What was it about the 1997 Arizona team that left them the last men left standing? How is it possible that no other Pac-12 team has won it all since the Wildcats did 25 years ago?
Jon Gold Special to the Arizona Daily Star Editor’s note: Today marks the 25th anniversary of Arizona’s 1997 national championship win over Kentucky in men’s basketball.Whenever the members of the 1997 Arizona national title team get together with their non-title-winning Wildcat brethren, they can’t help a little ribbing.
“Coach Olson had some incredible teams — better than our 1997 team — and they didn’t win it,” said Josh Pastner, a freshman walk-on on the 1997 team. “The 2001 team was really good. His ’88 team. And Sean Miller had some incredible teams who were on the brink. But the point is, it’s very, very, very hard. It’s so hard to win a national championship. One off game abruptly ends your season.
“I suppose Arizona and Gonzaga would’ve preferred playing teams less physical this year,” longtime UA assistant coach Jim Rosborough said. “The committee who seeds these teams, if you sat down and looked at it, was Gonzaga the best team in the country? All that seeding stuff is really funny — it’s kind of the luck of the draw. Committee does as good a job as they can, but sometimes it’s inaccurate.
AttitudeThere’s a thin line between confidence and cockiness, and Arizona walked that tight rope like a Flying Wallenda brother.“We just had this confidence, no one was talking about us, but we’re just as good,” Edgerson said. “We thought it was East Coast bias. They weren’t paying attention to the caliber of players we had. We lost a couple games at the end of the Pac-12 season, but we always felt we were a good team, we just hadn’t played well.
“They liked each other,” Rosborough said. “They absolutely loved each other. These guys started to understand what was at stake and they started enjoying each other more.” “It’s easier to be an underdog — you can get into people’s heads,” Stewart said. “The No. 1 seed has all the pressure; the five has no pressure.”“That first-round matchup is the toughest,” Terry said. “You don’t have time to prepare for the height of the moment, the expectations — it all comes into your mind. You’re playing really tight. Shots you would normally hit aren’t going in. Guys you’d lock up, they’re making shots. That time of adversity, all the doubt creeps in.
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