The past few years have been a rough ride for Arizona men's basketball fans. From the lackluster last few years of the Lute Olson era, to the disastrous scream-and-fuss Kevin O'Neal era, to the overmatched-but-has-a-heart Russ Pennell era, Arizona had become a program of reputation and some talent, but nowhere near the dominance of old.
And things didn't look like they were going to get much better this offseason. Not only did the program have virtually no recruits, they suffered the defections of Chase Budinger and Jordan Hill to the NBA. And when the coaching search went from no-way-in hell candidates Rick Pitino and John Calipari to actually getting turned down by (gulp) Tim Floyd, the future looked pretty dark.
But as the cliché goes, sometimes it's the darkest right before the dawn.
In an all-time blessing in disguise, the failed courtship of Floyd turned into the hiring of Sean Miller from Xavier, a far better candidate to re-establish the Wildcats as a power in the Pac-10 and around the country (as opposed to the corrupt one-and-done farm USC was under Floyd).
And Miller immediately began fixing the gaps on the Wildcats' roster.
In came former Xavier recruit Kyryl Natyazhko, a 6-10, 250 lb. center ranked as the 39th-best prospect by Scouts, Inc.
In came 6-6 forward Solomon Hill, the 54th-ranked prospect in the class of 2009 who had originally committed to the Wildcats, then decided to head to USC, then decided to hit Arizona after all.
In came 6-8 forward Derrick Williams, ranked 72nd, and Kevin Parrom, 86th, and Lamont "Momo" Jones, who averaged 21.3 points and 8 assists per game as a senior in leading Oak Hill Academy to a 41-1 record and a No. 2 overall ranking in the final USA Today prep top 25 poll.
Add to that a senior point guard in Nic Wise, a second-team All-Pac-10 selection as a junior and on the preseason Wooden Award top 50 list as a senior, and you have a chance.
And if the Wildcats' first two games are any indication, it looks like Miller, Wise, and the young Wildcats have every intention of taking advantage of their opportunity is a rebuilding Pac-10.
In beating Northern Arizona and Rice to open the season 2-0, the Wildcats have showed what you might expect of a team with a load of young talent — flashes of excellence with some bad habits like too often settling for jump shots and lapses on defense when presented with a double-digit lead.
Arizona has also been cold from three-point range (where have you gone Zane Johnson?), and have turned the ball over too much, especially with Wise and junior Jamelle Horne combining to average 9 per game.
But still, to understand how much seemingly meaningless wins over Northern Arizona and Rice actually mean, you have to go back to how things looked nine months ago. The program was headed for total destruction, one of those Indiana-type meltdowns where even teams like Oregon State can laugh at you.
Now not only can Arizona look to continue their consecutive NCAA tournament streaks at 26 (one shy of North Carolina's all-time record), but Arizona fans can actually dare to think about seeding and making a run.
Will it happen? Perhaps, perhaps not. But there's hope, for this season and for the future. And for all those Wildcats fans who wondered how the hell the program would get along without Olson, hope is a wonderful thing.
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