David Harden/Arizona Daily Wildcat Six-year-old Amy Cranford helps paint ĪAā Mountain last year along with UA students and volunteers.

Are you new to Arizona or just want to catch-up on your UA ABCs? This is required knowledge for all UA sports fans and could help you sometime during your four, five or six years in Tucson.

A ö ĪAā Mountain

Every fall, freshmen trek up the mountain to whitewash the ćAä. Arizona State has an ćAä Mountain, too. Every year before the two schools play, people try to paint the other schoolās ćA.ä UA students always seem to succeed. ASU students donāt. What does that tell you?

B ö Bowl game

The UA football team has gone three seasons without reaching a bowl game. Itās the second-year of the John Mackovic era and anything less than spending the holiday season on the road would mean another disappointing ending.

C ö Coaches

UA has some of the best coaches in the nation, but to be fair and not hurt any of their feelings ÷ yes, coaches have feelings too ÷ Iām not going to name any of them because I donāt want to leave any of them out. You are just going to have to find out yourself which one is your favorite. I havenāt run across one I didnāt like yet. Well, actually ·

D ö Drive

When UA plays its rivals up north, many Arizona students make the 100-mile trip up I-10 to support the Wildcats. At many basketball games in Wells Fargo Arena, the visiting Wildcat fans are louder than the Sun Devil fans. I assume most of the ASU students are just home studying. Right. Wouldnāt that be the day?

E ö Elliott

As in Sean Elliott. He is arguably the greatest basketball player to put on a Wildcat uniform. He is now a commentator for the San Antonio Spurs after having a good NBA career. He is one of two players in school history to have their numbers retired. The other is Steve Kerr.

F ö Freshmen

The building block of any successful program is itās incoming recruiting class. Many UA teams boast some of the top recruiting classes in the nation. Here are just a few of the stellar recruits that will be gracing the UA campus this fall ÷ Biren Ealy and Mike Jefferson (football), Althea Jones (soccer), Alicia Hollowell (softball), Shawntice Polk (womenās basketball), Hassan Adams (menās basketball), Angel Perkins (track and field) and Bre Ladd and Kim Glass (volleyball).

G ö Goal

If World Cup fever has won you over, unfortunately you canāt get your fix from a Wildcat menās soccer team. However, Arizona does have a womenās team and they are getting better every season. The program is young but they are finally getting on the right track under coach Cathy Klein.

Associated Press UA menās basketball head coach Lute Olson, whoās seen here at the Hall of Fame luncheon earlier this summer, may make our list at ĪH,ā but heās A-list all the way.

H ö Hall of Fame

Lute Olson might be the reason some of you chose to attend UA and the silver-haired legend was just elected into the Hall of Fame. His formal induction is in September but he will be in Italy at his sonās wedding. He is not only a great coach but a wonderful family man as well.

I ö Icecats

Tucson might be in the middle of the desert but they do play ice hockey here and the UA team is pretty good. A club team, they finished fifth in the nation last year. Icecat hockey is the only UA sport at which beer is sold, making the games one of the most attended in town.

J ö Josh Pastner

Maybe a name that you havenāt heard of before if you havenāt watched UA basketball too closely. Pastner, a former player, was promoted this off-season to assistant coach after being an administrative assistant and video coordinator the past two years. In the 42 games he played in as a Wildcat, usually in the closing minutes, the team went undefeated.

K ö Kirk Johnson

One of the few freshmen to contribute on the football field last season. The sophomore started in five games at rover as a true freshman when Joe Siofele was out in 2001. Playing along side preseason All-American Lance Briggs will only help this kid excel in 2002 and in the future.

L ö Livengood

As in Jim Livengood. He is the man who is in control of all UA teams. Regarded as one of the top athletic directors in the nation, he was rumored to leave Tucson and go to Minnesota for more money just last month, but decided he was happy here ÷ and we here in Tucson are thankful for that. Livengood has been at UA since 1994.

