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(DAILY_WILDCAT)

Miracle on Parquet

Not since the 1980 Miracle on Ice, when the United States beat the heavily favored Soviet Union in hockey, has there been such raging success in sports. The underdogs in the NCAA basketball tournament have shown the nation their heart and talent.

At the beginning of the NCAA tournament, who would have picked the University of Arizona Wildcats to be playing in the championship? Across the nation, Arizona was most likely picked to lose in either the first or second round, as has been the norm for the past few years. Certainly, if they made it past the two first rounds, they were going to be pummeled by Kansas. Let's be realistic: no one picked Arizona to go this far.

Thank you and congratulations on a job well done. If ever the university needed a boost, it really needed one now. Not only are you bringing pride to the basketball team, but also shared glory to the University of Arizona. And it is obvious we need the good publicity. With the lack of publicity about the Shoemaker-Levy comet being co-discovered by an adjunct to the UA's Planetary Sciences, with no mention in the national press that the development of NICMOS was within the UA's astronomy department, and with no acknowledgment or publicity on the increase of rankings for many colleges within the university, it is nice to see one thing receive recognition.

Hopefully, this will lead to a desperately needed increase in enrollment. With the numbers dropping each year, and the administration doing nothing concrete to stop the decline (such as rebuilding the Union, scrapping an underground building no one can see, or just publicizing anything that the UA does), we need something to draw students to the university. If it is the basketball team's great showing at the tournament, so be it. Finally, one way to allay the decrease in enrollment and to bring more money to the university: more students. A pretty foreign idea.

Again, thank you for helping the university grow to national prominence, even if it isn't for our academic standing. Good luck tonight; we're all behind you.

By Editoral Staff
Arizona Daily Wildcat
March 31, 1997


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