BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Because they were playing along the road to their 1997 national championship, maybe it was no surprise that a few of the Wildcats’ planets aligned Saturday.
That is, work assignments put a former Lute Olson-era UA standout (Joseph Blair), Olson’s grandson and a former UA player (Matt Brase) and a former Tommy Lloyd-era graduate assistant (Przemek Karnowski) close enough to Legacy Arena that they all showed up to catch the Wildcats on Saturday.
“It’s crazy,” Blair said. “Brase texted me and said `You going to the game?’ “
Blair was in town because he’s the head coach of the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, who were scheduled to play the Birmingham Squadron in a G League game on Sunday at Legacy Arena.
A former Vipers coach, Brase was sort of in town because he’s an assistant coach with the Philadelphia 76ers, who were scheduled to play somewhat nearby at the Atlanta Hawks on Sunday.
Karnowski, meanwhile, is working as a Hawks assistant ... where his duties coincidentally include being the lead scout for games against Philadelphia.
In a show of brotherhood, Karnowski invited Brase along for a car ride of just over two hours from Atlanta to Birmingham -- without forcing Brase to give up any of the Sixers’ secrets.
“I know all their plays anyway, so we’re good,” Karnowski said, chuckling.
All three of them said a brief hello to UA coaches before Saturday’s game before taking seats five rows behind the Wildcats’ bench.
“It was good to be able to get together and support the guys,” Karnowski said.
Unforgettable
When Arizona play-by-play announcer Brian Jeffries last finished up calling a game at what is now Legacy Arena, he had a direct view across the court to watch Kansas coach Roy Williams stare directly out … at nothing, really.
It was over. The Wildcats had brought down the first of three No. 1 seeds during their historical run to the 1997 national championship, and it was a monumental shocker. Williams’ Kansas team entered the game at 34-1, having lost only to Missouri in a double-overtime Big 12 game, and was named the overall No. seed in the NCAA tournament.
“They were the prohibitive favorite to win the whole thing,” Jeffries said. “The look on his face, I’ll never forget it.”
Final: Arizona 85, Kansas 82.
Even today, the end of Kansas’ 1996-97 season likely still haunts Williams. During an ESPN documentary earlier this year called “Heart of Pearl,” about then-Kansas standout Scot Pollard, Williams expressed reverence for a Jayhawk team that had four eventual NBA players on its roster: Pollard, Jacque Vaughn, Raef LaFrentz and Paul Pierce.
“We won three national championships at North Carolina,” said Williams, who coached Kansas for 15 seasons and UNC for 18, “but the 1997 Kansas team was the best team I ever coached.”
Crowd favorite
While the Legacy crowd was overwhelmingingly in Alabama’s favor on Saturday, it was a different vibe during the 1997 Sweet 16. Jeffries said Kansas brought in more fans, thanks to proximity and the season it had been having, but the local fans who showed up couldn’t help but pull for the Wildcats.
“Because it was the second weekend (of the tournament), you just get a lot of neutral fans where people show up who want to go see good basketball,” Jeffries said. “I know the crowd kind of grew in Arizona’s favor as the game went on. That’s always the way it is in the NCAA Tournament: Fans who don’t care will root for the underdog. They really started rooting for Arizona down the stretch because they wanted to see the upset.”
The Wildcats not only pulled off the legendary upset but also managed to shake off the inevitable hangover just enough to outlast Providence in an Elite Eight overtime game two days later, and make the Final Four, where they won it all.
“You gotta understand: You beat Kansas and two days later you gotta play Providence?” Jeffries said. “I wasn’t surprised it was a tough game.”
New look
Actually, the Legacy Arena of today looks nothing like the old Birmingham Jefferson Civic Center that the Wildcats reached the Final Four from.
Except for the outside shell, and the concrete infrastructure around the lower-level seats and concourse, the arena is completely new thanks to a $125 million renovation that was completed in late 2021. The arena now features padded seats all around the lower level and 10 luxury boxes on the south mezzanine and a concourse full of local concessions and drink kiosks.
Birmingham's Legacy Arena now features skyboxes (upper right) and padded seats after a $125 million renovation.
“It’s different,” Jeffries said Saturday as he looked around the arena. “I saw a story where Garth Brooks used to call it the ‘Concrete Bunker.’ “
In short, Legacy Arena looks a lot like a mini NBA arena or sleek G League arena. – which it is. The arena is home to the Birmingham Squadron, the G League affiliate of the New Orleans Pelicans.
Among Squadron players who might be familiar to the Wildcats: guard Keion Brooks, who once chose Washington over Arizona as a transfer from Kentucky, and center Hunter Dickinson, who faced UA both with Michigan and Kansas. Dickinson has been on a two-way contract with New Orleans.
There’s other options
While Saturday’s game was technically on a “neutral” court, it was basically a flip of the 2023-24 game Arizona played Alabama in at Phoenix. There, at the then-Footprint Center, Arizona fans dominated the crowd of 11,812.
Before Saturday's game, UA coach Tommy Lloyd had jokingly hoped Alabama fans might not do the same at Legacy Arena.
“I think the fans should just stay home and watch it on TV, you know?” Lloyd said with a grin. “I mean, I think it'll be a great broadcast on ESPN. There's a lot of other good games that day, and I don't know if I would get in my car and go to the game. I'd probably sit home and watch all the other games.”
Late promotions and a big walk-up crowd Saturday helped fill nearly all of Legacy Arena's 18,000 seats, making it the opposite to the largely pro-Arizona crowd at Phoenix's Footprint Center crowd on the evening of Dec. 20, 2023.
“The thing I remember about Phoenix was it was a late tip, and we had a fun crowd,” Lloyd said. “I think our fans had had some fun before they entered the arena, and I think that carried over to the course of an exciting game, which is awesome.
Move over, Santa
The biggest line in the Legacy Arena concourse wasn't for concessions but the one that draped around a red sign stating "Free Christmas Photos With Big Al."
Alabama's costumed elephant mascot stood in front of a couch and behind a rope, greeting children and other small groups of Alabama fans to trade a fist bump or pose for the cameras.
The big number
1.25 – Exact number of ounces of liquor in each cocktail ordered at Legacy Arena, labeled in accordance with Alabama state law, “unless special ordered.” Single cocktails went for $14 and doubles for $20.
Quotable
“It’s really cool for about two minutes. You say `That’s pretty cool.’ And then you go about your day.” -- Arizona wing Anthony Dell'Orso, on UA's No. 1 ranking last week.
