Arizona legends Steve Kerr and Tom Tolbert are thrilled to see the Wildcats back in the Final Four and enthusiastic about the coach who led them there, but they’re both worried about Saturday’s game with Michigan.
“I'm a little nervous about the matchup but really excited that we're in the Final Four for the first time in 25 years. It's awesome,” Kerr said Tuesday, during an appearance on the podcast Tolbert hosts from his Bay Area home.
Former Arizona basketball greats Tom Tolbert, left, and Steve Kerr talk about the Wildcats in a screenshot from Tuesday's episode of the Tom Tolbert Show podcast.
Both teams are big and physical, Tolbert said, but he thinks the Wildcats have a slight edge when it comes to defense and guard play. Michigan, on the other hand, tends to make a lot of 3-pointers, “and that's not really Arizona's game,” he said.
“It's going to be a hell of a basketball game,” said the host of the aptly named Tom Tolbert Show. “I'm really, really excited (and) a little bit nervous, because I'd love to see them get to the finals. But boy, this is going to be a battle royale.”
Kerr and Tolbert played together on Arizona’s first Final Four team in 1988, and Kerr said he sees some similarities between this year’s semifinal game and theirs from 38 years ago.
Arizona guard Steve Kerr looks for an outlet during the NCAA Final Four semifinal against Oklahoma on April 2, 1988, in Kansas City, Mo.
“It kind of reminds me a little bit — hopefully (with) a better outcome — of when we played Oklahoma in '88,” he said. Both teams that year had over 30 wins and spent the season at the top of the national rankings, and both advanced to the Final Four as No. 1 seeds, just like Arizona and Michigan.
What Kerr likes about this current Wildcats squad is its commitment to playing “old-school basketball” by “pounding everybody inside, scoring a million paint points (and) controlling the game at the foul line and defensively,” he said.
“Watching them has really exposed the difference between the college game and the pro game,” said Kerr, whose NBA career includes five championships as a player and four as head coach for the Golden State Warriors. “You know, the pro game is so three-point happy, and you do have some coaches who are really leaning into the threes and shooting a ton of threes.”
“What do you mean some coaches are leaning into 3s?” Tolbert replied with a grin. “You're one of them, (expletive deleted)!”
“Guilty as charged,” Kerr said, laughing.
Tom Tolbert of Arizona against Illinois at McKale Center on Jan. 30, 1988.
Both Kerr and Tolbert are big fans of Tommy Lloyd. And they were especially touched by Lloyd’s emotional tribute to their old coach, Hall of Famer Lute Olson, after Arizona’s victory in the Elite Eight.
“That was so cool,” Kerr said. “Tommy, that's what I love about him. He has done such a great job of embracing all of us — you know, the old guys — and embracing the tradition and the culture that Lute created. Tommy just gets it. And to mention Lute in front of all the fans? Such a great touch. He's awesome.”
Apparently, Tolbert likes Lloyd so much that he’s willing to fight dirty to keep the coach from being lured away by, say, the University of North Carolina. The seven-year NBA player turned TV analyst and sports-talk radio host joked about digging up some statistics on the quality of life in Chapel Hill so he could send them to Lloyd.
“They were like top five in gingivitis and lice and civil disobedience,” Tolbert told his podcast audience without evidence.
“With huge increases in COVID,” Kerr added with a laugh.
“And petty larceny, vagrancy, just all kinds of stuff,” Tolbert said.
Fortunately, with Lloyd's announcement to remain at Arizona on Friday, the pair won't have to resort to such tactics.
Steve Kerr, left, and Tom Tolbert slather on sunscreen before a charity golf event held at La Paloma Country Club as part of a 1998 reunion of Arizona's 1988 Final Four team.
Like a lot of Arizona fans, Tolbert doesn’t want this magical season to end.
“You feel like you can fully get behind this team (and) this coaching staff. They do it the right way, whatever that may mean to anybody,” he said. “I'm happy when I say he's our coach, he's the University of Arizona basketball coach. I'm just happy as hell he's our coach right now.”
“Yep. No doubt,” Kerr agreed. “So fingers crossed for Saturday.”
“Fingers crossed for Saturday,” Tolbert said. “Let's go!”
