Check out the Star's headlines during the Arizona Wildcats' 1988 Final Four run
Thirty years ago this month, the Arizona Wildcats captured the hearts and imaginations of sports fans desperate to see a winner. Here's a look at the Star's section covers from their historic run.
Thirty years ago, Wildcats made state sports history
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Thirty years ago this month, the Arizona Wildcats captured the hearts and imaginations of sports fans desperate to see a winner. Along the way, Lute Olson, Sean Elliott, Steve Kerr and the energetic “Gumbies” changed how the UA — and Tucson — was perceived nationally. Here’s a look back at Arizona’s first-ever Final Four run, with highlights — and Greg Hansen:
Selection Sunday
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March 13, 1988: Arizona, boasting a 31-2 record and a Pac-10 championship, is named the No. 1 seed in the NCAA’s West Regional. The Cats draw Cornell, which is making its first NCAA Tournament since 1954.
Hansen’s history: Star columnist Greg Hansen wrote then that the Wildcats were focused after a series of crushing postseason losses.
“Friday’s confrontation with Cornell may bring some immediate relief to a team that hasn’t won an NCAA tournament game for 12 years. … The real feeling among the Wildcats is that they are focused. Cornell is clearly in view. … Beyond Cornell, the Wildcats will find no light touches. Seton Hall, UTEP, Iowa, Vegas … One night off and you’re off until next year.”
First round: No. 1 Arizona 90, No. 16 Cornell 50
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March 18, 1988: The Wildcats score the game’s first nine points, shoot 55 percent and cruise to a 40-point win over the Big Red at UCLA’s Pauley Pavilion. Arizona’s victory comes at a cost, however, as Tom Tolbert wrenches his back in the first half, making him questionable to play later in the tournament.
Hansen’s history: Hansen praised the win, but wrote that Tolbert’s injury could be a game-changer.
“One does not need a degree in basketball to grasp the simple truth: Arizona has a good chance to win several more NCAA games with a healthy Tolbert. It can perhaps win all of them. But if Tolbert can’t play tomorrow, or if his movement is restricted, Seton Hall can almost phone ahead for reservations at next week’s regional finals in Seattle.”
Second round: No. 1 Arizona 84, No. 8 Seton Hall 55
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March 20, 1988: Anthony Cook scores a team-high 20 points and the Arizona Wildcats earn a spot in the Sweet 16 with a 29-point win over the Pirates at Pauley Pavilion. Sean Elliott’s 3-pointer capped a 21-2 run in the first half that put Arizona ahead for good. Tolbert plays 30 minutes — bad back and all — while scoring 13 points.
Hansen’s history: Hansen wrote that Arizona was “any and all of the adjectives that can be found in the NCAA dictionary under ‘Sweet Sixteen.’
“It was put-up-or-shut-up day for the Wildcats, and the UA barreled through the Big East’s late-season Beast so thoroughly that all doubt has been removed. Arizona is good enough to win out. It has all the components to be a national champion.”
Sweet 16: No. 1 Arizona 99, No. 5 Iowa 79
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March 25, 1988: Sean Elliott scores a team-high 25 points and Steve Kerr adds 17 on 5-of-10 3-point shooting as the Wildcats roll Lute Olson’s former team in Seattle to earn a spot in the Elite Eight. The Wildcats’ next opponent: national powerhouse North Carolina.
Hansen’s history: Hansen wrote that the Wildcats were peaking. “Indeed, the UA has become a monster, a formidable and intimidating powerhouse in its almost flawless run for a national championship. …
“Arizona has run the table against Cornell, Seton Hall and Iowa because all its parts are in order. … Arizona coach Lute Olson has been in the Great Eight once. He was a winner in 1980 when his 21-8 Iowa team stunned No. 6 Georgetown, 81-80, in the East Regional finals in Philadelphia. Tomorrow he will take (a) 34-2 team to the brink of the biggest of all college basketball shows — the Final Four.”
Elite Eight: No. 1 Arizona 70, No. 2 North Carolina 52
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March 27, 1988: Arizona overcomes a two-point halftime deficit to thump national powerhouse North Carolina by 18 points, earning the program’s first-ever Final Four bid. Elliott scores a game-high 24 points, hitting 11 of 14 free throws. Tolbert scores 21 and grabs six rebounds, wowing the crowd with a blind, spinning reverse layup that tied the game in the second half. His ensuing free throw gave Arizona a one-point lead in the second half.
Olson uses the win, the biggest in program history to date, to chide critics of West Coast and Pac-12 basketball.
“How many teams east of the Mississippi are in the Final Four,” he asks.
The answer: One. Duke.
Hansen’s history: Underneath the headline “Wildcats silence the naysayers,” Hansen wrote that the game put Arizona firmly into the realm of basketball powers.
“Arizona made its moon landing yesterday with no subtlety. The Wildcats advanced to the Final Four via victory margins of 40, 29, 20 and 18 points. That’s 27 points per victory. North Carolina got the same treatment the UA gave to the Oregons and the Washingtons.
“So the UA can no longer be construed, or misconstrued, as a freak or a fraud.”
Final Four: No. 1 Oklahoma 86, No. 1 Arizona 78
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April 2, 1988: Stacey King and Harvey Grant score 21 points apiece and Oklahoma ends Arizona’s dream season with an eight-point win in Kansas City, Missouri. Elliott scores 31 points and grabs 11 rebounds, but the Wildcats can’t stop what he called the Sooners’ “horses” inside. King and Grant shine in the first half, and Kerr struggles, finishing 2 of 13 from the field. Tolbert, the star of so many tournament victories, hits just 5 of 11 attempts. Olson, who had been Arizona’s rock throughout the season, is emotional following the loss. “I’ve had better days,” he says.
Hansen’s history: ”When the end came, Arizona’s search to find a better basketball team was undeniably complete. Syracuse was not better than the UA. Michigan? No. Iowa, Duke and Illinois were lesser lights. North Carolina and Seton Hall were dropouts against Arizona, misidentified as challengers. But last night at Kemper Arena, the UA met the terrible swift swords of Oklahoma and perished from the Final Four, losing 86-78.
“I guaran-dam-tee you that the Sooners are a brilliantly conceived national champion-to-be. They are runaway Slam Jammania, five-part harmony and the best basketball team on anybody’s compass. …
“The Wildcats were probably the second-best college basketball team of 1988. And what’s so bad about that?”
