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CRITICISM SNOWS OVER OLSON.


Byline: BRIAN DOHN COLLEGE BASKETBALL College basketball most often refers to the American basketball competitive governance structure established by the National Collegiate Athletic Association, or NCAA. History
Further information: NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship records
 

Kids dusted off their parents' old sleds, or washed the garbage can lid, before heading to the nearest hill and partaking in something rarely seen recently.

A few weeks ago it snowed in Tucson, Ariz., which is one rare sight, about as atypical as another recent happening in the desert -- coach Lute Olson Robert Luther "Lute" Olson (born September 22, 1934 in Mayville, North Dakota) is the current men's basketball head coach at the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona. He is one of the UA's highest-paid employees, though a substantial percentage of his salary is supplemented by  hearing catcalls cat·call  
n.
A harsh or shrill call or whistle expressing derision or disapproval.

v. cat·called, cat·call·ing, cat·calls

v.tr.
To express derision or disapproval of with catcalls.

v.
, the unkind variety, as his Arizona Wildcats The athletic teams at the University of Arizona are known as the Arizona Wildcats. Athletic program
The University of Arizona participates in the NCAA's Division I-A in the Pacific Ten Conference.
 were pounded on national television by North Carolina North Carolina, state in the SE United States. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean (E), South Carolina and Georgia (S), Tennessee (W), and Virginia (N). Facts and Figures


Area, 52,586 sq mi (136,198 sq km). Pop.
.

The Wildcats' 92-64 loss was their worst at home since Olson became Arizona's coach in 1983, and now that half of the Pacific-10 Conference The Pacific-10 Conference (Pac-10) is a college athletic conference which operates in the western United States. It participates in the NCAA's Division I. Membership
Full members
 schedule is complete, Arizona (14-6) is sitting in sixth place at 5-4, despite a No. 6 RPI RPI - Rockwell Protocol Interface  rating.

Although some in southern Arizona might wonder if time has passed Olson by, it clearly has not. Give it some time, because in another sixweeks the Wildcats will be in the NCAA Tournament for the 23rd straight March.

Depth and the type of nonconference scheduling to be proud of have contributed to Arizona's plight, but the key is Olson can still recruit. The 72-year-old is still one of the best when it comes to attracting top high school talent. Part of his five-member class for next season include five-star recruits Jerryd Bayless (St. Mary's of Phoenix) and Jamelle Horne (San Diego Senior).

``He's been recruiting at a very high level consistently, over the last few years,'' Tracy Pierson, a scouting analyst for scout.com, said of Olson. ``He's one of the top five or six when it comes to recruiting for any national program.''

Olson convinced Chase Budinger to pick Arizona over UCLA UCLA University of California at Los Angeles
UCLA University Center for Learning Assistance (Illinois State University)
UCLA University of Carrollton, TX and Lower Addison, TX
, and he beat Connecticut for Marcus Williams. J.P. Prince and Jawann McClellan were elite prospects, and forward/center Ivan Radenovic is one of the toughest players in the Pac-10 to match up against.

In fact, Arizona's starting five may be the best in the league, but it is the depth, and possibly the travel, taking its toll.

All five starters are averaging at least 31.2 minutes per game, and the Wildcats have played at Virginia, at Madison Square Garden Coordinates:

Current arenas in the National Hockey League

Western Conference Eastern Conference
 (vs. Louisville) and at San Diego State. They also played North Carolina, Memphis and Illinois.

And that doesn't include a conference road that has already included games at USC An abbreviation for U.S. Code. , at UCLA, at Washington and at Washington State, all of which have been ranked this season.

``I think we're OK,'' Olson said. ``We played very well against Arizona State and got the win (71-47 last Wednesday) we needed there. Now, it's just a matter of the challenge to our guys of, `OK, the first round in league, we lost one at the buzzer, one in overtime and two others that were very competitive games.' We just need to see whether we can do things a little bit better the second time around.

``But we have the Washington trip out of the way and the Southern California trip out of the way. That doesn't mean the others are easy because they're not, but if you give me the choices of the road trips in the second half of the season compared to the first half, then I would definitely take the schedule we have ahead of us.''

But there was a big outcry after the loss to North Carolina, in which the Wildcats were 1 for 23 from 3-point range.

``It was an embarrassment,'' McClellan told reporters afterward. ``It was just a plain embarrassment. That's the only way I can describe it.''

Lobos lowdown low·down  
n. Slang
The whole truth: gave us the lowdown on what happened at the party.

lowdown low (inf) n he gave me the lowdown on it →
: No. 15 Nevada is getting most of the publicity in the Western Athletic Conference The Western Athletic Conference (commonly referred to as the WAC, pronounced "wack") was formed on July 27, 1962, making it the sixth oldest of the 11 college athletic conferences currently participating in the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS; formerly , but second-year coach Reggie Theus has resurrected New Mexico State's program with a handful of transfers.

The Aggies, who beat Nevada earlier this season, were 17-4 overall (including 7-1 in conference play), heading into Wednesday's game against Boise State.

They are led in scoring (16.2 ppg) and rebounding (7.6 rpg) by Utah transfer Justin Hawkins. Second-leading scorer Fred Peete (10.7ppg) is a Kansas State transfer, junior-college transfer Hatil Passos is averaging 10.6 points and UNC-Charlotte transfer Martin Iti is scoring 6.7 points a game.

``We can go eight-, nine- or even 10-deep,'' New Mexico State senior guard Shaun Davis said. ``We have a good record, and we are still trying to feel each other out. I think that's why we have our ups and downs ups and downs  
pl.n.
Alternating periods of good and bad fortune or spirits.


ups and downs
Noun, pl

alternating periods of good and bad luck or high and low spirits
, but as far as talent goes, there's probably not many better teams in the WAC WAC (Women's Army Corps), U.S. army organization created (1942) during World War II to enlist women as auxiliaries for noncombatant duty in the U.S. army. Before 1943 it was known as the Women's Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC). Its first director was Oveta Culp Hobby. .''

Remember him? Former UCLA assistant coach Ernie Zeigler is off to a nice start in his first season at the helm of Central Michigan. The Chippewas are 8-11 (including 3-4 in the Mid-American Conference). Zeigler took over a program that was 4-24 last season.

Freshman forward Marko Spica, who originally signed with UCLA but was not admitted, is averaging 6.8points in 18 minutes per game for Central Michigan.

brian.dohn@dailynews.com

(818) 713-3607

CAPTION(S):

2 photos, 6 boxes

Photo:

(1) Arizona coach Lute Olson thinks the best is yet to come from the Wildcats, who have a 14-6 record after facing a tough first-half schedule.

Danny Moloshok/Associated Press

(2) Texas' Kevin Durant reacts after hitting a 3-pointer Saturday against Baylor.

Deborah Cannon/Associated Press

Box:

(1) Daily News/CBS 2/KCAL 9 SPORTS CENTRAL POWER RANKINGS

- Brian Dohn

(2) THEY SAID IT

(3) KEY STAT

(4) RUMOR MILL

(5) SCOUTING THE FIELD

(6) THIS WEEK'S BEST BET
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Article Details
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Title Annotation:Sports
Publication:Daily News (Los Angeles, CA)
Date:Feb 1, 2007
Words:903
Previous Article:USC BASKETBALL NOTEBOOK: HACKETT STILL ON FLOYD'S GOOD SIDE.
Next Article:KINGS NOTEBOOK: O'SULLIVAN MAKING MOST OF HIS CHANCES.



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