FanHouse Nic Wise

For most of this decade, the Pac-10 was UCLA and the rest. The Bruins have been the Pac-10's representation in the Final Four three of the four times the league has placed a team on the final weekend since 2000, failing to claim the championship each time, but pulling themselves ahead of the West Coast pack as the elite program.

That all changed last season, when Washington won the Pac-10 regular season and head coach Lorenzo Romar was named conference coach of the year. Now, his team returns as a favorite to win in the conference, and Romar knows it.

"Our team this year has the benefit of having some players that were on our team last year that won a Pac-10 Championship and that certainly helps us," Romar said. "I think we have the fastest team since 2005 when we had Nate Robinson," Romar said.

Nic Wise may have made the wisest decision of his yet-to-be started professional basketball career, informing Arizona coach Sean Miller that he plans to withdraw his name from the NBA Draft and return to Tuscon for his senior season. Wise was projected as a late second-round pick or perhaps even undrafted. His return gives Miller a veteran, tested player who can help the Wildcats' resurgence.

"We are all very excited with Nic's return," Miller said on the school's Web site. "His talent, leadership and ability will make him one of the premier players in the Pac-10 this coming season. As important, this puts him in position to leave the University of Arizona with his degree. We are looking forward to a great senior year for Nic."

At first glance, Josh Pastner might not look like much.

He's just 31 years old but recently landed the head coaching job at Memphis after one of his mentors, John Calipari, jumped ship to Kentucky. His coaching experience isn't something that is going to knock you out of your computer chair, but the longevity of it doesn't compares to what he's been able to do in his short period as an assistant coach.

Memphis fans should be thrilled to have him.

Update: Is it over? The Wildcats fell to Arizona State 68-56 in the opening round of the Pac-10 tournament.

It was 1983 when Lute Olson first came to Tucson as the head coach of an abysmal basketball program. He had just taken Iowa to the Sweet 16 the year before and was brought to the University of Arizona to turn the Wildcats around. His first season was a rebuilding year. They only won 11 games, missed the NCAA tournament and finished eighth in the Pac-10.

Since that season, Arizona hasn't missed the NCAA tournament, making it 24 straight times.

Now the streak is in jeopardy.

One thing has always haunted the Wildcats -- their inability to finish games.

On Thursday night against Southern California and Saturday against UCLA, the Wildcats again let both teams back in the game before doing something that is very un-Tucson like ... they stepped on some throats.

The win over the Bruins was about streaks, and Arizona continued one while putting the other to rest. UCLA had taken down the Wildcats in eight straight games before Russ Pennell's crew kept it together, winning 84-72 to take their current winning streak to seven.

What is that saying? You know, the one about fooling people? Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me?

Saturday night, I was sitting on the couch with my roommate, a fellow Arizona Wildcat, watching our "team" play Southern California in Los Angeles. Thursday night the Wildcats couldn't cover a 20-point spread against UCLA, a game that was so one-sided I actually told a friend, "If Arizona played UCLA 20 straight games, we'd lose by double digits in all of them." Goliath, meet David without the slingshot.

The USC tilt wasn't that exciting, but towards the end, the Wildcats were hanging in there and even leading with less than a minute left. What is that you hear? Yep, it's Jamelle Horne music.

Don't count out Arizona just yet.

Despite the retirement of Lute Olson and the defection of several players, the Arizona Wildcats are now 7-2 and own a huge win over No. 4 Gonzaga. The win was the first over a top-five team since 2001. Jordan Hill scored 22 points and Nic Wise added 21 in the 69-64 win.

How amazing is it that Arizona, a former perennial power, was the school in this game that needed a defining win over a big-time program? And how amazing is it that Gonzaga has become a legitimate big-time program? The Zags have already beaten Tennessee and Maryland and will face off against No. 2 UConn in Seattle on Saturday.

This is the third time the No. 4 ranked team has been upset by a former powerhouse turned unranked team this season. Michigan beat then-No. 4 UCLA in the 2k Sports tournament. A few weeks later, Michigan would upset then-No. 4 Duke.

They were two of the most boneheaded plays you may ever see in college basketball, like Chris Webber somehow calling two timeouts instead of one.

The University of Arizona, battling the University of Alabama-Birmingham, was trailing most of the night in a contest to see who would advance to Madison Square Garden to face Oklahoma in the NIT semifinals, but then late in the game they started to come back. That comeback ended with two "seriously, guys?" fouls that could best be described as poorly coached and poorly executed.

After the Wildcats put together a comeback that had the team down three, Arizona's Garland Judkins got fouled, and after making the first and missing the second, freshman Kyle Fogg made a great play on the rebound, snatching it up, avoiding the defender and laying the ball in with just over 26 seconds left in the game. All tied at 71-71. Great. But what Fogg did next was inexplicable. The freshman, obviously confused on where he was or what the score was -- or even what game he was playing -- fouled Aaron Johnson right as the ball was inbounded, putting UAB on the line in a one-and-one opportunity.

As the foul happened, interim head coach Russ Pennell could only put his hands on his head in disbelief. You could almost read his mind, as you could most Wildcat fans, who probably have never played college basketball in their lives but know that when the game is tied you don't foul to put a guy on the line.

Things started out well for the Illini, after jumping out to a 10-0 lead early it looked like Illinois was on it's way to it's first victory over a ranked non-conference opponent since 2005.

The defense was swarming, the shots were falling, and Illinois was finding every loose ball. Maybe it was the jet lag of coming from the west coast to play a game at 11AM in Chicago, but Arizona just didn't look like the ranked team early.

Then the Wildcats woke up.

Arizona then spent the rest of the game slowly chipping away at the Illini lead before finally taking over themselves late in the second half. They would eventually win 78-72 in overtime, but not without controversy.

As Illinois point guard Chester Frazier drove down court at the end of regulation, he was stripped by Arizona's Nic Wise who then called for a timeout. Unfortunately for Wise, Arizona didn't have any timeouts left. Of course, the officials at the United Center were a compassionate group of men, because rather than calling the illegal timeout and sending the Illini to the free throw line for the winning points, they just chose to ignore Wise's timeout call.

It probably wouldn't have mattered anyway, though. Have you seen the Illini at the free throw line? They wouldn't have made any shots anyway.

Shaun Pruitt, who wasn't expected to get that many minutes, led the Illini with 24 points and 9 rebounds. Illinois is now 5-3 on the season.