"Tell them … tell the team to bear down"

The classic Bank One commercials from the 1990s featuring Arizona basketball coach Lute Olson and Arizona State coach Bill Frieder have finally shown up on the internet.

This video was played at Olson’s retirement ceremony at McKale Center on Aug. 8. Frieder, who was the Sun Devils head coach from 1989 to 1997, spoke at the event, and this is part of what he had to say:

“They were absolutely legendary. The No. 1 reason that I remember the TV commercials started was to try to improve the relationships between the schools. That’s how it began.

“I was appalled when I got to ASU to hear about the Steve Kerr incident and the things the ASU fans said and did. Didn’t want to be part of something like that so we started the commercials.

“In college sports, in fact really in all sports, you have friendships and you have rivalries. But rarely do the two overlap. That’s really unheard of because rivalries are so intense that they tend to lead to bad blood. But in our situation we did both, and it became a special, special situation.

“We showed the basketball world, the athletic world, that you can go out and compete … but when it’s over you can be civil.”

The disheveled Frieder, never afraid to be the butt of the jokes, was the perfect comic counterpoint to the stately Olson. He told the Tucson Citizen last October: “It’s amazing. I can’t tell you the number of people who come up to me and talk to me about the commercials even now.”

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By Javier Morales

Here is a sample of what occurred today at McKale Center for the Lute Olson retirement ceremony, which drew approximately 6,500 fans. Many of you were unable to attend, especially those out of town, and the event was not televised. Hopefully these audio bytes can fill your appetite for what was said today.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN: Lute Olson speech in front of McKale crowd “I didn’t know how many people would show up on Aug. 8, but this is mind-boggling in terms of the number of you who have showed up to be involved with this. I am speaking on behalf of my family, I can’t say how much I appreciate this. … Sean (Miller), it was really nice of you, you had an opportunity to talk to the guys and have an opportunity to meet them. I have personally had a philosophy that has worked very well for me and that is that good people have a way of finding a way to be successful. Bad people will find a way to mess things up. In recruiting people, that’s really the philosophy I follow. … I have known Sean for a long time. I watched him as a player, and I watched him as an assistant coach. Jim (Livengood) has come up with a real winner. You are going to be very, very happy with Sean.”

OLSON RETIREMENT SLIDESHOW

AUDIO SEGMENTS FROM SPEECHES AND PRESS CONFERENCES

(Click on link to listen):

UA athletic director Jim Livengood’s opening speech “Coach, thanks for being a great role model for the young and old … thanks for making sure that we never thought ‘Average.’ .. that we simply wouldn’t accept being average. You embodied that everyday. In so many ways, Lute Olson is exactly what being a Wildcat is all about. Exactly.”

Tucson mayor Bob Walkup “In 1983, Coach, when you joined the University of Arizona, the sales tax revenue in the city was $53 million. It’s not so bad. … 2007, (it was) $213 million.”

Arizona coach Sean Miller “Coach, I want to know how did it feel to drive home from McKale Center for about four-years time and never lose? … What really struck me (about meeting the ex-players), is not only the immense talent … but the character of the people and the togetherness that they shared coming from different eras under Coach Olson.”

Former UA center Pete Williams (part of Olson’s first team) “My rookie year with the Denver Nuggets we had just broke training camp and about to start preseason. We had an open practice scrimmage for the public in McNichols Arena. This particular day I had a great practice, a great scrimmage. I felt pretty good about myself. I am sitting there surrounded by kids, signing autographs, and my head’s down. All of a sudden, I hear a voice that says, ‘Can I be next?’ I looked up and standing there with a big, ‘ol grin on his face was Coach Olson. I had no idea he was there. I was so thankful that he was … He took me out for dinner. It was an evening I will never forget.”

Former UA guard Harvey Mason “You never know what you are going to get in a coach. … you never know. I got extremely lucky. I got extremely lucky to get Coach Olson. All the guys sitting here on the floor were very lucky to get Coach Olson. We all had different experiences. … Some of us had various smooth-sailing careers, some had controversial careers … Some guys got to shoot a lot more than others — Sean (Elliott) and Steve (Kerr). (laughter) … We all learned something from Coach Olson. … things that will help us to grow up to be men, businessmen, husbands, fathers and that’s what we got from Coach Olson, those important life lessons.”

