Arizona Wildcats 1997 players forever connected by March Madness' hardest title run
Group messaging among members of the 1997 Arizona Wildcats goes full throttle every March, when the college basketball madness ramps up. Memories flood back. A run never seen before or since is relived through the text chain.
They're forever linked by being the only team in the history of the NCAA Tournament to knock out three No. 1 seeds on their way to the national championship.
"We were the 4 seed, we had the farthest traveling," reflects Bennett Davison, who now lives in Dallas. "We had to go to Memphis, to Birmingham, Alabama, to Indianapolis. We did it with 10% of the fan base at these venues.
"It was always, 'You're the underdog, you're supposed to lose. You're the underdog, you're supposed to lose.' We went out and proved them all wrong."
They started out in Memphis in the Southeast Region, coming back late from double-digit deficits to beat South Alabama and the College of Charleston in the first two rounds. They then took out No. 1-ranked Kansas 85-82 in the Sweet 16 in Birmingham, before needing overtime to overcome Providence 96-92 to secure their second Final Four appearance in three years.
It was then onto Indianapolis, where the Cats proceeded to take out two more 1 seeds — North Carolina 66-58 and Kentucky 84-79 in overtime.
That shining moment was Davison on the bench messing up a beaming coach Lute Olson's perfectly coifed white hair in celebration, before Olson shook Kentucky coach Rick Pitino's hand.
"I could have been arrested and walked off in handcuffs," said Davison, who now teaches at a Dallas middle school, does personal training and runs a youth basketball program.
It was Olson's greatest moment
Olson, who died in 2020 at 85, was the architect of three UA Final Fours. He took them back to the Final Four in 2001, ending in Minneapolis with a loss in the national championship game to Duke.
Since 1997, Wildcats players from that season start the text chain each spring, hoping for another run to the championship by UA, but the exits make the memories of '97 greater.
"We're sending text messages and saying, 'We're the only team in NCAA history to beat three No. 1 seeds,' " Davison said.
Everything had to fall into place, from getting swept out of the Bay Area by California and Stanford in the final week of the Pac-10 season. The Wildcats were 19-9, finishing in fifth place in the conference. They got a No. 4 seed out of the Southeast Region. That put them on the longest road to a championship.
But no deficit, no task seemed too big for a bunch of guys who came from winning high school programs and made the journey fun with jokes and laughs and Olson's confidence in them to just turn them loose and let them be their best selves.
They were young, fearless, not a senior among the top eight players. Mike Bibby was a true freshman point guard. Miles Simon was the shooting guard, who ended up being the Final Four Most Outstanding Player. A.J. Bramlett, 6-foot-11, and Davison, 6-8, provided strength on the glass and on defense.
Jason Terry was first off the bench, leading the Wildcats in steals. Michael Dickerson was a glue throughout. Eugene Edgerson and 6-11 Donnell Harris did a lot of the grunt work off the bench, helping with his hustle and grit any way he could.
"Obviously, we had the East Coast-West Coast bias to deal with at that time," said Edgerson, who is now a police officer at Pima Community College. "We felt that we could play just as well as any team out there. We felt we had the talent to take care of business.
"We had big confidence. From the most highly talented player to the guy at the end of the bench."
They shattered so many barriers, winning no game by more than eight points and sending legendary North Carolina coach Dean Smith out with a loss in the last college game he coached.
Miles Simon, now a Suns assistant, was named the Most Outstanding Player. A year after leading Phoenix Shadow Mountain to an Arizona high school basketball championship, Bibby made the All-Final Four team. Bibby declined an interview with The Arizona Republic for this story.
Losing never entered their minds
"I think we were always a very confident group," Simon said. "People have to remember the Pac-10 that year was a monster.
"Even finishing fifth in the PAC didn't deter us. We were tied for second going into that last weekend. It just happened we played two very good teams in the Bay Area, and we lost one on a buzzer-beater and the other in the last 10 seconds. It wasn't like we were getting destroyed. So when we got into the tournament and we looked at our bracket, we said, 'Let's go to work.' "
There wasn't a senior among the top eight players on that team. They had some length with Bramlett, Harris and Davison and the 6-5 Simon and Dickerson. And they all had an "it" factor about them, different personalities blending into one huge monster of a run.
Five players from that team went to the NBA: Bibby, Dickerson, Simon, Terry and Bramlett.
"The next, '98, was the year we should have won it all," said Josh Pastner, who was a freshman on that '97 UA team, and would later become head coach at Memphis and Georgia Tech. "You just never know."
But the chemistry, the time, the moment was right for the '97 Wildcats.
"We didn't know what we were doing," Pastner said. "We were just having a good ol' time. We were having a blast. We were too young to know what was going on.
"The greatest tournament run ever. There should be a 30 for 30 on us."
'Never scared of the big moment'
They returned to Tucson being celebrated as heroes in convertibles, wearing championship T-shirts, slapping hands with fans as they rode around Arizona Stadium.
Bibby and Simon sat up in the same convertible.
"We didn't win a game by more than eight points," Simon said. "I just think there was a belief that our group had. We had great players, from JT and how well he played as a sixth man. Michael Dickerson was awesome. We don't get there without him. A.J. Bramlett and Bennett Davison, the defense and rebounding that they provided.
"It was a tremendously focused group."
Bramlett, who played pro basketball overseas for 10 years, is living in New Mexico, involved in sports marketing and coaching his kid. He said the chemistry was so good with that team, connected by the "us against the world" mentality that drove them to the title.
"After we lost those two games in the Bay Area, there was some uncertainty about the team," Bramlett said. "We were even hearing it in Tucson. We knew we had a talented team. It was just very young.
"We were never scared of the big moment."
Bramlett said Olson was the perfect coach for that team. He eased the pressure on them by letting them have fun before delivering during game time.
"Lute Olson was very even-keeled," Bramlett said. "That was his demeanor. He encouraged us. He expected a lot from us. He believed in us. That was the biggest part of it. We knew we could beat any team. We knew we were going to beat Kansas and those teams. Coach O just let us be us. We were really loose. Before the Kansas game, we joking, laughing, shooting around. But we were still preparing. It was our personality."
Pastner told his dad after the Kentucky win that he was looking forward to doing that every year at UA. Then, he realized how hard that was.
How it's something they did may never be seen in March Madness again.
And every year, they're connected again through the '97 champs' text message group chat.
Bibby, now working for the Sacramento Kings on their TV broadcasts, and Simon every once in a while will run into each other at a club volleyball event their daughters are playing. And 1997 is stirred up again.
They're connected again through the '97 champs text message group chat.
"It's forever," Pastner said. "It's beautiful friendship. It was the greatest tournament run."
To suggest human-interest story ideas and other news, reach Obert atrichard.obert@arizonarepublic.com or 602-316-8827. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter:@azc_obert
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: 1997 Arizona team forever connected by hardest March Madness title
