1996–97 Arizona Wildcats men's basketball team

1996–97 Arizona Wildcats men's basketball
1996–97 Arizona Wildcats men's basketball
NCAA tournament National Champions
National Championship Game, ; W 84-79OT vs. Kentucky
Conference	Pacific-10 Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 1
AP	No. 15
Record	25–9 (11–7 Pac-10)
Head coach	Lute Olson (14th season);
Assistant coaches	Jim Rosborough (8th season); Jessie Evans (9th season); Phil Johnson (4th season);
Captain	Michael Dickerson; Miles Simon
Home arena	McKale Center
	Seasons ← 1995–96 1997–98 →

1996–97 Pacific-10 Conference
men's basketball standings
	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
No. 7 UCLA	15	–	3	.833	24	–	8	.750
No. 21 Stanford	12	–	6	.667	22	–	8	.733
California	12	–	6	.667	23	–	9	.719
USC	12	–	6	.667	17	–	11	.607
No. 15 Arizona	11	–	7	.611	25	–	9	.735
Washington	10	–	8	.556	17	–	11	.607
Oregon	8	–	10	.444	17	–	11	.607
Washington State	5	–	13	.278	13	–	17	.433
Oregon State	3	–	15	.167	7	–	20	.259
Arizona State	2	–	16	.111	10	–	20	.333

Rankings from AP Poll^[1]

The 1996–97 Arizona Wildcats men's basketball team represented the University of Arizona. The head coach was Lute Olson. The team played its home games in the McKale Center, and was a member of the Pacific-10 Conference.

After going 11–7 in conference play the team was seeded fourth in the Southeast Region of the 1997 NCAA tournament. They went on to win the national championship, the first in program history, defeating three top-seeded teams in the process.

Roster

1996–97 Arizona Wildcats men's basketball team

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Previous school	Hometown
G	10	Mike Bibby	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)	—	Fr	Shadow Mountain	Phoenix, AZ
G	12	Josh Pastner	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	—	Fr	Kingwood	Kingwood, TX
F	13	Donnell Harris	6 ft 11 in (2.11 m)	—	So	North Salinas	Salinas, CA
G	15	John Ash	5 ft 11 in (1.8 m)	—	Fr	Salpointe	Tucson, AZ
F	21	Bennett Davison	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)	—	Jr	Analy West Valley JC	Sebastopol, CA
F	23	Michael Dickerson (C)	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	—	Jr	Federal Way	Seattle, WA
G	24	Quynn Tebbs	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)	—	Fr	Bingham	Salt Lake City, UT
F	30	Justin Wessel	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)	—	Fr	Prairie	Iowa City, IA
G	31	Jason Terry	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	—	So	Franklin	Seattle, WA
F	33	Eugene Edgerson	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	—	Fr	St. Augustine	New Orleans, LA
G	34	Miles Simon (C)	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	—	Jr	Mater Dei	Fullerton, CA
G	40	Jason Lee (W)	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	—	Sr	Allegheny/Irvine	Irvine, CA
F	42	A. J. Bramlett	6 ft 11 in (2.11 m)	—	So	La Cueva	Albuquerque, NM
G	52	Jason Steward	5 ft 11 in (1.8 m)	—	So	Gardena	Gardena, CA

Head coach

Lute Olson (Augsburg)

Assistant coach(es)

