null
|
|
Friday, March 30
Wildcats need outside game
By Andy Katz
ESPN.com
Arizona has grown up more in one season than some teams do over a four-year span.
|  | | Lute Olson's return coincided with his team's improved play. |
When the season began on Oct. 14, the Wildcats were downright cocky, not just confident.
ESPN.com tabbed Arizona as its No. 1 team, just like most publications. During the first stop on ESPN.com's preseason tour, the Wildcats boasted about being the best team in the last decade. Talk of comparing themselves to UNLV in 1991 was common. They actually said that anything short of winning the national championship would be a huge disappointment.
We all ate up the quotes. It was good copy for a preview.
In the end, they might be right -- at least in terms of winning the title. But they aren't so boastful anymore. NCAA suspensions -- two of them -- infighting, selfish play, a loss to Mississippi State, a near miss to Butler, losses on the road to UConn, Illinois and Oregon can humble a team rather quickly. But the loss of the matriarch of the program, coach Lute Olson's wife Bobbi, grounded this team more than any other event.
The Wildcats realized that this game -- and life -- isn't just about them. They started to think about coach Olson first, and themselves a distant second. The quotes and the play started to take on a different look.
When they arrived in Minneapolis Thursday night, the Wildcats were relaxed, certainly pleased to be at the Final Four. There was a sense of confidence, purpose and mission but they weren't shoving it in everyone's face. They were here because they earned it and weren't given a free pass. Arizona got to the Final Four because it played with passion, especially Loren Woods. The transformation of this team is somewhat remarkable. They were given up on during the middle of the season and have become the sentimental favorite to win.
The talent hasn't changed. They still are one of the most individually talented teams, although not dominant at each position as we all once thought. They have flaws on the court, but they're correctable. What was clearly fixable was their mental makeup. They changed. They matured. And they became a team that could win the national title, not because they should, but because they finally could.
Turning point: Beating Stanford in Palo Alto in the final week of the season showed that the Wildcats were an elite team. Certainly, when Lute Olson returned to the team after grieving over the loss of his wife, the Wildcats became a different team. But they still hadn't won an elite game on the road -- losing a heartbreaker at UCLA. Beating Stanford showed that they could play at an elite level and compete for the national title.
Bread 'N' Butter: Going inside to Michael Wright. Wright is a punishing power forward. He is relentless on the offensive backboard, staying with every shot. He won't take no for an answer when he gets the rebound. If he gets the ball close to the basket, he'll likely either convert, get fouled or both.
Red flag: If Gilbert Arenas is off from the perimeter then that means Arizona's offense is stalling. Arenas has to get off with some quick shots for the Wildcats to feel good about their chances. If they're getting locked up then they can start to press.
Mission: Winning for Bobbi Olson is a huge emotional push for this team. But the Wildcats are also doing this for someone else -- themselves. They talked a big game early in the season about being the best team. They got humbled. Now they're trying to win the title for the right reasons because they want to be known as the best team, not just the best collection of individual players.
How to beat Arizona: Get Wright and Woods into foul trouble. The Wildcats realistically can only stick Eugene Edgerson inside against the Spartans. They'll have trouble after that. If Jason Gardner and Arenas are off from the perimeter, the inside game might have a hard time beating Michigan State on its own.
Andy Katz is a senior writer at ESPN.com.
 Send this story to a friend | Most sent stories
|  |
|
|
