It’s been a feast for Arizona’s leftovers

Arizona basketball, expected to dry up after legendary coach Lute Olson abruptly retired before the start of the season, is 7-2 and coming off a huge upset over No. 4 Gonzaga.

That said, Arizona seems dead set on hiring a marquee name next spring to replace the interim coach, Russ Pennell.

Don’t feel sorry for Pennell, though, because he doesn’t want the job.

Did we mention it’s been a strange year in Tucson?

Pennell actually has a pretty good reason for not wanting to become Olson’s permanent replacement.

“Right now, our recruiting year is pretty much null and void,” Pennell said during Tuesday’s first Pacific 10 Conference coaches’ conference call. “We lost our recruiting class. And now trying to recruit, the first question is, ‘Who’s going to be the next coach?’ I really think this program probably needs a big shot in the arm, with somebody who can bring in some players immediately.”

Pennell is not that guy.

“And I’m afraid that my name might not carry enough weight to do that,” he said. “I’m just very honest about that.”

However, Arizona’s victory against Gonzaga, the Wildcats’ first against a team ranked in the top four since 2001, did serve notice that Arizona State basketball hasn’t completely taken over yet.

Arizona still has good players, guys who thought they were going to play this season for Olson. Center Jordan Hill and forward Chase Budinger, both juniors, have had identically good starts, each scoring 169 points in nine games for a scoring average of 18.8 points.

Hill was named Pac-10 player of the week after averaging 23.5 points, 10 rebounds and 4.5 blocked shots in wins against San Diego State and Gonzaga.

Next season may be tough on Arizona. The Wildcats were lucky Budinger came back this year. But until this group leaves, and the next coach arrives, and the real rebuilding begins, Arizona figures it might as well mix it up in the Pac-10 paint.

Never mind that many had written off Arizona this season.

“That has been my biggest concern,” Pennell said. “I know that we’ve turned the page and ended the chapter on Lute Olson, and a lot of folks are sitting around waiting to find out who the next coach is going to be. And I’ve made it publicly known that I think it’s disrespectful to the players.

“Not me personally. I don’t care about that. But these players that are here deserve the same respect as the guys who have come before them. And we still have some quality players. Certainly a game like Gonzaga kind of brings that back into focus for the fans here.”

Arizona has made 24 straight NCAA tournament appearances.

Here’s a thought: Before the entire program roof caves in, why not make it 25 straight?

Pac pieces

Washington State Coach Tony Bennett said last month his players were stepping all over the line trying to adjust to the new three-point distance.

UCLA Coach Ben Howland thought moving the arc back one foot would be detrimental to the game, having the opposite effect of what the rule change intended: to unclog the lane and open up the game.

How’s it going?

So far, Pac-10 schools have combined to shoot 37.6% from the new distance of 20 feet 9 inches. That’s actually better than the 36.1% the conference shot last season.

Reaction: It’s still early. “It hasn’t had a huge impact on how the game’s played,” Bennett said. . . .

California, picked to finish eighth in the Pac-10 under first-year Coach Mike Montgomery, is 7-2 in nonconference play with quality wins over Nevada Las Vegas and Utah.

Montgomery doesn’t seem that impressed: “We’re not anywhere close to a finished product,” he said.

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chris.dufresne@latimes.com