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible
(W) Walk-on

Injured
Current redshirt

Schedule

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Regular season
Nov. 22, 1996*	No. 19	vs. No. 7 North Carolina Hall of Fame Tip-Off Classic	W 83–72	1–0	Springfield Civic Center Springfield, MA
Nov. 26, 1996*	No. 11	Northern Arizona	W 88–70	2–0	McKale Center Tucson, AZ
Nov. 30, 1996*	No. 11	at No. 19 New Mexico	L 77–84	2–1	The Pit Albuquerque, NM
Dec. 7, 1996*	No. 15	vs. No. 3 Utah John Wooden Classic	W 69–61	3–1	Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim Anaheim, CA
Dec. 9, 1996*	No. 15	No. 18 Texas	W 83–78	4–1	McKale Center Tucson, AZ
Dec. 14, 1996*	No. 8	Jackson State	W 111–83	5–1	McKale Center Tucson, AZ
Dec. 21, 1996*	No. 6	at No. 4 Michigan	L 71–73 ^OT	5–2	The Palace of Auburn Hills Auburn Hills, MI
Dec. 28, 1996*	No. 9	Robert Morris Bank One Fiesta Bowl Classic	W 118–54	6–2	McKale Center Tucson, AZ
Dec. 30, 1996*	No. 9	Penn Bank One Fiesta Bowl Classic	W 93–51	7–2	McKale Center Tucson, AZ
Jan. 2, 1997	No. 9	California	W 81–80	8–2 (1–0)	McKale Center Tucson, AZ
Jan. 4, 1997	No. 9	No. 21 Stanford	W 76–75	9–2 (2–0)	McKale Center Tucson, AZ
Jan. 11, 1997	No. 7	at Arizona State Rivalry	W 92–84	10–2 (3–0)	Wells Fargo Arena Tempe, AZ
Jan. 16, 1997	No. 6	at USC	L 62–75	10–3 (3–1)	Los Angeles Sports Arena Los Angeles, CA
Jan. 18, 1997	No. 6	at UCLA Rivalry	L 78–84 ^OT	10–4 (3–2)	Pauley Pavilion Los Angeles, CA
Jan. 23, 1997	No. 11	Oregon State	W 99–48	11–4 (4–2)	McKale Center Tucson, AZ
Jan. 25, 1997	No. 11	Oregon	W 88–68	12–4 (5–2)	McKale Center Tucson, AZ
Jan. 30, 1997	No. 10	at Washington State	W 87–78	13–4 (6–2)	Beasley Coliseum Pullman, WA
Feb. 2, 1997	No. 10	at Washington	L 88–92	13–5 (6–3)	Hec Edmundson Pavilion Seattle, WA
Feb. 5, 1997	No. 14	Arizona State Rivalry	W 87–71	14–5 (7–3)	McKale Center Tucson, AZ
Feb. 9, 1997*	No. 14	vs. No. 21 Tulane 7-Up Shootout	W 81–62	15–5	Veterans Memorial Coliseum Phoenix, AZ
Feb. 13, 1997	No. 11	No. 24 UCLA Rivalry	L 64–66	15–6 (7–4)	McKale Center Tucson, AZ
Feb. 15, 1997	No. 11	USC	W 101–77	16–6 (8–4)	McKale Center Tucson, AZ
Feb. 20, 1997	No. 13	at Oregon	L 72–78	16–7 (8–5)	McArthur Court Eugene, OR
Feb. 22, 1997	No. 13	at Oregon State	W 74–64	17–7 (9–5)	Gill Coliseum Corvallis, OR
Feb. 27, 1997	No. 15	Washington State	W 100–86	18–7 (10–5)	McKale Center Tucson, AZ
Mar. 2, 1997	No. 15	Washington	W 103–82	19–7 (11–5)	McKale Center Tucson, AZ
Mar. 6, 1997	No. 12	at No. 23 Stanford	L 80–81	19–8 (11–6)	Maples Pavilion Stanford, CA
Mar. 8, 1997	No. 12	at California	L 77–79	19–9 (11–7)	Cow Palace^[a] Daly City, CA
NCAA tournament
Mar. 13, 1997*	(4 SE) No. 15	vs. (13 SE) South Alabama First round	W 65–57^[3]	20–9	Pyramid Arena Memphis, TN
Mar. 15, 1997*	(4 SE) No. 15	vs. (12 SE) No. 16 College of Charleston Second round	W 73–69^[4]	21–9	Pyramid Arena Memphis, TN
Mar. 21, 1997*	(4 SE) No. 15	vs. (1 SE) No. 1 Kansas Sweet Sixteen	W 85–82	22–9	BJCC Arena Birmingham, AL
Mar. 23, 1997*	(4 SE) No. 15	vs. (10 SE) Providence Elite Eight	W 96–92 ^{OT^[5]}	23–9	BJCC Arena Birmingham, AL
Mar. 29, 1997*	(4 SE) No. 15	vs. (1 E) No. 4 North Carolina Final Four	W 66–58^[6]	24–9	RCA Dome Indianapolis, IN
Mar. 31, 1997*	(4 SE) No. 15	vs. (1 W) No. 5 Kentucky National Championship	W 84–79 ^OT	25–9	RCA Dome Indianapolis, IN
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. SE=Southeast.

