Mens’ Baskeball PREVIEW vs. Saturday 10:30 a.m.
Tucson, AZ TV: CBS RADIO: 1150 AM
By AJ Cadman
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
TUCSON, Ariz. “”mdash; It was supposed to be a season of so much
more.
Before the regular season began, expectations in Tucson were
rising higher than the desert sun at noon. Five returning starters.
Five potential Wooden Award candidates. Five future first-round
draft picks. And the coach who was to take them to an undefeated
season and a national championship.
But instead the pages of the Arizona Wildcats’ storybook
season started with turmoil and then turned into tragedy.
“They have played an incredible schedule,” UCLA
coach Steve Lavin said. “It’s been an emotional roller
coaster for them as well this season.”
Losses to Mississippi State, Illinois, Connecticut and Stanford
had them reeling to the heels of the Top 25 national rankings. Then
came the loss of coach Lute Olsen’s wife Bobbi to ovarian
cancer.
The Wildcats took care of the Washington schools last week in
the Great Northwest and seemingly have begun a swift
about-face.
But the climax came Thursday with Olsen’s return to the
sidelines.
Taking on a stingy Southern California squad at home on the
newly named Lute and Bobbi Olsen Court at McKale Center, the
Wildcats handed USC a 71-58 loss.
With one game under its belt, Arizona has a newfound sense of
hope in recovering its lost season of glory. But UCLA will stroll
in with a six-game winning streak and a one-game lead over Arizona
in the conference standings. As the preseason Pac-10 standings
dubbed the Wildcats as the runaway favorite and the Bruins in the
conference’s second tier, Saturday’s match-up is one of
two teams that have thrown preconceived notions out the door.
“If you can’t get up for a game like Arizona, then
stay home,” UCLA senior guard Ryan Bailey said. “We are
going to go in there and play our hearts out and hopefully we can
come out with a “˜W.'”
No one game presents a greater concern for UCLA than another.
But UCLA’s highest priority is the success of its full court
press against an Arizona team with a frontline capable of causing
problems in their half-court offense. The Wildcats also have a
point guard that is more than up to the task of breaking through
the Bruin blitz.
Arizona’s Jason Gardner may be the X-factor in the
showdown with the No. 17 Wildcats. Averaging 12.5 points and 4.2
assists per game, his multiple gears in handling the basketball
coupled with his high three-point efficiency may be the difference
between UCLA keeping pace with No. 1 Stanford atop the Pac-10.
“Any of their five players can put the ball on the
floor,” Lavin said of the ability of Arizona’s starting
five to break through the Bruin press. “We have to be careful
and pick our moments to be conservative and shade and then keep
them offbalance and trap to force turnovers.
“Gardner is just as much of a concern as (Brandon)
Granville of USC was last week.”
With Bruin seniors Earl Watson and Jason Flowers taking turns
against Gardner and backcourt mate Gilbert Arenas, experience may
decide whether Arizona can break the Bruin press and get easy
fastbreak opportunities. But Watson’s bruised hip raises a
question of doubt to his availability for Saturday’s
game.
“I told him if we have to, we might have to wheel him out
in a wheelchair so we can keep the consecutive start record
going,” Lavin said. “We can call a quick twenty (second
timeout) and pull him out.”
In the frontcourt, juniors Dan Gadzuric and Matt Barnes and
sophomore Jason Kapono must keep Arizona’s Loren Woods,
Michael Wright and Richard Jefferson off the glass to avoid second
chances at the basket.
“It’s going to be big,” Gadzuric said of his
upcoming matchup in the paint with Loren Woods. “I am going
to be ready. He’s going to be ready. It’s going to be a
good game.”
With Kapono, the Conference Player of the Week, shooting well
lately and helping on the boards, the Bruins’ nine-deep bench
may also play a role in their effectiveness on defense against a
disciplined team that is just as deep. T.J. Cummings, Ray Young and
Ryan Bailey will need to continue the impressive play they’ve
displayed during UCLA’s recent surge in order to combat the
rough Arizona reserve trio of Eugene Edgerson, Luke Walton and
Justin Wessel.
With their perfect conference start hanging in the balance, UCLA
still understands who they are playing Saturday before a national
audience.
“Stanford is a good basketball team and is playing well
right now,” Lavin said of the conference race. “But
Arizona is a good basketball team and they can still win
league.”