1996–97 Arizona Wildcats men's basketball team

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Ranking
Coaches	No. 1
AP	No. 15

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

Name	#	Position	Height	Year	Hometown
John Ash	15	G	5'11"	Fr.	Tucson, AZ
Mike Bibby	10	G	6'1"	Fr.	Phoenix, AZ
A. J. Bramlett	42	F	6'11"	So.	Albuquerque, NM
Bennett Davison	21	F	6'8"	Jr.	Sebastopol, CA
Michael Dickerson	23	F	6'5"	Jr.	Seattle, WA
Eugene Edgerson	33	F	6'6"	Fr.	New Orleans, LA
Donnell Harris	13	F	6'11"	So.	Salinas, CA
Jason Lee	40	G	6'4"	Sr.	Irvine, CA
Josh Pastner	12	G	6'0"	Fr.	Kingwood, TX
Miles Simon	34	G	6'5"	Jr.	Fullerton, CA
Jason Stewart	52	G	5'11"	So.	Gardena, CA
Quynn Tebbs	24	G	6'1"	Fr.	Salt Lake City, UT
Jason Terry	31	G	6'2"	So.	Seattle, WA
Justin Wessel	30	F	6'8"	Jr.	Iowa City, IA

Schedule

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Regular season
Nov. 22, 1996*	No. 19	vs. 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 New Mexico	L 77–84	2–1	The Pit Albuquerque, NM
Dec. 7, 1996*	No. 15	vs. Utah John Wooden Classic	W 69–61	3–1	Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim Anaheim, CA
Dec. 9, 1996*	No. 15	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 Michigan	L 71–73 ^OT	5–2	Crisler Arena Ann Arbor, 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	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. Tulane 7-Up Shootout	W 81–62	15–5	Veterans Memorial Coliseum Phoenix, AZ
Feb. 13, 1997	No. 11	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 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 Palace¹ Daly City, CA
NCAA Tournament
Mar. 13, 1997*	(4 SE) No. 15	vs. (13 SE) South Alabama First round	W 65–57	20–9	Pyramid Arena Memphis, TN
Mar. 15, 1997*	(4 SE) No. 15	vs. (12 SE) College of Charleston Second round	W 73–69	21–9	Pyramid Arena Memphis, TN
Mar. 21, 1997*	(4 SE) No. 15	vs. (1 SE) 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	23–9	BJCC Arena Birmingham, AL
Mar. 29, 1997*	(4 SE) No. 15	vs. (1 E) North Carolina Final Four	W 66–58	24–9	RCA Dome Indianapolis, IN
Mar. 31, 1997*	(4 SE) No. 15	vs. (1 W) 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. ¹Game played here since Haas Pavilion was being renovated.

^[2] ^[3]

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

References

^ "Pacific 10 conference 1996–97 standings". Retrieved November 21, 2007.
^ 2014-15 Arizona Wildcats men's basketball team. Retrieved 2015-Apr-12.
^ College Basketball @ Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved 2015-Apr-12.

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

[2] 2014-15 Arizona Wildcats men's basketball team. Retrieved 2015-Apr-12.

[3] College Basketball @ Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved 2015-Apr-12.

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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