NCAA Basketball Final Four Notes : Arizona’s Team Concept Gets Wooden’s Vote

When UCLA dominated the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. basketball tournament, winning the championship 10 of 12 years in the 1960s and ‘70s, the Bruins were noted for their unselfish qualities as a team.

Now Arizona has come out of the West to challenge for the championship with a team in the truest sense of the word.

So, it isn’t surprising that John Wooden, the Wizard of Westwood, who coached UCLA to its unparalleled record run, admires Arizona.

“Arizona has been one of my favorites from the very beginning,” Wooden said Wednesday. “The three teams I liked most from the beginning were Arizona, Purdue and Temple. I didn’t know much about Oklahoma at the time.

“With Purdue, I was a little sentimental (Wooden was an All-American at the school), but I thought they would do well and thought they had a fine chance.

“I also liked Temple. I saw them play in person and on television.

“But my top choice from the very beginning was Arizona. I felt they weren’t getting the earned reputation around the country and I don’t know why when you looked at their early-season victories against some of the top teams in the country on neutral courts.

“I like them because they have the qualities I really like. I think they play together as a team. Sean Elliott is tremendous, but he’s not the only one. Tom Tolbert does well, so does Anthony Cook. Steve Kerr is an exceptional leader. Craig McMillan is a fine big guard, and they have some pretty decent backups.

“They’re quick and don’t depend on physical strength. Both of their forwards (Elliott and Cook) are Keith (Jamaal) Wilkes-type players--same build, very agile and sinewy. And, of course, Kerr’s outside shooting has been phenomenal.

“Temple is the same type of team as Arizona, but Temple has some average players. I don’t think there is an average player on Arizona’s team.”

Arizona will play Oklahoma Saturday at Kansas City, Mo., in an NCAA semifinal game, and Wooden believes that the winner will go on to take the championship.

As the tournament has progressed, Wooden has become more familiar with Oklahoma.

“I like the fact that they keep the pressure on,” Wooden said. “Getting behind doesn’t bother them. They still keep the pressure on with the feeling, I’m certain, they’ll eventually get to the other team.

“I used to feel the same way about our pressing people. Eventually, a team cracks. They’re in good condition. They use a man-to-man press quite a bit of the time. And when they get the ball, they go.”

Oklahoma, with its pressing, fast-breaking style, is averaging 104 points a game. Opponents are averaging 81 points, a 23-point differential.

“It’s not that Oklahoma is poor defensively because opponents have a high scoring average against them,” Wooden said. “Oklahoma’s defense gives them more scoring opportunities. But every time you score, you’re giving the ball back to the other team.”

So, which does Wooden favor, Arizona or Oklahoma?

“I think Arizona has much better balance,” he said. “They’re both disciplined, although there will be those who say that Oklahoma isn’t disciplined, but I would disagree with that. They’re disciplined in a different way.

“If I had to go with one, I’d go with Arizona, and I think the winner of that game will win the tournament.”

Wooden will be in Kansas City, but not for the Final Four. He was persuaded to attend a dinner tonight commemorating the 50th anniversary of the tournament.

“Dick Schultz, the new commissioner of the NCAA, called me a number of times. So did Fred Schaus and Al McGuire,” Wooden said. “They’re picking me up Thursday morning in a private plane. On Friday, that same plane will take me to Seattle, where I’m speaking at the women’s tournament in Tacoma.

“They wanted me in Kansas City because I had more teams in the Final Four by a pretty good margin than anyone else.”

Since his wife, Nell, died three years ago, Wooden hasn’t attended the annual National Assn. of Basketball Coaches convention that is held in conjunction with the Final Four.

Wooden said he and Nell attended the convention for 35 straight years, and now he doesn’t feel like going without her.

“Al McGuire said Nellie would want me to go,” Wooden said. “I told Al, ‘You may be right, but I just don’t feel comfortable doing it.’ ”

In any event, the present prestige of the Final Four is due in no small part to Wooden and his amazing accomplishments that have stood the test of time.

They tell Billy Tubbs stories in Oklahoma.

Tubbs, the outspoken and sometimes controversial Oklahoma coach, a serious jogger, was severely injured when hit by a car five years ago. He lost the hearing in his right ear as a result.

Tubbs, who has been criticized for running up scores on opponents, has received little sympathy from rival fans since the accident.

Even this year Oklahoma State fans wore T-shirts bearing tire tracks and the inscription, “I went jogging with Billy,” according to the Birmingham (Ala.) News.

Missouri Coach Norm Stewart reportedly said, “Maybe if we run over Billy again, he’ll be OK.

Kansas State fans re-enacted the accident, dressing the school’s mascot in a jogging suit and running him down with a miniature car.

Tubbs takes it all in stride, just saying, “That’s kind of poking fun and meant in jest.”

But Tubbs responds tartly when anyone criticizes his team’s high scoring style, as ESPN’s Dick Vitale once did.

“If Vitale knew more about coaching offense, he’d still be coaching in the NBA instead of making a jerk of himself on ESPN,” Tubbs said.

Tubbs’ idea of a perfect game?

“I’d love to coach a game and win, 200-100.”

And Tubbs defends his infatuation with scoring. “We’re not out to embarrass anyone, but we’re out to make people look bad,” he said. “If we make ourselves look good by making them look bad, that’s the name of the game.”

Oklahoma is more identified nationally with its football team and high-scoring wishbone offense.

Tubbs also identifies with the football team, saying, “Think of the real crushers in football here at Oklahoma. They run back interceptions, block kicks, run back punts. They force fumbles and get it at the 20-yard line. It’s a rare case when you crush anybody by taking it on your own 20 and grinding it out.

“When I was in college, I remember hearing the statement that the only way you really crush people is to do it with your defense, to force things to happen, and we’ve been doing that.”

There’s also the philosophical side to Tubbs.

“I love to do things no one else has ever done,” he said. “If I was alive in the 1300s, I would have been on a ship trying to find the edge of the earth. I would have been one of the guys finding Australia or something. Your only limitation is your imagination.”