Goals.

For the Arizona men's basketball team, there are many this season.

The ultimate: to go to New Orleans and bring back a national championship come April. [Read article]

To be the best, you have to play the best.

The Arizona women's basketball team is certainly going to be playing some of the best this season. The question is: How good is this team?

The nation doesn't seem to think the team is worth a Top 25 ranking after last season's 14-14 finish. In fact, the Wildcats didn't receive a single pollster's vote. [Read article]

It started out as just another day for Jason Gardner. The 16-year-old sophomore woke up, grabbed his backpack and drove to North Central High School in Indianapolis early one March for his routine morning shoot around.

But that day, his routine was interrupted. Gardner wasn't allowed in his own gym.

The security guards outside the gym were instructed to not allow anyone in. A college basketball team from Tucson, Arizona, was practicing there today. [Read article]

Only seven teams have ever won the national championship undefeated, the latest being the 1976 Indiana Hoosiers that went 32-0. So, odds are that this season, the nation's No. 1 team will have some bumps in the road along the way to its ultimate goal. As the men's basketball team is set to begin its 2002 season on Saturday against Western Kentucky, there are still some questions that can interfere with a successful year. [Read article]

It bears the name of the father of Arizona athletics, J.F. "Pop" McKale, yet is has been standing in its own simplicity, virtually unchanged to the naked eye, for nearly 30 years.

It houses college basketball's most successful program over the past decade and a half, yet it carries no luxury suites like those in Maryland's brand new Comcast Center or the Breslin Center on the campus of Michigan State. [Read article]

The press.

Not the print type, but the full-court variety, will be something that the men's and women's basketball teams will use extensively this season.

The press is designed to put extensive pressure on the offense ÷ either full-court or half-court ÷ resulting in turnovers.

"(It is used) to pick the pace of the game up, to get more possessions," men's head coach Lute Olson said. "You are obviously looking for opportunities. We've always been a team that has relied on our defense to initiate a lot of our offense. We feel it should be even more so with this. We hope to be able to turn those turnovers into quick baskets at the other end. I think we go deep enough to do that at every position." [Read article]

Two seasons ago, Josh Pastner, a former UA basketball player, talked to the Wildcat once a week during the season in a piece called Pastner's Notebook. Now, Pastner is a full-time assistant coach and will be back giving his insight on this year's team.

Q: What is Salim Stoudamire's status?

A: It's nothing serious. He has a high ankle sprain and he is rehabbing it right now. It's an injury that we don't want to linger on into March and April. [Read article]

Wildcat women ready to run the floor for transition baskets and use a full-court press on defense because of depth at guard spots

A Parade high school All-American, the 2002 Pac-10 Freshman of the Year, a returning starter, a redshirt freshman and two players that started numerous times ÷ no, this isn't the best of a returning team, its simply the depth chart at the guard position. [Read article]

Wildcat staff rankings of Pac-10. Arizona is ranked No. 1

Oregon
Location: Eugene, Ore.
2001-02 record: 26-9 (14-4 Pac-10)
Enrollment: 19,091
Head Coach: Ernie Kent (sixth year)
Players to watch: PG Luke Ridnour, SF Luke Jackson

The Ducks' success lies on the shoulders of their All-America candidates, Ridnour and Jackson · The Ducks and Wildcats have a lot in common, as they arguably have the best guard/forward tandems in the nation. Last season, Ridnour ran the point for UO and led it to the Elite Eight with his 15.5 points and 5 assists per game averages. At the small forward position, Jackson added 16.7 points, 5.4 rebounds and 3.3 assists. Ridnour and Jackson have both been named preseason All-Americans. However, the big question surrounding these two players is if they can produce without Freddie Jones and Chris Christoffersen, both of whom taken in the 2002 NBA draft. [Read article]

A true center is hard to find these days in college basketball, but Western Kentucky has a true gem in senior All-American Chris Marcus.

However, due to a constant foot injury, Marcus' career at WKU is in question.

But that has not deterred the No. 20 Hilltoppers from continuing to build on their NCAA Tournament appearance last season.

Lost in all of the Marcus hype is senior forward David Boyden, who has started 90 of 92 games in his career at Western Kentucky. [Read article]

The Wildcat Sports Desk picks its Top 25 teams heading into No. 1 Arizona's first weekend of regular-season play

1 Arizona ö Simply the best. The Wildcats are the favorite to be partying on Bourbon Street in early April.

2 Alabama ö The Tide rolled over the Sooners in NYC last week.

3 Kansas ö Undefeated in the Big 12, again? Ask the Longhorns and Sooners.

4 Texas ö T.J. Ford has added a jump shot that may land the Longhorns in New Orleans. [Read article]

On many college basketball teams, a Canadian player might be considered foreign, but this is hardly the case for this year's women's basketball squad.

In total, five of the team's 15 players öö representing four of the seven continents öö were born outside the United States, with three still calling a foreign country home.

Though this might seem like a problem in terms of communication and chemistry, head coach Joan Bonvicini said the team has responded beautifully. [Read article]