^[7] ^[8]

Rankings

Awards and honors

NCAA Tournament, Champions

Team players drafted into the NBA

Year	Round	Pick	Player	NBA Club
1998	1	2	Mike Bibby	Vancouver Grizzlies
1998	1	14	Michael Dickerson	Houston Rockets
1998	2	42	Miles Simon	Orlando Magic
1999	1	10	Jason Terry	Atlanta Hawks
1999	2	39	A. J. Bramlett	Cleveland Cavaliers

Notes

^ Game played near San Francisco at the Cow Palace, since Cal's Harmon Gym (soon to be renamed Haas Pavilion) was beginning renovation.^[2]

References

^ "Pacific 10 conference 1996–97 standings". Retrieved November 21, 2007.
^ "No. 12 Arizona Falls to Cal". Los Angeles Times. March 9, 1997. Retrieved January 26, 2021.
^ "Arizona Tops S. Alabama 65-57". The Washington Post. March 14, 1997. Retrieved February 12, 2022.
^ "Arizona Ends Charleston's Dream". The Los Angeles Times. March 16, 1997. Retrieved June 11, 2021.
^ "1 + 1 + 1 + Arizona = Final 4". The Los Angeles Times. March 24, 1997. Retrieved June 6, 2021.
^ "Bibby Makes 6 Three-Pointers as Arizona Gains First Final". The Washington Post. March 30, 1997. p. D1. Retrieved March 15, 2019.
^ "2019-20 Arizona Wildcats Men's Basketball Media Guide" (PDF). University of Arizona Athletics. Retrieved April 25, 2020.
^ "1996-97 Arizona Wildcats Schedule and Results". Sports Reference. Retrieved April 26, 2020.

[3] Game played near San Francisco at the Cow Palace, since Cal's Harmon Gym (soon to be renamed Haas Pavilion) was beginning renovation.^[2]

[1] "Pacific 10 conference 1996–97 standings". Retrieved November 21, 2007.

[2] "No. 12 Arizona Falls to Cal". Los Angeles Times. March 9, 1997. Retrieved January 26, 2021.

[4] "Arizona Tops S. Alabama 65-57". The Washington Post. March 14, 1997. Retrieved February 12, 2022.

[5] "Arizona Ends Charleston's Dream". The Los Angeles Times. March 16, 1997. Retrieved June 11, 2021.

[6] "1 + 1 + 1 + Arizona = Final 4". The Los Angeles Times. March 24, 1997. Retrieved June 6, 2021.

[7] "Bibby Makes 6 Three-Pointers as Arizona Gains First Final". The Washington Post. March 30, 1997. p. D1. Retrieved March 15, 2019.

[8] "2019-20 Arizona Wildcats Men's Basketball Media Guide" (PDF). University of Arizona Athletics. Retrieved April 25, 2020.

[9] "1996-97 Arizona Wildcats Schedule and Results". Sports Reference. Retrieved April 26, 2020.

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v t e Arizona Wildcats men's basketball
Venues	Bear Down Gym (1926–1973) McKale Center (1973–present)
Rivalries	Arizona State UCLA
Culture & lore	Bear Down Wilbur and Wilma "Fight! Wildcats! Fight!" 2017–18 corruption scandal
People	Head coaches NBA draftees Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
NCAA national championship in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics