Christopher Wuensch Staff Writer

Be excited. Be very excited. Saturday's Îafternoon madness' was just the tip of the proverbial iceberg of what promises to be a great season of UA basketball.

After all, the mighty Wildcats can't be the consensus No. 1 squad every year. Take reigning national champ Syracuse, for example. If you told me at this point last year that the Orangemen, led by a freshman, were going to shock the nation and win the Final Four, I would have told you to take whatever it is you are smoking back down to Fourth Ave.

The loss of senior leaders Luke Walton, Jason Gardner and Rick Anderson isn't going to hurt as bad as most want to believe.

Dick Vitale, the bald bombshell, has already slated Arizona as high as sixth in the country and best in the West (predictably, though, he did still pick Duke ahead of the Wildcats).

The trend in college sports is leaning towards younger, more explosive teams taking off and achieving the unachievable ÷ just like Syracuse.

If that holds true, who knows? This could be the Wildcats' year.

One scrimmage game, and already the plot lines of a fantastic season are being drawn up.

Let's start with the question everyone has been asking since Saturday night: Who is this Beau Muhlbach character?

Muhlbach ÷ and his 36-point output during Saturday's scrimmage ÷ is the most surprising thing to happen to the University of Arizona since the net-backed baseball cap made its way into popular fashion.

It is about time the Wildcats had a guy named Beau. Think about it: in the past, we've had guys named Khalid, Loren and Eugene. Why not a Beau? This guy is going to fit right in.

Yet before we get ahead of ourselves and start looking towards next March, we must take a look back and locate some former Wildcat stars.

÷Jason Gardner's tryouts with Toronto never panned out despite UA ties to newly named Raptors' head coach Kevin O'Neill. Now he's trying to catch on in Europe.

÷Luke Walton is getting substantial playing time in a Kobe-less Los Angeles Lakers lineup. The slick-passing Walton is averaging over 20 minutes for the Lake-show and even scored three points in a recent loss to the LeBron-led Cleveland Cavaliers.

÷Rick Anderson: Well, at least he has his business minor to fall back on. Anderson has been spotted recently in Tucson at a SKITN/Slightly Stoopid concert at City Limits.

But we love all our former players, right?

Speaking of Gardner ÷ 1999's Indiana Mr. Basketball ÷ get ready to open your wallets: that semi-famous No. 22 jersey is set to be retired sometime in the beginning of the year. Future Wildcat Îballers need to consider another number if they had their hearts set on donning No. 10, as well. Expect Arizona to retire the jersey of former guard and current Sacramento King backcourt specialist Mike Bibby later on in this season as well.

In other non-related, related UA basketball news, a former Wildcat was moved in yesterday's blockbuster deal between the Boston Celtics and Dallas Mavericks. Chris Mills joined his third team in as many months when the Mavs shipped the 33-year old small forward off to Bean Town.

That just goes to show that Arizona basketball is everywhere. Before you know it, it will consume the UA campus and make everyone forget about the Wildcats' pigskin blues.

The next time someone ribs you about the whooping their school may be handing our football squad, just tell them the time honored UA gridiron motto: "Just wait until basketball season."

I know I can't.