Editor’s note: This week, the Star is using Whatifsports.com to simulate a single-elimination tournament among eight great all-time UA teams. Whatifsports.com provides a play-by-play and box score, and each matchup was simulated only once in a true win-or-go-home scenario. The teams were seeded on how far they advanced in the NCAA Tournament. After six days of games, we are down to the championship: The No. 3-seeded 1988 Final Four Arizona team against the No. 5 2003 Wildcats to see who will get to hang the virtual banner.
Championship game
The Lute Olson of 2003 thought he had learned his lesson from six years prior, but Andre Iguodala and Hassan Adams had other ideas.
That duo, whose play off the bench sparked the 2003 team to a 94-90 upset win over the 1988 Wildcats in the championship of the simulation bracket at McKale Center, teamed up to mess up Lute’s hair similar to what Bennett Davison did immediately after UA won the 1997 national title over Kentucky.
This time, Olson quickly put on a ‘03 champions hat as soon as the clock hit zero. But Adams and Iguodala were patient, and after Lute had climbed down the ladder after finishing cutting down the net, the duo took his hat off and took turns ruffling his hair.
Jud Buechler, center, and the 1988 Wildcats fell short in the title game of the simulation event.
Olson couldn’t have been too upset after Iguodala and Adams had outplayed the ’88 team’s famous Gumbies. Iguodala filled up the stat sheet with 14 points, seven rebounds, six assists and four steals in 25 minutes, while Adams had 14 points in just 16 minutes.
Iguodala had six points during an 11-2 run that gave the 2003 Cats an 85-77 lead, and Adams later put an exclamation point on the win with a slam with 22 seconds left to put ’03 Arizona up by five. Luke Walton had 18 points in the win, while Channing Frye had 13 points and 11 rebounds.
The ’03 Wildcats were forced to play the final 12:28 without Salim Stoudamire, who fouled out after scoring six points in just 14 minutes. The ’88 Cats, who had outlasted the 2001 Wildcats in a classic semifinal, pounced on their opportunity at first when Stoudamire sat.
They went on an 18-9 run and when Sean Elliott banked in a shot with 7:52 team, the 1988 Wildcats, UA’s first Final Four team ever, led 75-74.
UA players l to r,Isaiah Fox,Isaiah Fox,CQ,Andre Iguodala,Andre Iguodala,CQ,Rick Anderson,Rick Anderson,CQ,Salim Stoudamire,Salim Stoudamire,CQ, and Jason Gardner,Jason Gardner,CQ, with his back to us, talk with each other during their game against #6 KU held at Allen Fieldhouse,Saturday January 25, 2003 in Lawrence, Kansas. 1/25/03 Photo by James S. Wood Assn#99743
Rick Anderson hit a pull-up jumper off an assist from Walton 22 seconds later to put the ’03 Cats up again, and give them a lead they wouldn’t relinquish. Iguodala’s basket with 2:52 left extended the lead to 88-80.
Steve Kerr hit a 3 and Elliott added a basket to cut the lead to 90-87 with 50 seconds left. The ’88 Cats opted to play defense instead of foul, and Adams burned them with the dunk.
Anderson’s free throw extended the lead to 93-87. Kenny Lofton’s 3 with seven seconds left gave the ’88 Cats a glimmer of hope in cutting the score to 93-90. But Walton iced the game and the championship of the eight-team tournament by hitting the first of two free throws with five seconds left.
Arizona guard Steve Kerr against Illinois at McKale Center on Jan. 30, 1988. Photo by Elizabeth Mangelsdorf / Arizona Daily Star
Kerr scored a game-high 24 points for the ’88 Cats and hit 6 of 8 3-pointers. Elliott and Tom Tolbert each added 18 points. The 1988 Cats shot an even 50%, but the 2003 Wildcats were even better at 53% while outrebounding 1988 Arizona 40-30.
The 2003 team’s bench outscored the 1988 bench — the Gumbies — 36-15 in the win. Iguodala glared at a group of ’88 fans waving giant green inflatable Gumbies after his dunk with 3:37 left in the first half gave the ‘03 Wildcats a 44-40 lead.
They would go on to lead 51-46 at halftime. Tolbert and Craig McMillan played only a combined 44 minutes for the 1988 Cats before each fouled out. McMillan fouled out with 9:43 left and Tolbert left with an even four minutes to go.
Several members of the 1997 team, which was upset in the first round of the Whatifsports.com simulation, were on hand to present the 2003 Wildcats with the trophy, but after the ’03 team put on T-shirts claiming to be the greatest UA team of all time, Miles Simon just pointed to the 1997 championship banner hanging in the rafters and winked at the crowd.
Rim shots
The No. 2-seeded 2001 UA team won the third-place game earlier in the day, beating the eighth-seeded 2011 Wildcats 84-66 thanks to 15 points from Richard Jefferson and 14 from Loren Woods. Derrick Williams led the 2011 Wildcats with 19 points.
The 2020 Wildcats won the “Best of the Rest” 16-team simulation tournament for the other UA teams since 2000 that didn’t make the eight-team event. Nico Mannion scored 22 points in the Whatifsports.com title game as ‘20 Wildcats beat No. 6-seeded 2000 Arizona 84-73. The No. 9 seed 2020 Wildcats upset the No. 1-seeded 2015 Cats 74-66 in the quarterfinals.
