About Arizona Wildcats basketball
Arizona Wildcats basketball team is the intercollegiate men's basketball program representing the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona, United States. The team competes in the Pacific-10 Conference (Pac-10) of NCAA Division I. They are currently coached by Sean Miller.
While Arizona has a long and rich basketball history, the program came to national prominence under the tutelage of former head coach Lute Olson, who since 1983 has established the program as among America's elite in college basketball. Known as "Point Guard U" by fans and foes alike, the school has produced spectacular guards and NBA players like Sean Elliott, Steve Kerr, Khalid Reeves, Damon Stoudamire, Mike Bibby, Jason Terry, Richard Jefferson, Gilbert Arenas, and Jerryd Bayless. 11 NBA Championships have been won by wildcats players. Since the NBA draft was shortened to two rounds in 1989, Arizona leads the nation with 31 selections in that span. This number grew when Jordan Hill and Chase Budinger were selected in the 2009 NBA Draft.
As of 2009, the Arizona basketball team has reached the NCAA Tournament for 25 consecutive years. Despite a 1999 appearance later vacated by the NCAA, the media still cites Arizona's streak as intact, and simply note the change. The Wildcats have reached the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament on four occasions (1988, 1994, 1997, and 2001). In 1997, Arizona defeated the University of Kentucky, the defending national champions, to win the NCAA National Championship. In Pac-10 play, former head coach Lute Olson currently holds the record for most wins as a Pac-10 coach at 327. In addition, the team has won 11 Pac-10 regular season titles and 4 Pac-10 tournament titles. Arizona also holds the distinction of recording 5 out of the 7 17–1 Pac-10 seasons (one-loss seasons). No team has gone undefeated since the formation of the Pac-10. Arizona has spent 110 weeks in the top 10 which is 8th all-time.