March 31, 2001: Arizona beats Michigan State, advances to national championship game
A few hours before Arizona was to play Mississippi State it the championship game of the 2000 Fiesta Bowl Classic, Lute Olson walked somberly into his team’s locker room and told his players and staff he would not be coaching that night or possibly the rest of the season.
“Nobody knew what to say,” UA assistant coach Jay John told me later that night. “A lot of the players cried. I couldn’t get it out of my head; it was just so sad.”
Arizona opened the 2000-01 season ranked No. 1 in all the polls, with five starters back from a No. 1 seed in the 1999-2000 NCAA tournament.
But over the first two months of the season, Olson’s wife, Bobbi, became desperately ill with ovarian cancer, relapsing after two years of treatment. Olson did not attend an early December road game at Connecticut and some nights slept in a chair next to his wife’s bed at University Medical Center.
Mississippi State beat the Wildcats that night, the first time Arizona lost a Fiesta Bowl Classic game in 16 years. Arizona’s record was 7-4.
Bobbi Olson died early in the morning on New Year’s Day 2001. She was 65.
“Nobody felt like playing basketball anymore,” interim head coach Jim Rosborough said. “This went way beyond a ballgame.”
After a private funeral service, the school staged a public memorial at McKale Center. UA junior forward Richard Jefferson represented the team, speaking emotionally for about three minutes as his teammates wept.
A day later, Arizona played No.1 Stanford at McKale Center and lost 85-76.
Someone placed a bouquet of roses in Bobbi Olson’s seat — Section 16, Row 2, Seat 5. It was the first time in Olson’s distinguished UA career that it didn’t seem to matter if the Wildcats won or lost.
What happened over the next three months was like something from a Hollywood movie.
Olson missed four games and returned after two weeks. His team was 10-5. By the final day of March, Arizona had gone 20-2 and soared through the NCAA Tournament, beating Eastern Illinois, Butler, Ole Miss, Illinois and Michigan State by a combined 91 points.
They would play Duke for the national championship.
“Arizona is so tough,” said Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski. “What they’ve gone through, and the caliber of play that they had — I didn’t realize how good they were until we started watching the Michigan State game. I looked at (assistant coach) Johnny Dawkins and said, ‘I knew they were good, but they’re better.’ ”
The ’01 Wildcats were almost without question the most talented team in school history, with an almost textbook roll call of players fitting into basketball’s numbered positions, 1 through 5.
- Point guard Jason Gardner, a sophomore with a ability to rise to the occasion, averaged 10.9 points.
- Shooting guard Gilbert Arenas, also a sophomore, led the team with 16 points a game. He could beat anyone to the basket.
- Small forward Jefferson, a junior, emerged as a defensive stopper, a selfless player who averaged 11 points.
- Power forward Michael Wright, a junior, was the epitome of a low-block scorer. He averaged 15.6 points and 7.8 rebounds.
- Seven-foot center Loren Woods was the most feared shot-blocker in college basketball; he averaged 13 points and 6.5 rebounds and would have the game of his life against Duke, scoring 22 and grabbing 11 rebounds.
Duke won a classic struggle 82-72, when shooting guard Mike Dunleavy Jr. broke open a two-point game with four 3-point baskets in the second half. The Blue Devils’ defense was superb; they held Gardner and Arenas to 0-for-12 shooting from 3-point distance and 4 for 22 overall.
After the game in downtown Minneapolis, Olson found perspective instead of frustration.
“He told us how enjoyable it was to coach us, and how he will miss being with this team,” said Woods. “Fans can react to this game and this season any way they want, but the people in this locker room will remember it as one of the best years of their lives.”
When CBS rolled the credits and the first notes of “One Shining Moment,” it signaled an end to one of the most remarkable seasons in UA history, there were no lingering doubts.
Duke was the better team. Arizona had gotten the most of what had earlier been a shattered season.
“The feelings of disappointment will be short-lived,” John said. “The feelings of accomplishment will win out. This team played for the national championship. In the end, this is a feel-good story.”
Where are they now: At 38, Woods played the 2016 season for Al Hala in the Bahrain EuroLeague, the sixth country in which he has played overseas. He also played for Houston, Toronto, Miami and Minnesota in the NBA. John is a radio analyst and fundraiser for the Cal Bears.
How they did it: “Duke was able to get a lead and keep a lead, and nobody has done that to us,” UA forward Gene Edgerson said. “At times we didn’t know how to react to that.”
Arizona was physically limited in the title game; Arenas suffered a slight shoulder separation in the victory over Michigan State. Sixth-man Luke Walton had a badly sprained thumb on his shooting hand.
