1st-round upset talk begins again

Charles C. LaBenz Arizona Daily Wildcat UA junior Michael Dickerson skies over Washington guard Jaime Booker during the March 2 matchup. Dickerson was named as an honorable mention member of the Associated Press All-America team on Monday. He was selected as the UA's most valuable player at the team's annual awards banquet Monday night.

Arizona has lost in the first round in three of its last five tournaments. The question is: will South Alabama be the newest member of that list come Thursday?

UA head coach Lute Olson said their first priority is to not think about any possible matchups down the road.

"Right now, we just have to worry about South Alabama. We can't worry about later potential matchups," he said regarding a possible "Sweet 16" rematch between Arizona and No. 1 Kansas. The Jayhawks knocked UA out of last year's tournament with a last-seco nd 83-80 victory in the round of 16.

Even though the Wildcats seem focused on their matchup with the Jaguars, the cloud over Arizona's past first round performances is still noticeable by some of the newer players.

"I know how Arizona teams have done in the past, and I am just worried about our history of getting knocked out in the first round," UA freshman guard Mike Bibby said. "We have to go out and play like this is going to be our last game."

Olson feels that his team's confidence has not suffered even though the team is coming off a final weekend that saw two losses in two games by a combined three points.

"I think the fact that we lost two close games to quality opponents on the road makes the situation a little different," he said. "I don't think last weekend hurt our confidence too much."

As for Arizona's surprisingly high four-seed in the NCAA Tournament, some players said they feel the closeness of the two games helped Arizona stay in the top 16.

"If you look at the situation, we weren't even supposed to be in the Stanford game. I think they were favored by 15 points," UA junior forward Bennett Davison said. "Since we played well in both and had chances to win in two tough road games, I don't thin k the selection committee hurt us that much for the losses."

Arizona has been all-or-nothing in the NCAA Tournament under Olson. In 13-straight appearances, the second longest active tournament streak to North Carolina's 23 straight, the Wildcats have won their tournament games by an average margin of 21 points. In fact, the smallest margin of victory for Arizona has been 12 (82-70 vs. Louisville in 1992; 79-67 vs. South Florida in 1990).

Arizona's list of blowouts includes 1994's No. 1-seed in the West Region, Missouri (92-72), and the 1988 second seed in the West, North Carolina (70-52).