Javier Morales took first place in the 2010 Arizona Press Club’s Metro Sports Reporting category

Don’t forget: For all the links, Twitter feeds and news feeds related to Arizona and its opponents, go to Morales’ site WILDABOUTAZCATS.NET. No other Arizona sports Web site is like it!

In case you missed it: The Top 10 Badass Defensive Players and the Top 10 Badass Offensive Players in Arizona football history

How would Derrick Williams and the 2010-11 Elite Eight Cats match up against Sean Elliott and the 1987-88 team? You will decide soon with the TucsonCitizen.com Arizona Elite Eight Event (US Presswire photo/Gary A. Vasquez)

In keeping with the spirit of the “Bear Down Leader” competition, the Arizona Elite Eight Event is upon us.

The Bear Down Leader was a bracket that I formulated a couple of years ago that pitted Arizona legends against each other in the form of a fan vote. Sean Elliott emerged the winner. Tedy Bruschi, Steve Kerr and Jennie Finch were part of the Final Four.

With this blog is a diagram that shows eight of the nine Elite Eight teams that represented Arizona in the NCAA tournament. One of the teams — the national championship 1996-97 squad — went to the Elite Eight the following year with the exact same roster. The 1997-98 Cats lost to Utah 76-51 in the Elite Eight so we will graciously omit that team from the bracket (they’re still represented in 1996-97 anyway).

The only other years players overwrap: In 2000-01 and 2002-03 with Jason Gardner as the starting point guard for each and Luke Walton a key reserve in ’00-01 and a starter in ’02-03, and in 2002-03 and 2004-05 with Salim Stoudamire and Channing Frye starting for both teams.

There is no scientific method for how the bracket was set up. It’s this simple: Four of these teams have won and advanced to the Final Four and four have not. The four that have won are pitted against the four that have lost. They are matched in this sequential order: The earliest to win an Elite Eight game (the 1987-88 team) is pitted against the most recent to lose one (last year’s team with Derrick Williams) and so on.

The winner of each bracket contest will be determined by a fan vote that will be conducted at my site WildAboutAZCats.net.

The competition will start shortly. Please stay tuned. For now, observe the bracket and formulate an opinion of who is the best Elite Eight team in Arizona history compared to the others.

Nick Saban having a statue at Alabama after only 43 wins in Tuscaloosa, Ala., begs the question: What’s taking Arizona so long to erect one of Hall of Famer Lute Olson?

Other than the meaningful statue of John “Button” Salmon outside McKale Center, the Wildcats offer a statue of two bobcats playing with each other. Why not a statue of Olson flanked on each side by a likeness of Sean Elliott and Steve Kerr — the father, son and holy toast of the town?

Other long overdue peripheral objectives that should be on the desk of athletic director Greg Byrne at this very moment:

• It’s time to give Jason Terry his just due by retiring No. 31. Terry, who received illegal benefits from agents as a senior, repaid Arizona the $45,363 it forfeited from the 1999 NCAA tournament. Terry was made ineligible for jersey retirement and induction to the UA Sports Hall of Fame. The school supposedly has petitioned the Pac-10 to retire his jersey, but how serious is Arizona after 12 years and counting? We know how serious Terry is to Arizona’s image as a marketing tool. He is one of 11 NBA players this season who are former Wildcats. We also know how serious Terry is to giving back to the community. Terry comes from an impoverished background in Seattle so he knows how important it is to not be passive in our society. Retiring Terry’s number is a no-brainer for Byrne, who thankfully is a progressive athletic director. With Terry’s effervescent personality, having him on stage at McKale Center being honored with his jersey number retirement, the nation — through the ESPN cameras — will take note.
• Get Coniel Norman at midcourt in front of a standing ovation of a packed McKale Center. How many leading scorers of a program become destitute on the streets, wondering if or when they’ll get another paycheck? Norman has what appears to be an untouchable Arizona record — a career average scoring mark of 23.9 points a game from 1972-74. His name is synonymous to Arizona’s development as a basketball school. His story is not only touching but educational, especially for players of this generation who believe a ticket to a sustained NBA career can easily be punched.
• It’s ridiculous that UA career rushing leader Trung Canidate is not on Arizona’s Ring of Fame in Arizona Stadium. Even more silly is the fact Tedy Bruschi was left off the jersey-number retirement ceremony last November. OK, OK, the official criteria is a player must have won a national player of the year award or earn induction into the College Football Hall of Fame. The school should modify it to include consensus All-Americans who established a career NCAA record while at Arizona. Bruschi was a consensus All-American who left Arizona with 52 sacks, which tied a career Division I-A record. Moreover, Bruschi has that star appeal, similar to Terry, that would help Arizona’s image with a much-publicized ceremony.

Be practical, Arizona, not stodgy. This is not Cooperstown.

Derrick Williams could become the first Arizona player to be selected as the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft

Derrick Williams, who announced Wednesday that he will enter the 2011 NBA draft and hire an agent, did not win a national player of the year award like former Arizona standouts Steve Kerr, Sean Elliott, Jason Terry and Jason Gardner.

He was not a consensus first-team All-American like Elliott, Mike Bibby and Damon Stoudamire.

He did not lead the Wildcats to a Final Four appearance like Kerr, Elliott, Stoudamire, Khalid Reeves, Miles Simon, Michael Dickerson, Bibby, Richard Jefferson and Jason Gardner.

Despite all these lack of accolades, some would argue Williams is the best player to wear an Arizona uniform, given his amount of production in only a two-year span. Many NBA scouting analysts agree that Williams will be the first player taken in the draft, becoming the first Wildcat with that distinction.

Bibby was the No. 2 pick in 1998 and Elliott the No. 3 in 1989.

In two seasons, Williams averaged 17.8 points and 7.7 rebounds per game in 69 career appearances (68 starts). He connected on 58.6 percent of his field goal attempts (388-of-662) in that span, a figure that ranks fourth on the UA career field goal percentage list.

He finished his career with 1,227 career points, which ranks 27th on the UA career scoring list. Williams scored more points in his first two seasons as a Wildcat than any other player in school history. He also is tied for seventh on the Arizona career scoring average list (17.8 points a game).

He is sixth on the career free throws list with 405 and seventh on the career free throw attempts list (563). No player in Arizona history averaged more free throw attempts per game than Williams’ average of 8.2 per game.

Elliott finished with a UA-record 2,555 points in his career, which at the time of his departure after four years was also a Pac-10 record. If Williams stayed and maintained his scoring pace, he would have finished with 2,454 points, challenging Elliott’s mark.

Arguably, in a two-year span Williams is the best to wear an Arizona uniform. How about overall, especially if he is selected as the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft?

That’s highly debatable, especially considering what many NBA scouts believe is a very weak draft.

Williams obviously belongs among the pantheon of Arizona greats, definitely in the top five, in my opinion, with Elliott, Stoudamire, Bibby and Kerr.