BOISE, Idaho
The most infinitesimal statistic in the Arizona basketball record book is 0.5. It is the number that hurts the most, lasts the longest and burns a hole in your soul.
Arizona has played 2,727 games in its basketball history. It has lost 14 first-round games in the NCAA Tournament. That is 0.5 percent of all games ever played, 1904-2018.
It is a piercing number that overwhelms the other 2,713 games, tortures your consciousness and follows you from season to season.
The 0.5 Club has no class distinction. It includes East Tennessee State and Southern Illinois, Oklahoma and Alabama. And now Buffalo.
A week ago, most Arizona fans didnβt know if the Bulls were the Bills, the Buffaloes or the Bicuspids. Now they know it as heartache. Now the mere mention of the Buffalo Bulls will have the power to darken your mood from one decade to the next.
Only once, after No. 2 Arizona lost to 15th-seeded Santa Clara in 1993, has an Arizona basketball season ended with such a sense of ruin. For the second year in succession, Lute Olsonβs club had gone one-and-done against 14 and 15 seeds.
The levee burst.
Olson was eviscerated after his 17-1 Pac-10 champs lost to a team that finished third in the downwind West Coast Conference. The swell of negativity became so great that, unannounced, Olson phoned the old sports-talk program on KNST radio and fought back.
It was probably the most listened-to radio segment in Tucson history.
Olsonβs attempt at damage control was convincing. He didnβt say βIβm sorryβ or ask forgiveness. He said he was going to hit the recruiting trail with a renewed earnestness, and that he and his wife, Bobbi, would appreciate Tucsonβs patience.
That was the winning line. Lute and Bobbi shared their lives with UA fans, and Tucsonans felt like part of the extended family. Thereβs a reason the playing surface at McKale Center says βLute and Bobbi Olson Court.β
If things didnβt fall in line for Lute, the fans always had Bobbi. In 1993, the smoke cleared. Arizona stormed back to play in a cleansing 1994 Final Four.
There wasnβt much mystery with Olson. He lived his life in the public eye. For a quarter-century, he would end each season by saying he and Bobbi would be taking a short vacation and then he would hit the recruiting trail.
Every elite school in college basketball has its own version of the 0.5 Club β it is inevitable β but at Arizona the sense of trust, community and togetherness kept all of those seats filled year after year after year.
Now itβs all mystery.
After Arizonaβs loss to Buffalo, Sean Miller didnβt say a word about hitting the recruiting trail. He didnβt talk about next season, or vow to make good on three consecutive seasons of far-too-early exits.
Instead, he said, βIβm taking a day at a time.β
That might have been code for βIβm not yet sure what day Pitt will announce I am going home to coach the Panthers.β Or it might have just been a man whose brain cannot yet process six months of disorder.
Who knows? Miller flies solo, private and unavailable, which works if youβre Bill Belichick and youβve got Tom Brady and all those Super Bowl trophies to deflect the attention.
But in Tucson, today, those who have spent the tens of millions of dollars over years to fill the seats at McKale Center deserve some answers.
Does Miller wish to return next season?
What is his plan to fill a roster that currently has six players and no incoming recruits?
Does he honestly think it is possible to hire two elite-level assistant coaches while in the eye of an FBI investigation?
Is he willing to coach the Wildcats through a gathering storm that might include NCAA penalties and a year or two without enough talent to challenge for any type of postseason play?
Does he think itβs possible that the four-star and five-star prospects who once lined up to play for Arizona, can be recouped?
This is a crisis point unmatched in UA basketball history, beyond what happened 35 years ago.
In 1983, when Ben Lindsey was fired after a single season, 4-24 β average attendance at McKale Center fell to 6,244 per game β the recruiting class of β83 had just one player.
As Lindsey and his attorneys prepared what would be a costly unlawful termination suit against the athletic department, new athletic director Cedric Dempsey fought back.
He was not willing to wait to get some answers and work on selling those empty seats.
In a move of stunning boldness, Dempsey hired Olson, Iowaβs Final Four coach, in 72 hours.
Now itβs athletic director Dave Heeke who is on the clock. Is Miller going to dive into recruiting with the same devotion of his first nine Arizona seasons? Is he here for the long haul?
This day-at-a-time stuff wonβt work at Arizona or anywhere.
