Olson Won’t Let USC Surprise His Wildcats

TUCSON —  Basketball Coach Lute Olson figures that his Arizona team must win at home if it hopes to retain the Pacific 10 championship.

The Wildcats were 9-0 at McKale Center in their championship season. So Olson isn’t overlooking any team, even struggling USC.

“This is a must game for us,” said Olson, referring to tonight’s game with the Trojans. “We have to win at home if we’re going to have any shot for the title.”

Olson said he is not looking ahead to Sunday’s game with UCLA here. So USC, 0-4 in the Pac-10 and 5-7 overall, apparently is stripped of any surprise element against Arizona, 1-1 and 6-4.

The Trojans are neither overwhelmingly talented nor experienced, and Coach George Raveling anticipated that his team would have its up and down cycles.

The trend is downward now. USC is coming off a 64-58 loss to Stanford Monday night at the Sports Arena. If the Trojans can’t beat a mediocre team such as the Cardinal at home, the prospect of winning any game in the conference is bleak.

“I think one has to realize that we’re not blessed with a lot of alternatives this year,” Raveling said.

“The fact of the matter is that winning is not going to come easy for this team, but it can be the end result. We’ve got to do a better job of executing and we’ve got to play with more intensity and enthusiasm, and we’ve got to do those things on a consistent basis.

“We haven’t played two good halves of basketball in a game this season.”

Raveling said he is not yet ready to give up on this season and start preparing for the next but added that coaches sometimes reach that point.

“I think that’s a temptation for you as a coach,” he said. “I think that’s a valid consideration. The problem that you have is, do you give up on these kids, or do you try to alter your thinking and start playing some people that are going to play down the line? I think those are things that are part of a coach’s consideration.”

Raveling said his team plays hard, adding that there is a difference between playing hard and playing with enthusiasm.

“I think that they play hard, but it’s a team that’s not emotional enough and that probably comes from leadership,” he said. “We don’t really have a lot of leadership.

“Also, enthusiasm and leadership are built through practice. But when you have as many walk-on players as we do, a lot of players realize that they’ve got their position, that there’s nobody behind them that can beat them out. So the incentive to work hard or be enthusiastic isn’t there.”

Although it may be unrealistic, considering the 0-4 start, Raveling said the team’s goal still is to finish in the upper division of the conference.

Arizona has loftier goals and is the co-favorite, with California, to win the Pac-10 title.

The Wildcats had a setback last July when point guard Steve Kerr suffered a severe knee injury in the World Championships in Madrid, Spain.

Without Kerr, Olson has had to rely on freshman Jud Buechler of Poway to run the team. Buechler is complemented by talented, young veterans--forwards Sean Elliott, a freshman All-American last season, and Anthony Cook; guard Craig McMillan, and center Tom Tolbert, a transfer from Cerritos College.

“We were searching for a leader in our first six games until we settled on Buechler,” Olson said. “Even though he’s a freshman, he’s far and away our strongest leader. There are guys who are natural leaders and then there are players who just aren’t comfortable in that position.

“We were hoping for McMillan to be that guy, but it’s not within his personality or Elliott’s to assume that role.

“Jud has done a good job of running the club and taking care of the basketball. But the bad news is that he’s not getting the ball down quickly enough on the break and we have to start picking up the tempo.”

Trojan Notes

Tonight’s game will start at 6:35 p.m. and will be broadcast by KNX radio. USC will play Arizona State Saturday at 3 p.m. in Tempe, Ariz. . . . USC Coach George Raveling said that linebacker Marcus Cotton, who was on the basketball team in 1984-85, and Phil James, a transfer from El Camino College, will soon join the team. Raveling doesn’t put any great significance on what impact they might have, saying it will take them two weeks, at least, to get accustomed to his system. . . . Raveling also said the USC has declared guard Dave Wiltz ineligible for the season. There was a mix-up on his high school transcripts, which wasn’t resolved by the NCAA. Raveling is hopeful that Wiltz can get a redshirt season. He played in only one game, USC’s opener against New Orleans.

Cotton, a 6-4, 220-pound junior, was an All-Bay Area selection at Castlemont High School in Oakland, where he averaged 18.4 points and 19 rebounds a game as a senior. James, a 6-6, 207-pound junior, played for Texas A&M; as a freshman, then transferred to El Camino, where he sat out a year and then averaged 15 points, 9 rebounds and 3 assists a game for the Warriors last season and was named all-conference. He has a year and a half of eligibility remaining. . . . Arizona Coach Lute Olson said that Tom Tolbert isn’t the defensive force that graduated center John Edgar was, but is more effective offensively. Tolbert, a 6-8 junior from Lakewood High, is averaging 12.3 points a game. Sean Elliott, a sophomore and still only 18, is averaging 17.7 points.