Following this year's UA men's basketball team was not for the faint of heart.

In the last two months of the season, the Wildcats, who finished 26-7, played in five games that were not decided until the final minute, and three of those were decided in the last three seconds. Arizona went 2-3 in those contests, but the fifth game ended the season, an 83-80 loss to Kansas in the Sweet 16 in Denver.

Along the way, the Wildcats went from unranked to unbeatable to unlucky in a season that had a little something for everyone.

Controversy: This year's edition of the Wildcats certainly had its fill of that. It began in November when head coach Lute Olson complained bitterly that his team - which won the National Invitational Tournament in 1990, the last time it played in it - had to travel to Fayetteville, Ark., for a second-round NIT game against Arkansas. Despite a 12-hour travel day because Fayetteville has no airport, UA won the game anyway.

In January, what was supposed to be a routine nonconference game against St. Joseph's in Philadelphia turned ugly when the Wildcats canceled the game because of the winter storms that were pounding the East Coast. But Hawk coach Phil Martelli said the weather was not to blame, but that UA was afraid to play the Hawks because St. Joe's had taken then-No. 1 Massachusetts to overtime earlier in the week. Martelli wanted the game considered a forfeit, and even brought his team to the Palestra (the site of the game) and had it dressed to play. Nothing ever came of it though, except that Martelli said he'd never schedule a game with UA again.

Right on the heels of that came the Joseph Blair suspension. Blair, UA's starting center and leading scorer and rebounder, was suspended for violating an Arizona Board of Regents' academic requirement. Hopes of a successful appeal were not realized and Blair sat out the second half of the season. One Tucson newspaper ran an editorial that said Olson was unhappy with the ruling against Blair (a charge he angrily denied) and a local businessman started a petition to get Blair reinstated.

Even the NCAA Tournament seedings were a source of controversy. UA received the No. 2 seed in the West Region, and UCLA, despite winning the Pacific 10 Conference, was sent to the Midwest Region as the No. 3 seed. Bruin head coach Jim Harrick said what was so special about winning the conference if that team would not be rewarded with a higher seed than the runner-up.

Apparently there was nothing special about the Bruins, who were bounced from the tournament in the first round by Princeton.

Calls: What would this season have been without the officials? Key Pac-10 games against Washington and UCLA came down to referees' calls with under two seconds to go. UA lost to the Huskies at McKale Center when Jason Hartman hit two foul shots after A.J. Bramlett was whistled for a foul while under the UA basket fighting for a rebound, and two weeks after that, the Wildcats lost to the Bruins when Kris Johnson hit a pair of foul shots after being fouled in a similar situation - on the UA half of the court fighting for a rebound with Joe McLean. To be fair, UA had a golden opportunity to win the game against the Bruins, but Miles Simon missed two technical foul shots just before Johnson was fouled that would have given Arizona the lead.

UA finished in second place behind UCLA in the Pac-10 with a 13-5 mark.

Cincinnati: This game on Feb. 11 gave Olson his 500th career victory, but that was overshadowed by how the contest ended. Behind most of the game, UA managed to keep it close in the final minute. Ben Davis hit a jumper to tie the game at 75, and with the No. 5 Bearcats working for the final shot, the ball was stripped with five seconds to go and Miles Simon corralled it and launched a 70-foot shot as the buzzer sounded that hit the backboard and found its way into UA history. When asked after the game if he called the bank shot on the buzzer beater, Simon said he didn't. "Banks are closed on Sundays," he said.

Conclusion: This was supposed to be a rebuilding year of sorts for Arizona with the departure of Damon Stoudamire and Ray Owes. But behind Reggie Geary, who continued the trend of quality point guards here despite being doubted early in the year, and Ben Davis, who picked up the slack after Blair's suspension, the Wildcats became a force by the season's end. In contrast to seasons past, this UA team was not a one-man affair. Seniors Joe McLean and Corey Williams had career years in their final season, and both stepped into starting roles the second half of the year. Sophomores Simon and Michael Dickerson also served notice that they will be the ones to carry UA toward the end of the millenium, although they will have the help of the best recruiting class in UA history next season.