They came to watch history.
More than 47,000 fans, most of them attired in blue and white and able to sing every word of “My Old Kentucky Home,” filled the RCA Dome Monday night expecting to see their Unbelievables, as the precious Wildcats have become known, secure a piece of basketball legendary.
They saw history, all right, but it was Arizona that made it. The other Wildcats, the ones without a neat little nickname, left with an 84-79 overtime victory, and an unbelievable national championship of their own.
On its way to its first Final Four title, Arizona (25-9) became the only team to ever beat three No. 1 seeds and the closest thing to a Murderers Row of college basketball. First Kansas. Then North Carolina. Now Kentucky.
The victory was also sweet vindication for Arizona coach Lute Olson, a favorite pincushion of critics who knew his postseason failures by heart. Olson had been to three previous Final Fours, but never won a game. He also owned some of the worst first-round losses in tournament annals.
All that changed Monday evening, as junior guard Miles Simon tied a career-high 30 points to help give Olson, 62, his long-awaited championship ring.
The Pac-10 team had a four-point lead with 61 seconds remaining in regulation. But then Mercer, mostly quiet during the second half, hit a three-pointer with 51.1 left on the clock.
Arizona bumped the lead up to 74-71 when Bennett Davison hit a follow shot with 18.6 left. Kentucky responded with a game-tying three-pointer, Anthony Epps’ shot hitting nothing but net with 12.1 remaining. Overtime.
Kentucky never had much of a chance. Senior forward Jared Prickett had fouled out in regulation. So had point guard Wayne Turner. Mercer was gone with 41.7 seconds left in overtime. Three-point shooting specialist Scott Padgett fouled out with 13.8 left in OT. That left Kentucky with few offensive options.
Meanwhile, Arizona kept making free throws. In fact, every one of Arizona’s 10 overtime points came from the foul line.
When it was over, when Simon had fallen to his knees in disbelief and time had run out, Olson let loose with a smile. Then one of his players lovingly grabbed the Arizona coach by the head and mussed up his perfect silver hair.
Depending on the office pool, Arizona wasn’t supposed to make it past the first round of the tournament. No. 13-seeded South Alabama had Arizona by 10 points with less than 7 minutes remaining before the Wildcats discovered the press and later the lead.
As recently as last Saturday, South Alabama coach Bill Musselman still couldn’t believe Arizona had reached the championship game. When a Kentucky fan recognized him on a hotel elevator and then asked about the eight-point loss to Arizona, Musselman launched into a detailed explanation of the final minutes.
“We should have won,” he finally muttered.
Should have. Could have. Every team that played Arizona thought it could beat the Wildcats. Who could blame them?
Few, if any, teams in the decade have suffered more embarrassing tournament losses than Arizona. There was the shocker in 1992, when the Wildcats were a No. 3 seed and lasted exactly one game. There was the first-round loss in 1993, when they became the second No. 2 seed ever to lose to a No. 15 seed. There was the first-round upset in 1995, when the fifth-seeded Wildcats couldn’t make it past No. 12 Miami of Ohio.
A reputation was born: Olson’s teams were soft as an Arizona sunset. He couldn’t win pressure games. He wasted talent.
If anything, the questions increased after the near miss against South Alabama, and again after a close win against College of Charleston. Then it happened: Arizona defeated No. 1-ranked and No. 1-seeded Kansas in the Southeast Regional semifinals, beat Providence in overtime in the regional final and then stunned North Carolina in the Final Four semis.
No more questions . . . until Monday night.
Arizona considered itself pressure-proof, and proved it during the first half. One of the few teams to welcome Kentucky’s up-tempo style, Arizona led by as many as six points midway through the period.
Down 19-13 with 9:43 to go in the half, Kentucky worked its way back into the game and into the lead. Back and forth it went. Arizona would have a brief scoring burst. Kentucky would respond with one its own.
Conspicuously absent from the Kentucky scoring runs was All-American Ron Mercer. Mercer, who has been bothered by physical problems and fatigue, played 17 of the 20 minutes in the first half, but scored just one field goal. He finished with 13 points for the game.
