"Tell them … tell the team to bear down"

Or is it? You make the call

By Javier Morales

Khalid Reeves

Those of us who are old enough to remember believe a couple of pre-Lute Olson players deserve mention as the best UA backcourt in school history.

That would not be Russell Brown and Joe Nehls in the 1978-79 season, although that tandem was impressive. The best for the old-timers: Eric Money and Coniel Norman in 1972-74. If anything, Money and Norman were the best scoring backcourt in UA history. Norman is also listed as a forward by Arizona, so he and Money were not always playing together as guards.

Khalid Reeves and Damon Stoudamire were arguably the most productive together, including in the win column. The combination of Nic Wise and Lamont “MoMo” Jones is not as potent — because Jones is only a freshman — but it is similar to the makeup of the Reeves-Stoudamire pairing.

Those two guards were interchangeable. Reeves could also handle the point and Stoudamire was effective as the off-guard nailing threes.

On the jump are my rankings for the top backcourt combinations in UA history.

THE TOP 10 BACKCOURTS IN UA HISTORY:

1. Khalid Reeves-Damon Stoudamire (1993-94): Reeves ranks No. 1 in school history with 848 points and Stoudamire No. 9 (639 points) that season. They were significant reasons why the Wildcats earned their second trip to the Final Four. Both were consistent from Day One. They were the UA’s lone All-Pac-10 players that season.
2. Miles Simon-Mike Bibby (1996-97): An erratic Simon that season became consistently strong during the NCAA tournament while Bibby was cool all along. Simon was the Final Four Most Outstanding Player while Bibby was on the All-Final Four team.
3. Jason Gardner-Gilbert Arenas (2000-01): Another Final Four combo, Gardner was the rock while Arenas was the silky-smooth scorer on the perimeter.
4. Eric Money-Coniel Norman (1973-74): The duo often played in the same backcourt and they fed off each other perhaps more than any other combination. They were two-time All-WAC selections.
5. Jason Gardner-Salim Stoudamire (2001-02): Gardner averaged a career-high 20.9 points that season and Salim Stoudamire was the Pac-10′s Freshman of the Year.
6. Russell Brown-Joe Nehls (1978-79): Brown tallied 247 assists that year — a school record — and Nehls averaged 19.1 points per game. This team also had Larry Demic. How did this team win only 16 games?
7. Steve Kerr-Craig McMillan (1987-88): The last of the Final Four tandems, Kerr is the UA’s highest-percentage shooter from three-piont range while McMillan was a solid defender and good in the clutch.
8. Jim Rappis-Herman Harris (1975-76): This duo came a game away from reaching the Final Four. Rappis played intelligently — he was on the WAC’s All-Academic team that season — and Harris was unconscious from the perimeter. He was ninth-best scorer in UA history before Lute Olson‘s recruits came around. Now he’s ranked No. 31.
9. Matt Muehlebach-Matt Othick (1990-91): The Matts were not flashy but they were solid. Muehlebach was the senior leader that season for a team that went to the Sweet 16. Othick understood his role as well as any point guard in the Olson era.
10. Mustafa Shakur-Salim Stoudamire (2004-05): Another duo that came one win away from the Final Four. Stoudamire was a clutch player, hitting a buzzer-beater against Oklahoma State and nailing a three-pointer late against UCLA. Shakur was still a young player as a sophomore with a whole lot of promise.

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Tags: Coniel Norman, Damon Stoudamire, Eric Money, Khalid Reeves, UA basketball countdown 2009, UA's best backcourt

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