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University of Arizona basketball is a source of pride for hundreds of thousands of alumni that have come out of the Tucson, Arizona based school. With over 25,000 students attending the college commonly referred to as U of A or plainly Arizona there is a tremendous following of the University of Arizona basketball schedule with the winter moods of a lot of people being dependent upon how well the current Arizona basketball coach did the night before. Arizona has been playing basketball since the early twentieth century with their firstborn win coming in the basi game the program ever played. A 1904 contest that resulted in a victory over the Morenci YMCA team marked the introductory of what would become numerous wins in the storied tradition known today as Arizona Wildcat basketball. Long before joining the Pacific 10 Conference (Pac-10) in 1878 a lot of of the games for the duration of their basi decade of existence came versus local YMCA competition, a exercise that was astoundingly mutual in that era. In fact, the University of Kentucky which has the current record for most men’s basketball wins likewise started out their tradition with a single win over a Lexington YMCA team in 1903. Coming off the 2008-2009 season the University of Arizona basketball program has a twenty-five year streak of successive appearances in the NCAA Tournament. After getting off to a rocky 12-10 commence for the 2009-2010 season a heap of Wildcat fans are rightfully concerned that their impressive streak may be in jeopardy. During the twenty-five year streak U of A has reached the Sweet Sixteen twelve times, the Elite Eight seven times, the Final Four on four discerned occasions, and has one NCAA National Championship to their credit from the 1997 season. Much of the success enjoyed by the Wildcats over the last twenty-five years may be attributed to esteemed former head coach Lute Olsen. Coach Olsen came from the University of Iowa in 1983 to inherit a University of Arizona basketball program that had just come off of a forgettable 4-24 record which included only one group discussion victory. In just three short seasons Coach Olsen miraculously turned the program around from being in the cellar of the group discussion standings to being an admired institution of national prominence. After winning their primary Pac-10 crown in 1986 the University of Arizona basketball machine would go on to be a Pac-10 power all around the remainder of the century.
Sadly, on October 23, 2008 Coach Lute Olsen declared his retirement with the cause for the unexpected formal publi statement later being explained by his physician as resulting from health concerns. Olsen was 74 years old at the time of his retirement. Assistant coach Russ Pennell took over on an interim basis after the retirement of Olsen. Pennell narrowly made the NCAA Tournament after the 2008-2009 season with a record of 19-13. The debatable selection by the NCAA Tournament committee raised a heap of eyebrows as skeptics considered U of A to be a bubble team at best that was given the gain of making the tournament principally to extend their appearances streak to twenty-five years. Sean Miller took over head coaching duties on a permanent basis following the one year stint of Russ Pennell as interim head coach. It remains to be seen incisively what will occur under the Sean Miller era. Coach Miller knows that he has very huge shoes to fill by replacing legendary Coach Lute Olsen. The one aspect of this circumstance that may be accurately prevised is that University of Arizona basketball fans will proceed to root on their team no matter of who holds the title of head coach. |
