U.S.S Olson Out Of Steam? Not yet...

Winning 20 games every year, and making the NCAA tournament year in and year out is good for some programs, but at Arizona, where Final Four appearances and National Championships are the custom, the past two seasons have been deemed failures in the Valley of the Sun.

In what has looked like a coach hanging on for too long, Coach Lute Olson has begun a resurrection in the desert with the shake up of his coaching staff. Lute created quite a stir in Tucson when he let long time assistant coach Jim Rosborough go and Olson re-hired former assistant Kevin O'Neill, who will take over as defensive guru and drill Sargent for UofA. The re-focus to the defensive side of the basketball is a common theme that has weighed heavily in many camps this off-season after the Pac-10 went offensive crazy last season.

Like USC, Arizona lost three of their starting five, but from this article out of SportingNews.com, people are thrilled that Ivan Radenovic, Mustafa Shakur and Marcus Williams have hit the road. These three were responsible with over 44% of the team's offensive production last season, but 44% of zero is still zero. It was clear to anyone who watched Arizona basketball last season that the team clearly did not have the same aggressiveness or tenacity that it had even two seasons before. The departure of these three has opened the door for younger and hungrier players to assume the roles that were haphazardly played by this underachieving trio.

With the departure of Williams, the ball and scoring responsibility is now in the hands of ex-volleyball player Chase Budinger and exciting sharp shooter and play maker Jawann McClellan. Budinger has big time talent, who averaged 15.8 ppg while pulling in 5.8 rebounds per game in his freshman season. McClellan is a super talent of his own, but injuries have been the Achilles heel of his development as a true superstar. There are times when you watch Arizona Basketball and you just have that feeling that McClellan is about to go off. This is usually right after he nails a three from two or three feet beyond the arc. These two players must carry the load if UofA has any shot at competing for a Pac-10 title (as mentioned yesterday, they will not be able to compete with UCLA this year).

Arizona also added talented point-guard Jerryd Bayless in this last freshman class. He brings pure scoring talent, along with the ability to put the ball on the floor and create his own shot. Does this sound familiar??? Yeah, he is Mustafa Shakur 2.0. Shakur was a big-time high school recruit who always played shot first pass never and that did not help him develop into the point guard that Olson was hoping that Shakur would turn into, ala Mike Bibby or Damon Stoudamire. While those last two players could create their own shots, they were also very talented passers who had success at the next level as NBA point guards. Hopefully Bayless will not be the same type of person that Shakur was, as Shakur was often disciplined and at times suspended from the Arizona Basketball team for conduct detrimental to the team.

WHERE DOES ARIZONA END UP: Chemistry must be the first problem addressed by Lute Olson and coaching staff this season. With the subtraction of locker room cancers Shakur and Williams, Budinger and co. take over a program that has underachieved the past two years. Arizona will be competitive, but is still a year away from being that dominate team that we are used to seeing in Tucson. Look for Budinger to have an All-Pac 10 First Team type of performance (and possibly First Team All-American type Performance, he was named to collegehoops.com All-American First team), and for McClellan to also have an All-Pac 10 Second Team year. This team will compete for the 2-4 spots this year in the Pac-10. Can it beat WSU, UO or even USC, that will remain to be seen. My projection, they finish 4th in the Pac-10 and again win 20 games behind UCLA, WSU and UO. A 4th place finish may keep Chase Budinger in Tucson for one more year, looking to compete for a Pac-10 title before venturing into the NBA. Budginer reminds me of a young Sean Elliot...does anyone else see that resemblance?

#4 in Pac-10...but building for the future.