Olson want to put their program on the map this year.  Behind one of the best small forwards in the country and a backcourt full of shooters the Wildcats will play all comers again and hope to make a blip on the national radar. The sky is the limit with the collection of shooters on the roster.  Of course, it would help immensely if the Wildcats did bring in some talented big men to enhance their great back court.  The future is now for the Wildcats sand Olson is just getting started in the desert.  You have the distinct feeling that this Cinderella program will be dancing way past midnight soon and for a long time to come.