1996–97 Arizona Wildcats men's basketball team

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.

1996–97 Arizona Wildcats men's basketball
NCAA tournament National champions
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]

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) Phil Johnson (East Central) Jim Rosborough (Iowa) Jessie Evans (Eastern Michigan) 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	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	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

Main article: 1996–97 NCAA Division I men's basketball 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

1. 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

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.
3. "Arizona Tops S. Alabama 65-57". The Washington Post. March 14, 1997. Retrieved February 12, 2022.
4. "Arizona Ends Charleston's Dream". The Los Angeles Times. March 16, 1997. Retrieved June 11, 2021.
5. "1 + 1 + 1 + Arizona = Final 4". The Los Angeles Times. March 24, 1997. Retrieved June 6, 2021.
6. "Bibby Makes 6 Three-Pointers as Arizona Gains First Final". The Washington Post. March 30, 1997. p. D1. Retrieved March 15, 2019.
7. "2019-20 Arizona Wildcats Men's Basketball Media Guide" (PDF). University of Arizona Athletics. Retrieved April 25, 2020.
8. "1996-97 Arizona Wildcats Schedule and Results". Sports Reference. Retrieved April 26, 2020.