Lute Olson quitting Arizona -- for the second and final time

10 Mike Bibby 6'2"
34 Miles Simon 6'5"
23 Michael Dickerson 6'6"
21 Bennett Davison 6'9"
42 A.J. Bramlett 6'11"
31 Jason Terry 6'4"
13 Donnell Harris 6'10"
33 Eugene Edgerson 6'8"

That team was loaded. Underachieved in the regular season.

 

They were a No. 4 seed and were a popular upset pick in the first round.

 

Forever known for underperforming when faced with great expectations, and overperforming when written off. Not 100%,
all the time, but close.

 

In other words, the Barry Alvarez of college basketball.

 

Most-specifically, heading into the NCAA's . . . he was always happy to win by 35 when laying 28, for the sake of the alums, but in the big picture . . .

 

Alvarez wishes.

 

One guy reached the mountaintop more than once . . . and it was Stan Laurel, not Oliver Hardy.

 

And that's why I still can't believe they won it all in '97. If I recall correctly, they were getting blown out early in that game (South Alabama? South Florida? south something) and needed a second-half comeback to even get to the second round.

As Ben Hecht notes, the Wildcats always found a way to get the least out of their talent. so when they actually won it all--and did it by beating three no. 1s--it was quite the shock.

 

I'm going to amend my previous entry, Armchair.  O'Connor's teams won the regular season title in '55 and '56.  Ralph Miller's "Six-Pack" took it '68 and '70.  Miller left during the Evashevski-Nagel feud in 1970.  Evy didn't give a shit about the basketball team, and Miller in particular.  Miller got pissed and when the Oregon State gig opened up, he took off.  Lute won the B-10 in 1979.  That's the last regular season title Iowa has won. 

That was in large part to the increasing fandom of the program and it was getting to Lute's late wife, Bobbi.  Bobbi felt uncomfortable living in "a fishbowl" because Lute and the Hawks were the only game in town and in the state that everyone followed.  Everyone followed their every move in Iowa City.  That would have been lessened had Lute stayed when Hayden and the football team started the long successful runs. 

When news of Olson interviewing for the Arizona job got out, the entire state was going apeshit and reporters hovering around Carver-Hawkeye around the clock, Bobbi said "enough", and Lute agreed.  She couldn't handle the hoopla, which is understandable for a coach's wife, but Lute's relationship with the Iowa beat writers was prickly and hostile at times.  He wanted to be treated with kid gloves.  He wasn't going to get that treatment in Iowa. 

Lute was an asshole, more of a prickly SOB, towards the Iowa media during his days.  He usually took with the Des Moines Register with Ron Maly, Buck Turnbull, and the Iowa beat guys, because they were not afraid to go after him with tough questions. 

Outside of the Final Four team and his push to get Carver-Hawkeye built to replace old Iowa Fieldhouse, Olson will forever be remembered during his days at Iowa with his spat with official Jim Bain. 

 

U of A was always a crapshot in the NCAAs; they would either get slapped in the first round by a Richmond or an Evansville, or they would make the finals. There seemed to be no middle ground.

I remember a freshman at Santa Cruz or UCSB or something like that just abusing the Wildcats in the first round of the tourney. I wonder if that point guard did anything after college?

 

They really should let the Banana Slugs into the Big Dance. And The Evergreen State College Geoducks, too. Actually, those schools would be the Duke and UCLA of bong hits, should that ever be sanctioned by the NCAA.