Fans should look forward to bright future

Arizona Daily Wildcat Dan Rosen

If they don't, you should really think twice.

Yes, the men lost. Even worse, they lost by 25 points to Utah, a team many predicted would lose in either the second or third round of the NCAA Tournament.

Even worse, the Stanford Cardinal are in the Final Four, and Arizona destroyed them twice.

But you know what, they don't call it March Madness for nothing. Teams get upset. It happens every year.

The Utes just caught UA on a day in which the three Ms were off. It rarely happens, in fact it never happens. But for one time in two years, it did.

Two years. It doesn't seem that long. But looking back at those two years you'll notice that everybody in the nation knows who the Arizona Wildcats are, and they know for good reasons.

One national championship, one Pacific 10 Conference championship, two first team All-Americans, one Pac-10 player of the year, one third team All-American, the best sixth man in college basketball, the 1997 Final Four M.V.P, and most of all, NATIONAL RESPECT.

Not too shabby for a bunch of gym rats and a guy who wakes up with his hair still in place from the day before.

Now, as we wait to see fresh faces of the six tall freshmen walking on the mall next semester, we should be thinking good thoughts and not asking those horrible what if questions. Look forward and see what is in store for Arizona basketball present and future.

Yes, we should be wishing good luck to Miles Simon, Michael Dickerson and Bennett Davison as they take on new adventures in life. And we should be giving Mike Bibby hundreds of reasons to stay one more year instead of going to the NBA and playing for a losing team like the Denver Nuggets - or following the footsteps of our old friend and former Toronto Raptor Damon Stoudamire. But most of all, we should look to the future of Arizona basketball and see what we have.

Hello everybody, it's not that bad.

You will still see the high socks and the great one-liners from Jason Terry, the twin towers of A.J. Bramlett and Donnell Harris and the emotions and elbows from Eugene Edgerson. They are your leaders, but they have some pretty respectable followers for the upcoming years.

Perhaps it is fate that the UA athletic department decided to put in a new floor at McKale Center just in time for the Wildcats' 1998-99 season.

Star high school athletes like Michael Wright, Richard Jefferson, Luke Walton (remember Bill), Ruben Douglas, Traves Wilson and Ricky Anderson will all be wearing the cardinal and navy while strutting their stuff in McKale next season.

These are the guys Lute Olson feels can keep the winning tradition of Wildcat basketball alive, and if you don't trust Lute, who do you trust?

So, Wildcat fans need not worry. Last weekend's loss to Utah will blow over and the Wildcats will survive. So they didn't win it this year, but going 30-5 and winning a Pac-10 title is not a disappointing season by any stretch of the imagination.

Dan Rosen is a sophomore majoring in journalism.And yes, he loves Bobby Knight.