Times wires
Friday, March 25, 2011
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Lamont Jones spent his last spring break staring at his dorm room walls, fuming over Arizona's failure to make the NCAA Tournament after 25 consecutive berths.
Kemba Walker had similarly sleepless nights when Connecticut missed the tournament for just the fifth time since 1990.
"It happens to all great programs from time to time," Walker said. "But I just decided I wouldn't go through that again."
So did Jones, Walker's friend since junior high. And the dynamic guards from New York have helped get two perennial powers get back to the brink of the Final Four.
Tonight, Arizona (30-7) and UConn (29-9) meet in the West Region final, ending one's resurgence.
"This is the kind of game you expect to play when you go to a school like Arizona or UConn," Jones said. "These are the teams that play for championships, and it's good to get Arizona back on top."
The Wildcats missed the tournament in coach Sean Miller's debut season.
"I didn't expect the dramatic change to happen so fast," said sophomore swingman Kevin Parrom, a Bronx native and Arizona's top bench scorer. "It feels good that we're making our own mark in the history books."
Miller gives much of the credit to the culture of winning built by retired coach Lute Olson. He said programs build a generational momentum that one down season can't kill.
"It was only a matter of time before we bought into what the coaches were selling us," said Derrick Williams, who scored 32 in Thursday's upset of Duke. "It's a chain reaction, and you can believe in what they're saying when you're at a winning program like ours."
The Huskies' absence was just one disappointment in a few years of trouble for coach Jim Calhoun. He dealt with punishment for recruiting violations and what the NCAA called "failing to create an atmosphere of compliance."
Even this winter, UConn scuffled through a .500 regular season in Big East play before winning five games in five days to take the conference tournament followed by this cross-country tournament run. Not much can surprise the 68-year-old coach. But he's pleasantly thrilled by Walker's ability to take charge, including 36 points in Thursday's win over San Diego State.
"It's never unexpected to me. It's joyous to me," Calhoun said. "It's always going to have a special place for me … because of the way we started the season. Nothing seems to get them down. The kids really do want to win and listen, and this group has done as good a job as any team I've had in a long, long time."