Arizona men's basketball coach Lute Olson left almost no subject untouched in his season-ending press conference.
He talked about everything from the NCAA Tournament to the television contract for the Pacific 10 Conference, from current players to recruits. Olson said a little bit of everything, wrapping up his 22nd season as head coach in Tucson.
Aside from being four good minutes away from a trip to the Final Four in St. Louis last weekend, Olson said this season's team exceeded his expectations. The Wildcats went 30-7, just the third time in school history the men's basketball team has won 30 games. He admitted that going into the season, he had some question marks about this team, but they impressed him in the end.
"Looking back at the year, I'm very pleased with how this team progressed. There's no question we were playing our best basketball by the end of the season," he said.
That evaluation by Olson includes the last game of the season against Illinois, when the Wildcats were up by 15 points with four minutes to go, but ended up losing the game 90-89.
"It took a team with great character to be in the position we were in," Olson said, adding he thought his team likely had the toughest road in the tournament. "By far (it was) the best 36 minutes we played all year and under the most difficult conditions."
Arizona made it to the regional semifinal by defeating Oklahoma State 79-78 on a last second-shot by senior guard Salim Stoudamire.
Stoudamire had, arguably, the best basketball season of his college career, becoming the Pac-10's all-time leader in 3-point shooting with 342 treys. He broke the record of 323 in the Pac-10 Tournament championship game in an 81-72 loss to Washington.
Olson said that aside from his stellar play on the court, Stoudamire had a "life-altering" season off of it. As concerns about his attitude have faded, only one question remains surrounding Stoudamire and the NBA.
"What the pro people want to see is if he can play the point position. There's no question he can flat-out play the point," Olson said.
Olson added that senior Channing Frye may also be picked as high as the teens, adding that some teams he talked to may try to trade up to get the 6-foot-11 center from Phoenix.
Frye helped himself by performing strong at the end of the season, shooting 69.7 percent (76-109) from the floor over the last 10 games of the season, and 65 percent (26-40) from the floor in the NCAA Tournament.
After the Illinois game, Olson said he was confident junior forward Hassan Adams would leave early for the NBA draft, but said yesterday that Adams is likely to stay another year.
As for next season, Olson is expecting a lot out of his returning players as well as his incoming players, such as J.P. Prince from Tennessee and Marcus Williams from Washington.
He expects freshman Mohamed Tangara to be completely healthy next season. Tangara played in five games this season before sitting out the remainder of the season with back problems.
"I think the program is in great shape," Olson said.
His team will get tested early and often next season. Olson's team will participate in the Maui Invitational Nov. 21-23 and could see any combination of Connecticut, Kansas, Maryland, Michigan State or Arkansas, all teams who have won national championships. Gonzaga will also participate in the tournament, a rising basketball power in recent years. The Wildcats will face another early-season challenge as they take on national champs North Carolina in Chapel Hill.
Olson also hopes that the Pac-10 will gain more exposure on television next season, which could change with upcoming contract talks this summer.
Olson said that when the games are regionally aired on Fox Sports Net, as they currently are, it hurts the exposure the Pac-10 and Arizona receives.
If Olson had things his way, he said he would have each rivalry game in Pac-10 play moved from its current spot on Saturday to Wednesday nights. He added that he would also like those rivalry games to be nationally televised on ESPN.
"We cannot afford not to have more national exposure," Olson said. "It kills us with recruiting. It absolutely kills us. It gets used against us."