M ö Major League Baseball

Didnāt think Tucson had a professional baseball team? Weāll youāre right, but what Tucson does have is spring training. Tucson is the home of three MLB teams ÷ the Arizona Diamondbacks, Chicago White Sox and Colorado Rockies. The teams play their games at Hi-Corbett Field and Tucson Electric Park. No better reason to skip class and grab a cold one than going to a spring training game second semester.

file photo/Arizona Summer Wildcat Luke Walton, seen here dunking during last seasonās John Wooden Classic, is one of the main reasons the menās basketball team will be ranked No. 1 this season. But he could also be the subject of the ĪNā category, because heās proven to be ĪMr. Everythingā for the Wildcats in his three years on the team.

N ö No. 1

Thatās the pre-season ranking for the Wildcat menās basketball team. With returnees Jason Gardner, Luke Walton, Salim Stoudamire and company, look out for the guys to ball in the Final Four again this year.

O ö Offense

Something the football team proved to have a lot of last year. With Johnson, Pac-10 rushing leader Clarence Farmer and wideout Bobby Wade, the Wildcats could put up some big numbers again this season. The team averaged 34 points a game in its last five a season ago.

P ö ćPopä McKale

Heās the granddaddy of Arizona athletics. From 1914 to the late 1950s he served as a baseball, football and basketball coach before becoming athletic director. Thatās where McKale Center got its name. It had nothing to do with ex-Boston Celtic Kevin McKale, as I have been asked many times.

Q ö Quarterbacks

Jason Johnson has two young kids ÷ freshmen Nic Costa and Ryan OāHara ÷ looking up at him for the starting job in 2002. He wants the job to be his and he has done everything right since the end of last season to accomplish that. The senior completed 56.7 percent of his passes for 2,347 yards and 19 touchdowns last season. He also completed a 99-yard TD pass to Brandon Marshall.

R ö Rec Center

The large building on the corner of East 6th Street and North Highland Avenue is called the Rec for short. Usually gets pretty crowded the first couple weeks of school and then dies off later on in the semester. With five basketball courts and an indoor track itās a great place to get out of the heat and get a good workout. Also, it has a countless number of racquetball courts.

S ö Sears Cup

The goal of every athletic director is to finish high in the Sears Cup, a ranking of all of a universityās athletic programs. For the 2001-2002 year Arizona finished No. 9 among all NCAA schools. UA has finished in the Top 10 for nine consecutive years. Seven Pac-10 teams were in the Top 25.

T ö Track and Field

After 36-years at Arizona, the dean of UA coaches, Dave Murray, decided to hang up his track spikes and retire from coaching both the track and field and cross country teams. He promoted assistant coach Fred Harvey to take over. Harvey then snatched up James Li from Washington State to coach the cross country team. Donāt worry, the program is in good hands.

U ö Understanding

Here are a few things you need to understand about UA sports. First, there will never be a student section at McKale. Secondly, tradition is thin, so there is always room for something new. Third, never, ever, talk bad about Olson. Fourth, never, ever, say anything good about ASU. Lastly, itās just a game.

V ö Violence

During the final football game in 2001, a mere riot broke out between UA and ASU. After the Wildcats beat the Sun Devils 34-21, Arizona decided to sing ćBear Down Arizonaä on the ASU logo. Obviously, the home-team didnāt like that and some pushing and shoving ensued making this yearās game even more exciting. Also, during a basketball game between the two-schools later in the year ASU point guard Kyle Dodd threw punches at Luke Walton.

W ö Wilbur the Wildcat

The furry, cowboy-hat wearing Wilbur is Arizonaās mascot. Oh yeah, and heās married to the equally-intimidating Wilma Wildcat. Wilbur first took the field on Nov. 7, 1959 against Texas Tech, clad head-to-toe in fur with an American flag on his left shoulder.

X ö X-Factor

Like the softball team of 2002, the womenās volleyball team will rely heavily on its incoming recruiting class. A class of six girls that feature the Gatorade National Player of the Year in Ladd, who is from Tucson, will have some big shoes to fill. UA lost All-Everything player Dana Burkholder, who can be considered one of the greatest volleyball playerās in school history. The 2002 recruiting class will be the X-factor if the Wildcats are going to make it back to the Final Four in New Orleans this year.

Y ö You

Not every sport is for you. Some may like soccer and hockey while others like lacrosse and rugby. Itās up to you to decide.

Z ö Zero

Meaning the number of times the football team has been to the Rose Bowl. Mackovic wants to write a book about the first time the Wildcats not only make the conferenceās biggest game but when they win the game. Is this the year?