Eddie Smith, one of the players responsible for building a winning program at Arizona, is now an educator and motivational speaker in Georgia

The shot that put a charge into Lute Olson making Arizona basketball relevant belongs to a man today’s Wildcats need to read a book to learn about.

The Cornerstone of Arizona Basketball is that book. Eddie Smith, the author, is that man. His last-second prayer at ASU in Olson’s first season of 1983-84 is that shot.

“I never want to make myself seem like I’m living in the past,” Smith commented to me this week. “I think it is good that the story comes out.”

The Wildcats were 5-15 overall, only one win more than the previous year’s victory total in Ben Lindsey’s 4-24 season, before Smith made the winning shot against the Sun Devils that bounced on the rim before finally falling. Arizona’s 65-64 win over ASU, completing its first season sweep over the Sun Devils since 1969-70, put the Wildcats in motion toward where the program stands today.

Smith, Pete Williams, Steve Kerr and the Wildcats won six of their last eight games, including the victory at ASU, to finish the 1983-84 season with an 11-17 record. The Wildcats won nine of their first 12 games in the next season before traveling to ASU again to start the Pac-10 season. That’s when Smith contributed to one of the most legendary comebacks in UA history.

“This was the start of something that would set a tradition,” Smith writes in his e-book. “The clock clicked down to less than a minute. They were up 9 points. And remember, at that time in the game, there was no 3-point line.”

Smith converted on two traditional three-point plays instead as part of Arizona’s winning rally after ASU led 60-53 with 37 seconds remaining.

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RELATED LINK: Analyzing Arizona’s recruiting classes since 1972

Arizona coach Sean Miller has a high-profile recruiting class and adequate returners that would soften the blow of a potential departure of Derrick Williams to the NBA after his sophomore season (US Presswire photo/Jason O. Watson)

Arizona coach Sean Miller has a potential top five recruiting class to soften the blow if Derrick Williams foregoes his last two years with the Wildcats to enter the NBA draft and hires an agent.

What did former coach Fred Snowden, bless his soul, have in mind in a similar situation in 1974 with the threat of losing prolific-scoring sophomores Eric Money and Coniel Norman to the NBA?

This is what was written by Steve Weston of the Tucson Citizen near the end of Snowden’s second season at Arizona on March 2, 1974:

No. 1 on most (recruiting) lists this season is 6-11 Moses Malone from Petersburg, Va. “We hope to have him visit,” said Snowden. “Of course, he’d be a great asset to our program.”

A great asset? How about a validation for a national championship?

Moses, a 13-time NBA All-Star and Hall of Famer, never took that recruiting visit to Tucson, although he reportedly became interested in Snowden and the Wildcats after watching them play New Mexico in Albuquerque that season. He signed a national letter of intent with Maryland but eventually went straight from Petersburg High School to the ABA in 1974.

Money and Norman, meanwhile, were chosen in the NBA draft that year. Money was taken in the second round (the 33rd pick overall) and Norman was the first pick in the third round (37th overall). That equates to early-second round selections today because the number of NBA teams has increased from 18 then to 30 now.

How did the Wildcats respond the following season after they finished 19-7 and failed to reach the postseason in the final year with Money and Norman? They actually had a better season, finishing 22-7 after losing to Drake in the championship game of the defunct National Commissioner’s Invitational Tournament (which featured teams that finished second in their respective conference).

The Wildcats excelled behind All-Western Athletic Conference frontcourt players Bob Elliott and Al Fleming, and a solid recruiting class that included playmaker Gilbert Myles and burly forward Phil Taylor.

Sports Illustrated, noting the Wildcats would take on a more physical look without Money and Norman, rated the UA No. 16 that year in its preseason Top 20. Snowden wanted more of a fearsome defensive presence after the loss of his star guards, who combined for more than 40 points a game in their UA careers.

Taylor, SI wrote, “bears a strong resemblance to Sonny Liston.” Snowden, known for his hyperbole, told the magazine that the team would be his best at Arizona after he went 35-17 in his first two seasons in Tucson.

Snowden proclaimed that Arizona would be “one of the five best in America by season’s end.” He looked like a prophet when the Wildcats started 11-1, but they staggered down the stretch.

Chances are that Miller, who is more close to the vest, will not proclaim next season that Arizona will be one of the nation’s top five teams if Williams does not return.

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USC's Stanley Havili (shown here against the UA in 2008) and the Trojans stand in the way of Arizona's prolonged stay in the AP Top 25 poll (US Presswire photo/Chris Morrison)

Random thoughts while wondering what Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh told his team about the Wildcats behind closed doors after the Cardinal beat Arizona 42-17 last night. …

The Wildcats dropped five spots to No. 18 in the AP Top 25 poll after the sizeable loss on (mostly) national television. That means the Cats are perilously closer to exiting the Top 25 instead of approaching the top. A loss at home to USC on Saturday could end a nice little run in the rankings for the Wildcats.

Arizona is now in its ninth consecutive week in the AP Top 25 poll. Can’t get much better than that right, especially for a program that has never been ranked No. 1 in its history? The Wildcats have actually posted better streaks than that four different times:

• 39 consecutive weeks: In the Desert Swarm era, from the start of the 1993 season to five weeks into 1995.
• 20: During the entire 1998 season (when the Cats finished 12-1 and ranked No. 4) and four weeks into 1999.
• 15: The entire 1975 season, from the preseason poll to the final poll, peaking at No. 11 after starting 8-1.
• 13: After starting 2-0 through the end of the 1986 season, the last for Larry Smith at Arizona.

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