Former UA All-American forward Sean Elliott “How about, ‘Judas Priest?’ You guys (ex-players) have heard that word. That was like the worst word Coach ever said in his life. We hear coach mumble that under his breath. … ‘Juuuudas Prieeeest, cut off the baseline.’ … My first two years in college, I thought Judas Priest was my first name. … Bobbi Olson, when you talk about influential people in my life, I have to put my mother and Bobbi Olson on the same pedestal. You guys know about (Bobbi’s) apple pancakes. I think those were an NCAA violation. They were as good as cash. … Those apple pancakes, I’m telling you, they were crazy. They were something you would have to taste to believe. They were that good. … One thing that Coach has given us are these enduring relationships. … Pete Williams … I never played with Pete. I have never been on the court with him. But every time I see Pete Williams it’s like we played four years together.”

Former ASU basketball coach Bill Frieder “The No. 1 reason that I remember the TV commercials started (with Frieder and Olson) was to try to improve the relationships between the schools. That’s how it began. I was appalled when I got to ASU to hear about the Steve Kerr incident and the things the ASU fans said to him. … we didn’t want to be part of something like that so we started to put the commercials out. … In college sports, in fact really in all sports, you have friendships and you have rivalries. But rarely do the two overlap. That’s really unheard of because rivalries are so intense that they tend to lead to bad blood. But in our situation we did both and it became a special, special situation.”

Former UA forward Andre Iguodala “Coach O never cursed or anything like that. I’m kind of creative. I thought that I might spark something in my brain because he never curses. So one day in practice Coach Olson was being himself, you know, ‘Don’t let your guy go baseline. Don’t let your guy go to the middle. Don’t drive baseline. See man-ball. No spinning, that was the big thing, no spinning. Only Luke (Walton) could spin because he was the golden child. … Coach Olson was getting on me as usual. He’s getting on me about everything. So I was complaining all the time saying, ‘Call a foul, call a foul, call a foul.’ Finally, he was fed up about it and he says … he doesn’t say what I’m about to say … he says, ‘Andre, stop female-dog, female-dog, female-dog.’ After he said that, I got a tingling sensation in my body. I’m like, ‘I’m the first guy to make Coach O curse.’”

POST EVENT PRESS CONFERENCES

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN: Lute Olson answers Iguodala’s claim that he got him to curse and comments about taking part in Iowa’s 30th anniversary celebration of the 1980 Final Four team.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN: Luke Walton, Andre Iguodala and Richard Jefferson answer questions from the media. Walton talks about getting his NBA ring, being around his Wildcat brethren and jokingly feeling hated by Coach Olson when he was a freshman. Jefferson talks about this not being the end of the Olson Era, and the 2001 Final Four season. Iguodala talks about Sean Miller reflecting on his brother playing against Xavier in college and about his comments about Olson during his McKale speech.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN: Kerr talks about Sean Elliott being the best player to put on an Arizona uniform, his beginning with Lute Olson, the impact of Olson on his life, and the looseness of the first Final Four team around Olson because they were “kind of rejects and guys who were picked up off the scrap heap and we kind of built it together.”

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By Javier Morales

So many memories I can take from that night I sat courtside at the RCA Dome and watched Arizona win a national title, the one and only time that might happen in my life.

I wasn’t on hand when Jerry Kindall’s baseball teams won the College World Series, or the many times Mike Candrea has led the Cats’ softball team to a national title. We might never know what it feels like to follow a national championship football team.

However, as I get older, I can tell my daughter, Mackenzie, I was there when Mike Bibby was cool under pressure, Miles Simon showed what it takes to be a leader and how the lesser-knowns such as Donnell Harris and Eugene Edgerson emerged when Lute Olson needed them the most.

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By Javier Morales

The adage that point guards win championships was always trite in my opinion because I reasoned: Would UCLA have won all those championships were it not for post players Lew Alcindor or Bill Walton?

