March 31, 1997. 6:12 p.m.Β
It's tip off, and basketball at Arizona will never be the same.
The fourth-seeded Arizona Wildcats marched into the national championship game in Indianapolis by knocking off two 1-seeds, Kansas in the Sweet Sixteen and UNC in the Final Four. Their opponent, the No. 1 Kentucky Wildcats, were primed to repeat as champs.
March 31, 1997. 6:12 p.m. A fourth-seeded Arizona team led by Miles Simon and Mike Bibby is in Indianapolis to face No. 1 Kentucky in the national championship. Follow along as we live tweet the night UA became the top Cats in college basketball.πΊ https://t.co/dCE8cSqNvl pic.twitter.com/9grvuUNAOR
— The Wildcaster (@TheWildcaster) April 1, 2018
Lute Olson and a determined Arizona squad led by Miles Simon and Mike Bibby were playing in the program's first ever title game, after falling just shy in the 1988 and 1994 Final Four.
Simon was averaging 20.4 points per game, and had a head full of confidence before meeting the vaunted Kentucky defense.
"I'm not scared of them," Simon said in '97. "If we beat the pressure, it's just going to be easier shots for us down at the other end of the court."
Follow @TheWildcaster on Twitter as we live-tweet the historic night 21 years later to the day.
Watch the championship game in full here.
