Depth Plays a Part in Raising Arizona

The Arizona Wildcats weren’t doomed from the start last season, but ominous clouds were on the horizon from the opening tip.

The talented group’s depth and chemistry problems quickly worsened when center Isaiah Fox, a key reserve, suffered a season-ending knee injury in the second game. There was too much to fix even for Hall of Fame Coach Lute Olson, and it showed.

Arizona was still good enough to win 20 games for the 17th season in a row and extend its consecutive NCAA tournament-appearance streak to 20, impressive feats most places but not in Tucson.

The Wildcats lost in the semifinals of the Pacific 10 Conference tournament and in the first round of the NCAA tournament to Seton Hall, capping a frustrating season for everyone involved.

They’re apparently having more fun now.

Arizona routed Arizona State, 97-79, in its Pac-10 opener and is ranked 13th in the Associated Press poll. The return of Fox, and improvement of others, has provided depth that the team lacked last season, leading reporters to select Arizona first in the preseason media poll.

Washington, however, appeared to be the team to beat in nonconference play and won its first two Pac-10 games. Even Olson picked the Huskies, saying reporters’ selection of the Wildcats didn’t make sense to him.

Washington Coach Lorenzo Romar isn’t buying that.

Romar said the Wildcats are loaded, and he expected a fight to the finish.

“How could you not like Arizona?” Romar said. “You have to like them when you see the talent they have.

“There is far too much parity in this conference for me to make any predictions, but if people are going to mention us right now because of our record ... you’ve also got to mention Arizona. How could you not?”

The Wildcats (11-2) have impressed while playing a difficult nonconference schedule and adjusting to life without star forward Andre Iguodala, whom the Philadelphia 76ers selected with the ninth pick in the NBA draft. Although the early departure of Iguodala (he would have been a junior this season) left a hole, the returning Wildcats resolved to do more.

“We all understood when Andre decided to leave, because you also hope you’re going to be in the position to go to the NBA,” senior center Channing Frye said. “So we just decided we all were going to have to step up to accomplish more this year.”

The 6-foot-11 Frye is doing his part, averaging 13.5 points and a team-leading 8.3 rebounds. Although forward Hassan Adams is averaging only 11.5 points after leading the team in scoring at 17.2 last season, his renewed commitment to defense is among the biggest reasons the Wildcats have limited opponents to 65 points after having given up an average of 78.5 points last season.

Fox, 6-9 and 265 pounds, has provided toughness and help for Frye inside, and 6-10 center Ivan Radenovic has contributed, appearing much more comfortable than he did as a freshman.

Guard Chris Rodgers has performed well off the bench, and freshman forward Jawann McClellan has been strong at times playing behind Adams.

The depth has made a difference, Olson said.

“A huge difference,” he said. “We can maintain the defensive intensity for the whole game. If we get in foul trouble we’re not out of guys in the post.

“If someone isn’t doing their job we can sit them down. A year ago if we did that, we had walk-ons in the game.”

Of all the things going well for Arizona, Olson is most pleased about the maturity senior guard Salim Stoudamire has displayed.

Stoudamire has incurred Olson’s wrath throughout his time in Tucson because the streaky shooter pouted if he didn’t play well.

With the window closing on Stoudamire’s college career, Olson made another tough-love decision, locking out the Wildcats’ leading scorer from practice for a week after he had moped while making only one shot Dec. 11 in a 67-62 victory over Utah.

Olson suspended Stoudamire for a 48-43 victory over Marquette on Dec. 18. Instead of following his usual petulant pattern, Stoudamire was upbeat during the game, encouraging his teammates and stirring optimism among the coaching staff.

Stoudamire has been everything Olson could have hoped for since: a senior leader for a team with big goals.

Although Stoudamire is scoring slightly less than he did last season, averaging 14.8 points, he has improved his shooting, making 51.9% of his field-goal attempts and connecting on 56.7% of three-pointers.

“The key thing now is that he’s not the same player he was a year ago,” Olson said. “He’s just so much more in tune with the team and what he can do if he’s not scoring, and how he can help others be effective.

“We told him to just go out, play and have fun.... He’s [averaged] only six shots the last four games, but he’s played extremely well. He’s turned it over two times in those four games total.

“He knows that if he plays all parts of the game, he’s got a chance to play at the next level. He’s a different player. It’s taken a while, [but] he’s finally gotten it.”

And Stoudamire’s turnaround has helped to brighten things for the Wildcats.

Back to Hoops

The Orange Bowl (and the parties) are over, so USC officials plan to refocus their efforts on hiring a basketball coach.

USC and Tim Floyd agreed to postpone contract talks while the football team prepared to play Oklahoma on Tuesday in the bowl championship series national-title game, a source involved in the process said.

Although Daryl Gross, the search point man and a senior associate athletic director, and Floyd’s representative apparently made progress toward completing a deal, an agreement had not been finalized before the Orange Bowl. The sides hope to complete negotiations this week, and Floyd could be introduced early next week.

Of course, USC also thought the hiring of Rick Majerus would go smoothly, and everyone knows how that turned out.