Since there is so much talk about Pastner and his role on that Arizona championship team that won the national championship I decided to take a look at that team's roster. After looking at it, is it possible Pastner has a huge obsession to recreate that? Talent between our guards and AZ is no comparison IMO.

1997 Arizona Roster

Starters
F Bennett Davidson 6-8 (Shaq)
F A.J. Bramlett 6-11 (Nichols)
G Michael Dickerson 6-5 (Johnson)
G Miles Simon 6-5 (Crawford)
G Mike Bibby 6-1 (Jackson)

Key Reserve:
G Jason Terry 6-1 (Dixon)

Strange coincidence or what?

I doubt it.

Dickerson shot heckuva of alot better than Geron is shooting right now.... :)

I think you make a great point.

(02-02-2014 03:59 PM)Brother Bluto Wrote:  I think you make a great point.

Do you think the next step is to dye his hair white?

that AZ team also had a record of 19-9 heading into the NCAA tournament with a regular season record of 5-4 against AP top 25 teams at the time they played. Very guard dominant roster.

So far this year our record is 16-5 and 2-2 against ranked teams at the time we played them. Very guard dominated roster.

While I doubt AZ had the struggles we seem to be having if you just look at the progression points through a season we are on a comparable track. Not saying we'll duplicate what they did but just highlighting as bad as we look at times doesn't mean it couldn't turn around at the right time.

I'm sure the thought has crossed his mind before. Of course, none of our players are nearly as good as Bibby, Simon, Dickerson, or Terry in college.

I agree with you jgardne on the better group of guards.

Over the summer when there was chatter about DeAndre Kane considering Memphis before he jumped to Iowa State; looking at this roster now and what it might need its unfortunate we didn't get Kane. It would have probably come at the expense of getting Dixon but as good as Kane is we would probably be better on both ends of the court.

CJP .....speechless right now....fizzling out...

I think Villanova's 3-gaurd "small ball" thing a couple years ago influenced Josh.

Miles Simon was a monster on that team...

We have no one who can make the type of plays Simon did.

pastner is lute olson light. that's not a compliment. lute olson was a notorious underachiever.

(02-02-2014 08:50 PM)macgar32 Wrote:  Miles Simon was a monster on that team...

We have no one who can make the type of plays Simon did.

We also do not have two legitimate high level pros like Mike Bibby and Jason Terry.

this woman put her butt on my car today, people just dont think before they do things anymore, do they. like start dumb threads.

Gosh I wish I were a right door handle.

(02-02-2014 04:01 PM)3601 Wrote:  

(02-02-2014 03:59 PM)Brother Bluto Wrote:  I think you make a great point.

Do you think the next step is to dye his hair white?

I believe in giving the coach credit where it's due. Obviously, he could out jump those other walk-ons.

One thing I would like to have similar to Arizona's program is that they went to the NCAA's for like 20 years in a row.

(02-02-2014 09:57 PM)tiger-viper Wrote:  pastner is lute olson light. that's not a compliment. lute olson was a notorious underachiever.

Tough crowd. Olson did have a couple of Arizona teams get upset early in the NCAA tourney (I remember Santa Clara one year), but his overall career was very impressive.

Went 24-2 in his one year at Long Beach State.

Went 168-90 at Iowa, including a Sweet Sixteen and a Final Four.

Was at Arizona 24 years. Missed the NCAA tourney his first year, but then took them to 23 straight NCAA tourneys.

Won 11 Pac 10 titles.

Four Sweet Sixteens, Three Elite Eights, a Final Four and an NCAA Championship at Arizona.

Before Olson arrived in Tucson, the Wildcats had been to 3 NCAA tournaments (1951, 1976, 1977) in their history.

He basicially built the Arizona BB program from very little and turned them into a top 10 program. Similar to what Cal did at UMass, Calhoun did at UConn, and Boeheim did at Syracuse.

(02-02-2014 04:49 PM)GAmogul Wrote:  I agree with you jgardne on the better group of guards.

Over the summer when there was chatter about DeAndre Kane considering Memphis before he jumped to Iowa State; looking at this roster now and what it might need its unfortunate we didn't get Kane. It would have probably come at the expense of getting Dixon but as good as Kane is we would probably be better on both ends of the court.

A good number of guards that Josh pursued are shining brightly at other colleges. Jordan Adams, D'Vauntes Smith-Rivera, Tyler Ennis as well Kane are examples. Does anyone think that they would have done the same thing here?

(02-03-2014 12:32 PM)3601 Wrote:  

(02-02-2014 09:57 PM)tiger-viper Wrote:  pastner is lute olson light. that's not a compliment. lute olson was a notorious underachiever.

Tough crowd. Olson did have a couple of Arizona teams get upset early in the NCAA tourney (I remember Santa Clara one year), but his overall career was very impressive.

Went 24-2 in his one year at Long Beach State.

Went 168-90 at Iowa, including a Sweet Sixteen and a Final Four.

Was at Arizona 24 years. Missed the NCAA tourney his first year, but then took them to 23 straight NCAA tourneys.

Won 11 Pac 10 titles.

Four Sweet Sixteens, Three Elite Eights, a Final Four and an NCAA Championship at Arizona.

Before Olson arrived in Tucson, the Wildcats had been to 3 NCAA tournaments (1951, 1976, 1977) in their history.

He basicially built the Arizona BB program from very little and turned them into a top 10 program. Similar to what Cal did at UMass, Calhoun did at UConn, and Boeheim did at Syracuse.

so 9 out of 23 ncaa tournament appearances he actually delivered some level of success. it's not unrealistic to expect a program like memphis to make the sweet sixteen every year. of course, i'd take 22 round of 32 exits if it was certain we'd get a ncaa championship on the 23rd trip.