Lute Olson wasn’t yet the Arizona coach when Bilas was a high school recruit in Southern California in the early 1980s. But if he was, Bilas might have been tempted to play in Tucson rather than heading across country for Duke.
Or at least Bilas’ mom would have been.
“Coach Olson recruited me to Iowa and when he started recruiting me, I loved him, and still do,” Bilas said. “He’s not only one of the great coaches but great gentlemen I’ve ever met.
“But my mom was going to Iowa. Didn’t matter where I went. She was going to Iowa. She loved him. That was a done deal as soon as he walked in the door. She thought he was Paul Newman.”
