By Craig Degel
Arizona Daily Wildcat
February 18, 1998

2 Wildcats up for award

Katherine K. Gardiner Arizona Daily Wildcat UA senior forward Michael Dickerson (23) calls timeout while being double teamed during the Wildcats' game against Arizona State Saturday. Dickerson was one of the finalists for the U.S. Basketball Writers Association player of the year award along with teammate Mike Bibby.

He was left off the Naismith Award nominee list but Arizona senior Michael Dickerson can take some solace in the fact that he was one of the finalists for the U.S. Basketball Writers Association player of the year award.

Teammate Mike Bibby joined Dickerson on the list, which was announced yesterday. Senior Miles Simon, a preseason All-American and Naismith nominee, was not on the list.

Also nominated for the award, which will be presented at the Final Four on March 28, were Kansas teammates Raef LaFrentz and Paul Pierce, North Carolina teammates Vince Carter and Antawn Jamison, Michigan State's Mateen Cleaves, UConn's Richard Hamilton, Utah's Andre Miller, Mississippi's Ansu Seay and Ball State's Bonzai Wells.

Arizona State rehash

When you get past all the clichés about a win being a win, the Arizona men's basketball team's performance against Arizona State Saturday was nothing to get excited about.

And they all know it.

"It was real ugly," Arizona forward Eugene Edgerson said. "But it should get us focused again."

Bibby said he thinks the team played well with one glaring problem.

"The score was closer than it should have been," he said.

Arizona head coach Lute Olson said he wants to see more consistency out of his team, which tends to play well Thursday and poorly Saturday.

"We're at the point now where you can't see great game-mediocre game. We have to be consistent every time out," he said.

It's dejá vu all over again

The first half of the Pacific 10 Conference season was all Arizona. The third-ranked Wildcats were 9-0 and have expressed interest in running the table and going 18-0 - something no team has ever done.

But just how difficult is it the second time around with these teams? Case in point is the Arizona State game. On Jan. 15, the Wildcats throttled the Sun Devils 127-99. Four days ago, Arizona State did everything it could to stop UA's 14-game winning streak but still fell 83-82.

"It's night and day playing at home and on the road," Olson said. "The advantage is we have a lot of veterans."

The Oregon Trail

The Wildcats should expect hostile crowds Thursday at Gil Coliseum in Corvallis, Ore., and at the Ducks' home at MacArthur Court in Eugene, Ore. Saturday.

"It'll be wild up there," Olson said. "The teams we saw here will not be the teams we see there."

When the Oregon schools visited McKale Center last month, the Wildcats beat the Ducks by 30 and Oregon State by 13.

Halfcourt Hoop Dreams

The halfcourt shot isn't exactly a high-percentage one, but the Wildcats have been practicing like it is.

Before practice a few weeks ago, Bibby and redshirt freshman Dion Broom went head-to-head on the shots. Now, Edgerson, Ortege Jenkins and Jason Stewart have gotten into the act.

"We just fool around," Stewart said.

So, does he ever expect to take one in a game a la Miles Simon's game-winning shot versus Cincinnati in 1996?

"I don't know," Stewart said. "Chances are (if I'm in) we'll be up by 50 anyway."