It’s a good thing the Wildcats never got too high or too low, seeing as they’d have to face a murderer’s row of basketball royalty starting in the Sweet 16.
Kansas, with one of the most formidable rosters in the program’s long history, was on deck. The Jayhawks were led by Paul Pierce and Raef LaFrentz, with some help from Jacque Vaughn and Scot Pollard. Arizona was loaded in the backcourt, and Kansas was in the frontcourt.
The Wildcats, though, were still playing with nothing to lose, house money. They were loose — Lute let them be loose — and they caught Kansas napping, despite 27 points from Pierce. Arizona had a more balanced attack, with 21 points from Bibby and 20 from Dickerson, and the Wildcats won 85-82 to advance to the Elite 8, where they faced Providence.
Edgerson: “We looked forward to each and every one of those games. We knew we could play with those teams. We needed to be put in the position, and when we were, we showed the world we were just as good as them. Unfortunately, there was a West Coast, East Coast bias, and nobody was watching our games. All these Midwest, East Coast teams were getting on TV. They didn’t know about us. It worked against them, because we were the underdogs, and we took it seriously.”
They wouldn’t be underdogs in the Elite 8, where No. 10-seeded Providence awaited. The Friars, led by Austin Croshere and God Shammgod, had defeated Marquette, Duke and Chattanooga to reach their first Elite 8 in 10 years. They proved to be a tough out, taking Arizona to overtime before the Wildcats eventually won 96-92, setting up a pivotal rematch with North Carolina, whom they beat in the first game of the season.
Simon: “I don’t think we took momentum from Providence into UNC because those games were six days apart. There was no momentum to be carried, especially because we didn’t finish the Providence game well. We were fortunate to win that in OT. We carried new life into the UNC game and knew they were just as hungry and we’d beaten them already.”
Arizona arrived in Indianapolis wide-eyed and excitable. Olson made it a conscious effort not to monopolize his players time. He gave them freedom to live, and that let them relax.
Simon: “When we first got to Indy, we stayed in a downtown hotel, and from what I understood, you got the hotel according to seed, and we got the worst hotel. But it was cool because Coach O gave us a lot of freedom. Pastner, Bibby and I went down to the mall. We got something to eat, went to Lids, hung out, no one even bothered us. Went to the FanFest pretty much unnoticed. That kind of stands out.
“Jaleel White, who played Steve Urkel, was a friend of Coach Olson’s, a fan of the Wildcats, and I remember he played PlayStation with us in our room, and he came to dinner.”
