By
Keith Carmona and Ryan Finley
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Ole Miss, Arizona to battle for Elite Eight berth
SAN ANTONIO - In a city famous for the Alamo - the old mission where American rebels died facing an overpowering Mexican army - the UA basketball team is looking out for a Rebel assault of their own, the Mississippi Rebels.
That's because, as UA head coach Lute Olson has learned on numerous occasions, anything can happen in the NCAA Tournament.
"Any team that has advanced this far in the tournament wants to be here," UA head coach Lute Olson said. "You throw out the records and forget the traditions for both schools in terms of comparison. The bottom line is that both teams are in the Sweet 16 and want to be in the Elite Eight."
The second-seeded Wildcats face off against No. 3 seed Mississippi tonight for a chance to make it to next weekend's Final Four in Minneapolis.
The winner takes on either Kansas or Illinois, two teams that have spent most of the 2001 season ranked highly in the polls.
In order to advance, the Wildcats must knock off the Rebels (27-7), who have spent the previous few days in San Antonio playing the underdog role.
As of late last night, Arizona was a 12-point favorite to win the game. Not that betting lines concern Ole Miss senior forward Rahim Lockhart.
"We don't have any money on the game, so we don't worry about the point spread, or whatever that is," he said. "It doesn't bother us that we're the underdogs. (The point spread) doesn't have anything to do with the way the game's going to be played."
UA sophomore guard Gilbert Arenas isn't too comfortable playing for the favorite, either.
"They're the three (seed) in the Midwest, so they have to be good," he said. "Numbers two, three, and four - you never know who can beat which."
Rebels head coach Rod Barnes has delivered Ole Miss to the school's first Sweet 16 appearance, but said yesterday that he isn't going to enjoy the season until its over. The Southeastern Conference's West Division champion Rebels were picked by the conference's coaches to finish last in their division.
But, then again, Barnes doesn't think too highly of polls and predictions.
"We've continued to beat people, we've continued to do things that we can do," he said. "When the game starts, it's going to be 0-0. We're going to start off even. I don't know how we're going to end."
Barnes said the tradition of other schools in the SEC have led to a lack of respect towards the Rebels, who have virtually no basketball lore to speak of in a conference with schools like Kentucky and Arkansas.
"Everyone talks about tradition and what happened 15-20 years ago," he said.
"When you have history and you have tradition, it's much easier to talk about those teams and who played on those teams. In our own town, if I talk about who played at Ole Miss 10 years ago, nobody would know. If you talk about who played at Kentucky 10 years ago, everybody would know."
The Rebels are far from content in their tournament status. It's the Wildcats, however, that must guard against the upset.
Arizona, in the midst of a season-high eight-game winning streak, will be taking on an emotionally-charged Ole Miss team.
The fans could also play a role, potentially siding with the Rebels if an upset is in the works. Surely, Kansas and Illinois fans will root against the lauded Wildcats.
"Nobody really wants us to win except for the people in Tucson," Arenas said. "It seems like everybody wants to see us go down. Even though we're not the Big Dog right now, everybody still wants to knock us off."
