KEVIN KLAUS/Arizona Daily Wildcat Jason Gardner drives past UCLAâs Matt Barnes during a Jan. 19 game in McKale Center. Gardner will return next year to lead a team that is a preseason favorite for the title.

Preseason No. 1 returns entire starting lineup

Prior to 1997, when Arizona won its first-ever NCAA National Championship, the question was when the talented Arizona program was going to be No. 1.

Now the question is, when will Lute Olson lead his team to another?

After a 24-10 season by a team comprised of inexperienced teenagers and a trio of juniors, Arizona has managed to keep itself in contention for the title and set itself up for a possible run next season. Though many of the players were new to Division I basketball, at times it was hard to tell. From the start of the season, Olson knew he was heading a very special team.

With one starter remaining fromthe 2001 national runner-up squad, the unranked Wildcats pulled out victories against No. 2 Maryland and No. 5 Florida in the Coaches vs. Cancer IKON Classic in New York to open the season.

Other than perhaps a Final Four game, the stage couldnât have been much bigger ÷ nationally televised games in Madison Square Garden against two top-five teams.

ãI looked at our schedule and said, Îthis could be a disaster,âä Olson said. ãMost people figured we would be 1-5 to start.ä

Needless to say, the sweep in the Big Apple turned a few heads nationwide. Add on another impressive win at No. 23 Texas, in which Arizona came back from a six-point halftime deficit to win convincingly, and the Wildcats made their ranking debut at No. 8 in the Associated Press poll.

The come-from-behind victory became a common means of winning for Olsonâs team. Arizona trailed at halftime 14 times, and managed to pull out eight victories. Perhaps the most impressive was a 97-86 victory over No. 9 UCLA on January 19.

The Wildcats trailed at home to the Bruins by 15 at halftime, and by 20 with 13:41 left to play.

Arizona scored 27 of the next 29 points to take a lead late in the final frame, and held on for the victory.

ãI didnât know if thereâd be anybody left in the arena when we came back out for the second half,ä Olson said following the victory.

There were plenty of fans still left, and when it was all over, most of the students had left their seats, but were rushing the floor instead of heading for the exits.

That win came 13 days after Arizona came from 21 points down against Oregon State at home to win, 93-87.

ãWe went down swinging in every game,ä freshman center Isaiah Fox said. ãNo matter what they threw at us.ä

In the end, failing to play a full game cost Olsonâs club in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament against Oklahoma.

The bigger, more experienced Sooners put away Arizona in the second half and ended a season that was already weeks longer than many expected it to be.

ãFor this young team, we had a lot of games we had to battle,ä Olson said following the loss to the Final Four-bound Sooners. ãThat doesnât take anything away from the kind of year we have had.ä

Olson said he expects the freshmen only to get better with time, and is looking forward to building on a successful season. He pointed out that the inside game will be the key to next year.

ãI think next year with the development of the inside guys, we will have a much, much better team,ä Olson said. ãThis year we relied on the perimeter players.ä

When the fall does roll around, there will be new freshmen to initiate into the realms of college basketball. But this time around, there will be a few more upperclassman teachers to instruct top recruits Andre Iguodala, Hassan Adams, Chris Rodgers and Chris Dunn into the ways of Arizona basketball.

It might seem strange for next yearâs team to get used to the expectations. Following a season driven by expectations, the team ÷ especially the five freshmen ÷ will have to bear the weight of the university, the town of Tucson and the eye of every sports writer in the country.

In preparation for next season, the team is taking a 23-day basketball tour of Australia, a trip that promises to offer plenty to write home about. In fact, a daily diary of the trip will be available to Wildcat fans at home on the universityâs athletic Web site ÷ www.arizonaathletics.com.

The journey Down Under will feature 10 exhibition games starting May 15 and ending June 1.

It will be the third consecutive year the Wildcats have taken on Australian teams on the road. Arizona is 28-15 in games played overseas, including two summers in Europe in 1985 and 1989. Fortunately for the Wildcats, the trip will not be all business÷ there has been allotted time to see the Great Barrier Reef and go white water rafting and sightseeing.