By
Brett Erickson
Haven't we been down this road before? It seems that way because the sights and sounds are eerily familiar.
The UA men's basketball team is on a roll and playing with intensity. Defense has again become a top priority for the Wildcats, who have won six consecutive games since an 85-76 setback to top-ranked Stanford on Jan. 6.
With Arizona's recent success, the national spotlight has again been focused on Tucson, as the Wildcats have gone from a team on the verge of being out of the polls to the No. 7 team in the country.
So you would think that, along with the more difficult lessons Lute Olson's players have learned this season, they would have figured out that talk is cheap. It doesn't matter, after all, what fans or reporters think, right?
Well, apparently some players are still concerned with Arizona's appearance to the rest of the country.
"Everybody is contributing and giving their all, so finally we are proving to the nation that we are as good as everyone said we were," junior forward Michael Wright said after Saturday's victory against Texas.
Say it ain't so, Mike! Didn't four publicly scrutinized losses to teams Arizona was supposed to beat mean anything? It doesn't matter if the nation believes you're good. It doesn't matter if reporters think you have the chance to be the best collegiate basketball team since UNLV in 1990. (Give Mike credit though, because unlike teammate Gilbert Arenas, who refuses to speak with reporters, he is willing to publicize his thoughts.)
Nothing matters - not even mid-season rankings - until mid-March, when the NCAA Tournament tips off. College basketball comes down to which team with a good amount of talent gets hot at the right time. If titles were given solely to the team with the most talent, businesses on Fourth Avenue would have been spared from riots in 1997.
Take the following two plays by Loren Woods as examples that Arizona still has work to do before it is a serious contender. In the first half of the Texas game, Woods made a brilliant baseline move around a defender, dunked the ball for a quick two points and then proceeded to hustle back down the court to assume his defensive responsibilities. No screaming. No yelling. No trash talking.
Now consider play No. 2. In the second half, Woods took an out-of-bounds pass and threw down another dunk. This time, his reaction was a little different. Judging by his response, you'd think he was the first 7-footer to ever throw the ball through the hoop.
Not that I'm ripping on Loren, because I'd sure as hell be a little emotional in a nationally-televised game against a top-25 opponent. But since when is a routine shot - yes, a dunk is routine if performed by someone more than 84 inches tall - cause for such elation? It reminds me of a football player strutting his stuff after making a routine tackle. Now, if it were Deion Sanders making the tackle, that would be a different story . . .
The Wildcats certainly have made some impressive strides since their emotionally charged loss to Stanford. They're passing better, playing defense and understanding their roles for the most part. But also consider this - the combined conference record of the five Pac-10 teams Arizona has defeated during its six-game winning streak is 14-23. Granted, UA did hand UCLA its only Pac-10 defeat, but wins against Washington State, Washington and Arizona State are essentially meaningless in terms of national credibility.
This weekend, Arizona hits the Oregon Trail for games against the Ducks and Beavers. Last season, this road trip came on the second-to-last weekend of the regular season, and Arizona was swept. The Wildcats rebounded by beating Stanford and Cal the following weekend, but then fell in the second round of the NCAA Tournament to Wisconsin.
This weekend could be about revenge for the Wildcats. It could be about proving to the country that eight straight wins puts them up with Duke and Stanford. It could also be about winning two gimmies and moving up another spot or two in the national polls.
But it should be about continuing to work on the little things, like defensive rebounding. It should be about playing stellar defense against weaker offenses.
Most experts and fans believe Arizona is back and the off-court distractions are behind the team. This could be true, but we won't know for sure until March 8 at Stanford.
Until then, only time will tell us if Arizona is truly back at the forefront of the college basketball scene. Gilbert Arenas sure won't.
