The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, April 2, 1997 -11
ears of frustration culminate in championship for Olson
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Arizona's
last road trip was better than any vaca-
tion Lute Olson could have imagined.
With only one starter returning and a
freshman at point guard, the Arizona
coach figured early on it was safe for
him and his wife, Bobbi, to take a vaca-
tion this week.
The week turned out like no other.
Olson was flying back to Tucson yester-
day with his Wildcats, the champions of
college basketball.
Arizona beat Kentucky, 84-79, in
overtime Monday for its first national
title and became the first team to defeat
three No. 1 seeds.
"We've had other teams here, out-
standing teams, more experienced
teams." Olson said. "But I'm just so
proud of these guys. It's been a never-
say-die group. They've had faith in
themselves, they've had faith in their
teammates."
No one, not even Olson and his play-
ers, could have predicted this kind of
run when the season began. The
Wildcats (25-9) had lost four starters,
and Miles Simon, the only returning
starter, was academically ineligible for
the first I1 games.
Olson knew his team was good, but
he also knew it was untested. He fig-
ured this would be a warmup year, a
time for the Wildcats to get some expe-
rience so they could contend for the
NCAA title next season.
That was how most of the season
went. Arizona lost four of its last eight
games, and finished fifth in the Pac-10,
the worst since Olson's first season at
Arizona in 1983-84. It was seeded
fourth in the Southeast Regional, but
top-ranked Kansas - the favorite for
the NCAA title - loomed in the
regional semifinal.
Then something unexpected hap-
pened in the tournament: Arizona
refused to lose. There were comeback
victories in the first and second rounds,
the shocking upset of Kansas and an
overtime victory over Providence in the
regional final.
Once the Wildcats got to the Final
Four, they acted like it was their person-
al playground game.
They saw the sights like fans, had a
food fight during their team dinner
Friday and went about their business
like this was any other game.
"We had nothing to lose," Arizona
guard Mike Bibby said.
Even with leading scorer Michael
Dickerson having an off night, there
were no jitters as they beat North
Carolina, another No. 1 seed, 66-58 in
the semifinal. In the title game, Arizona
shredded Kentucky's vaunted fullcourt
press, and then put on some pretty good
defense of its own.
Kentucky's All-American forward
Ron Mercer was held to three points in
the first half, and finished with 13.
So how did the Arizona players cele-
brate? By mussing up Olson's impecca-
bly coiffed hair, something they'd been
wanting to do all season.
"It still doesn't seem like it's real. To
have such a young team, I'm surprised
we made it this far," Arizona forward
Bennett Davison said. "All we kept.say-
ing is, 'We can't believe we're there.
We're such a longshot.' But we dickit as
a family."
Now that the Wildcats have their title,
the focus immediately turns to next
year. Their top eight players are back,
and they're likely to be the preseason
No. 1 choice.
Work Across Differences
AP PHOTO
One day after winning his first national title, Arizona coach Lute Olson proudly
ois s the championship trophy before the Wildcat faithful.
UM Korean Studies Program
Winter 1997 Colloquium Series
"Place-Based Imagination:
Globalism and the Politics of Place"
ARIF DIRLIK
Professor of History, Duke University
Wednesday, April 2, 1997
4:00 - 6:00 pm
Lane Hall Commons Room
Professor Dirlik specializes in Modern Chinese History. This
presentation will look into the relationship between globalism and
place-based politics, examine some of the politically varied
manifestations of the concern with place, and discuss the
counterhegemonic possibilities place-based politics offers as an
alternative to life under global capitalism.
Note: This is the last Korean Studies Colloquium for Winter 1997,
Please join us!
Dialogues among different groups:
- Women & Men
- People of Color & White People
- Lesbians, Gay Men, Bisexuals & Heterosexuals
- Jews & Christians
- Women of Color & White Women
Intergroup Dialogues are face-to-face meetings of individuals from a
variety of identity groups. Dialogues, readings, experiential exercises
and journals are incorporated into the process of working across anc
within lines of difference and similarity.
Have you participated in an Intergroup Dialogue or a
FIG Seminar? Do you want to know where to go from here?
Friday October 24-Sunday October 26
Applications available at the IGRCC office, due April 9
For further information contact:
The Program on Intergroup Relations,
Conflict and Community
3000 Michigan Union
93-1875 / IGRCCumich Adu
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