Chris Dunn

Academic setbacks force forward to leave school

It's a mere two months before the opening tip-off, and the Arizona men's hoops team has suffered its first major setback of the season with the departure of one of its few returning big men.

When Arizona takes to the Lute and Bobbi Olson Court on Nov. 5 to square off in the annual Pepsi Red-Blue game, the Wildcats will be without the services of forward Chris Dunn. A 6-foot-6 redshirt freshman out of Hobbs, N.M., Dunn is no longer enrolled at the UA, making him ineligible to play this season.

The former two-time high school All-American has enrolled at Cochise Community College, leaving him ineligible to return to Arizona until he completes his two-year degree. Regarded by most to be the most athletic of all Wildcat recruits, Dunn's exodus leaves the Wildcats lacking depth, with only eight scholarship players returning for the 2003-04 season.

Due to student privacy laws, UA assistant coach Josh Pastner said that members of the coaching staff were unable to comment on the specifics of Dunn's departure. Pastner did say that Dunn would be sorely missed as a frontcourt force for the reloading Wildcats.

"Chris Dunn would have been in our rotation last year if he was not a red shirt," Pastner said. "He's a heck of a talent. He's a good player."

Recent departures of forwards Luke Walton, Rick Anderson and Dennis Latimore leave the Wildcat lineup thin in the low post. The only returning forward from last year's Elite Eight squad is sophomore small forward Andre Iguodala.

Further contributing to Arizona's forward shortage was the loss of prized recruit Ndudi Ebi, a 6'8" high school forward from Houston, who opted for NBA riches instead of the dormitory life of college hoops.

Even with just eight scholarship players available, Pastner said the team will not be fazed by it.

"We have a chance to win a national championship," said Pastner, a member of Arizona's only national championship winning squad. "Our goals are intact. That's to win a Pac-10 championship and a national championship. In '97 we played with eight players and nothing's going to change this year. As long as Lute Olson is on the sideline, we have a chance to win every single game that we compete in."

Dunn joins a small class of former Wildcats who have either chosen or been relegated to play elsewhere. Recent Wildcat defections of note include Will Bynum to Georgia Tech, guard Ruben Douglas to University of New Mexico and Latimore to Notre Dame. Guard Travis Hanour and forward Andrew Zahn have also transferred within the past two seasons.

÷ James Kelley contributed to this report.