Jeff Lund

When the season started, sophomore Dee-Dee Wheeler said her outlook for the season was a secret. As if she and the team knew something we, and the rest of the nation didn't.

The secret was that Arizona women's basketball has arrived, and there are no signs that it will be leaving anytime soon.

People across the country know Arizona is a basketball school, though many of the visions associated with Arizona basketball have to do with Lute Olson and the men's team.

The Wildcats are adding a new dimension to that basketball notoriety with the rejuvenation of the women's program.

Under head coach Joan Bonvicini, Arizona's previously nonexistent women's basketball grew by leaps and bounds.

After a NIT championship in 1996 öö the beginning of a six-year post-season streak öö the foundation for a program of the future was being laid. But the Wildcats were always a player or two away from turning the corner.

Arizona had never been to the post -season prior to Bonvicini's era, making recruiting the nation's top players nearly impossible. Bonvicini and her staff started convincing higher profile players to come to Arizona, but the team never developed into a national contender.

But Bonvicini believed one day they would be.

That day is nearing.

The Wildcat lineup is filled with youth and talent, which is something that

obviously bodes well for the future. Perhaps the biggest impact the stellar lineup is having is on future recruiting.

Arizona now beats big-name teams, and young talented players get to play. These factors will make freshman recruiting easier, and the recruiting barrel will start to become more plentiful.

When selling a program to an 18-year-old, having wins over top teams and a previous ability to land top recruits can be a huge advantage.

Carl Hobbs, a former recruiter for the Connecticut men's team that helped land the likes of Ray Allen and Richard Hamilton, said it best when he took over the head coaching spot at George Washington University.

"We want to get the players we shouldn't get,"players who should end up at a top ranked school, but decide to take their talents elsewhere.

It is easy for schools like Duke, Arizona and North Carolina on the men's side. And on the women's side, programs at Tennessee, Connecticut and Stanford get the nation's best recruits because of their history, something that Bonvicini couldn't sell.

She could sell a program of dedicated staff members and potential ÷ but titles and championships left a void.

It is a simple equation. Better players get better results in the long run. It's getting those players that pose the problem.

Of all the players in the country looking at big schools, all it takes is one or two to fall through the cracks and land at a school like Arizona, and the program can turn around.

Bonvicini and her staff managed to land not one, but two Parade All-Americans within two years to further compliment an already-impressive sophomore class led by Pac-10 Freshman of the Year Wheeler. They are three players who maybe Arizona shouldn't have landed, but did.

All of these players were recruited with no national championship banners or conference titles.

It took time, but Bonvicini has surrounded herself with a coaching staff not satisfied with the current state of the program, and together is making strides to take basketball to a new level. She is making it harder and harder for the nation's best to say no to Arizona.

It helps that Bonvinci has Denise Dove Ianello, one of the most underrated recruiters in the country. Bonvinci's staff also boasts Curtis Loyd, a former pro player overseas, as well as former campus tour guide Craig Haubrich, who now works as the coordinator of basketball operations.

This staff knows basketball, knows the university, and is starting to get the players who know how to play at a level previously not associated with Arizona women's basketball.

Ultimately, it comes down to wins and losses. If Arizona keeps beating the nation's best on the court, the Wildcats should get more victories over the elite teams in the recruiting game.

It doesn't appear to be much of a stretch to say that, in the very near future, the name Arizona will be synonymous with basketball power ÷ both men's and women's.