Arizona Wildcats 1996-1997 Retro Shorts (Away)

Lute Olson's 1996-1997 Arizona Wildcats team was loaded with 5 future NBA players. The biggest addition to the U of A program was freshman phenom, Mike Bibby. Bibby teamed with Miles Simon to give Arizona the best 1-2 backcourt punch in the nation. Add Jason Terry, Michael Dickerson and AJ Bramlett to the mix and you start to understand why expectations were high in Tucson. A win over #7 UNC to start the season and another win over #3 Utah was a sign of things to come. However, the Wildcats lost their last two regular season games to finish 11-7 in the Pac 10, good for 5th place. Not the kind of momentum Olson wanted heading into the NCAA Tournament. Arizona was given the #4 seed in the Southeast Region where they took care of South Alabama before pulling out a tough, 73-69 win against College of Charleston to make the Sweet 16. Waiting for them was the #1 overall seed Kansas Jayhawks and their star Paul Pierce. While U of A had no answers for "The Truth", Kansas had no answer f