However, when you narrow it to Arizona’s Final Four appearances in 1988 and 1994, before its magical run in 1997, you could argue that the point-guard position indeed impacted the Wildcats’ success like no other position.

Steve Kerr played 40 minutes and made only 2 of 13 field-goal attempts in the UA’s 86-78 loss to Oklahoma in the 1988 Final Four. Damon Stoudamire was more horrendous from the field, making only 5 of 24 attempts, in the UA’s 1994 Final Four loss to Arkansas 91-82. That’s a combined 7 of 37 from the field for Kerr and Stoudamire (a woeful 18.9 percent). Kerr was a fifth-year senior and Stoudamire was a junior who played 93 games in his career at that point.

Arizona and coach Lute Olson’s first potential national title game appearance hinged on the play of a freshman point guard in Mike Bibby in 1997 against North Carolina.

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CAREER LEADERS UNDER OLSON Scoring: Sean Elliott, 2,555 points, 1985-89 Rebounding: Channing Frye, 975, 2001-05 Assists: Mustafa Shakur, 670, 2003-07 Steals: Jason Terry, 245, 1995-99 Blocked Shots: Anthony Cook, 278, 1985-89

By Javier Morales Your selections in our unscientific polls are complete, and the starting five of the All-Olson team is set. This is just a representation of what one group of Wildcat fans determined who were the best at each positon during the Lute Olson years at Arizona. A poll conducted by somebody else might reveal different selections, but in our forum here, this is who you guys picked (with some background information provided by the UA Sports Information department). Some interesting tidbits first: All but one of the top 10 selections played in the Final Four, but that player made it to the Elite Eight. Only five of the 25 players included in the polls were not on the roster of teams in the Final Four (meaning 80 percent of the following players experienced the Final Four). Who says Arizona does not have talent? Three of the All-Olson first-teamers hail from the Grand Canyon State. Enjoy the selections, your selections:

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“Before overtime started, Coach Olson told us in the huddle, ‘Who’s going to be the toughest team out there? Who’s going to lay it on the line?’” — Jason Terry

By Javier Morales
wildaboutazcats@gmail.com

Arizona had a bunch of lean kids from the West coast going against a bruising team from the Big East for the right to go to the Final Four. The Wildcats also had to face God (Providence guard God Shammgod, that is) and media darling Pete Gillen in their 96-92 overtime victory over the Friars in the 1997 Southeast Regional final.

Providence was more of an underdog than Arizona as a No. 10 seed. The Friars upset No. 2 seed Duke in the second round and beat 14th-seeded Tennessee-Chattanooga in the Sweet 16. The Wildcats, the fourth seed who upset No. 1 seed Kansas in the Sweet 16, were in the uncustomary role in that tournament as the likely winner.

It was obvious from the start that Gillen told his team to muscle up against the Cats, who did not really have a bruiser on their team except Gene Edgerson off the bench. In fact, Edgerson was whistled for a player-control foul midway through the second half for sticking an elbow into Shammgod. Edgerson and Providence forward Derrick Brown shared some words after the play.

Arizona was not about to back down in the heated game that had four players foul out and three players with four fouls.

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RELATED LINK: THE NBA HAS POSTED A VIDEO OF JASON TERRY, THE PIVOTAL SIXTH MAN ON THE 1997 NATIONAL TITLE TEAM, IN CHINA ON VACATION WITH HIS FAMILY.

By Javier Morales
wildaboutazcats@gmail.com

As the Lute Olson retirement ceremony nears, WILDABOUTAZCATS.com will run excerpts of articles I wrote as the beat reporter for the Arizona Daily Star when the Cats made their historic run to their first NCAA men’s basketball title in 1997.

Our first game is the thrilling Sweet 16 victory, 85-82, over Kansas on March 21, 1997, the Wildcats’ first of three victories over No. 1 seeds en route to the championship. What I remember the most of the game is Kansas throwing up a series of three-point attempts as time expired after the Jayhawks made a nerve-wracking comeback from 13 down with 3:26 remaining.

If Olson were to rank his most significant victories, the win over Kansas has to be near the top, if not the top.

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