Arizona coach has has ‘control’ of his unbeaten squad as they prepare to play in LV

Steve Carp

Friday, Dec. 18, 1998 | 9:11 a.m.

Control. It has always been about control. For without control, there is chaos.

Lute Olson could write textbooks about control. There is virtually nothing that happens in the Arizona basketball program without his say-so and approval.

So imagine what it must have been like the day last summer when Olson found out his wife, Bobbi, had ovarian cancer. This was something he couldn't control and it had a profound effect on him.

Suddenly, having your finger on the basketball button wasn't everything. His wife was in the ultimate battle and it was the doctors who were in control.

Fortunately, Bobbi Olson fought back. She is doing much better and continues to make progress. For her husband, it may have put things into perspective.

Those who know Olson claim he has changed. He has mellowed some. He's more understanding than he may have been in the past. But Olson doesn't buy what everyone's selling. He's still the same demanding coach who arrived in Tucson 16 years ago. His hand is still on the basketball button.

He's still in control.

"People's perspective is different when they don't know you," he said. "My perspective has always been the same -- my family comes first.

"Perceptions change. You just grin and bear it."

Olson, who brings his young, talented and No. 8-ranked team to the Thomas & Mack Center Saturday to face Iowa State in the opening game of the Las Vegas Shootout doubleheader, has been through the entire spectrum of emotions over the last two years.

The 64-year-old Olson has cut down the nets as a national champion after Arizona defeated Kentucky in 1997. And he has felt the heartache of coping with his wife's battle with cancer this summer. A man who likes to keep things private, Olson was irked when his wife's condition was made public.

But he adjusted. He really had no choice.

"The circumstances were such that you couldn't avoid it," he said. "But she's handled it beautifully."

There was talk that Olson might take a leave of absence or even retire. He never made such comments. And even though he lost three talented players in Mike Bibby, Miles Simon and Michael Dickerson, he also had brought in some talented youngsters and had a good nucleus returning.

Plus, basketball was just what he needed to keep himself busy. And in control again.

So far, the Wildcats are flawless. They're 5-0 heading into Saturday's game with Iowa State, and those watching on ESPN2 or at the Mack will see the components are there to be an elite team come March.

Point guard Jason Terry, he of the knee-high socks, has accepted the leadership assignment and has played well. Center A.J. Bramlett is one of the most underrated big men in America. And when Eugene Edgerson doesn't lose his cool, like he did against BYU earlier this year and wound up knocking out Bret Jepsen with a cheap-shot elbow, he's an effective low-post presence.

If you thought Olson had mellowed to the point where he would overlook such a transgression, guess again. The refs didn't whistle Edgerson for the elbow to Jepsen's head, but Olson suspended the forward for the Wyoming game. He said he would not tolerate such behavior on the court.

His freshmen are playing like freshmen -- brilliant at times, but inconsistent. Richard Jefferson, Ruben Douglas, Rick Anderson and Traves Wilson have ability. But they don't necessarily flash that ability every single night.

"Like I told them in the locker room, we can only go over things so many times," he said following Arizona's 93-70 blowout win over UC Irvine Monday. "Once we get over a few hundred, we would assume that maybe the computer will have registered that up there.

"It's a surprise a minute, really. I don't know where their minds are at times."

He thinks the same thing of the pollsters who have his undefeated team ranked eighth in the nation.

"Right now, in my opinion, we're not in the top 40," he said. "To rate us in the top 10 is an absolute joke. We're not anywhere close to that."

That's vintage Olson -- brutally frank but with a tinge of overreaction that he no doubt will use at some point to motivate his players.

When the UNLV fans see him walk out on the Thomas & Mack floor at 6:30 Saturday night for the first time since 1990, he will be nattily attired in his blue sportcoat and red tie, not a single lock of silver-white hair out of place. They won't be buying any of this "changed" stuff. They'll see one familiar and somewhat reviled image:

Midnight Lute is back.

The guy who convinced Bishop Gorman's Matt Othick to come to Tucson at the last minute instead of staying home to play for Jerry Tarkanian. The guy who whined after Anderson Hunt pushed Kenny Lofton to free up for a game-winning jumper in the 1989 West Regional semifinal in Denver and knock Arizona out of the tournament.

They'll see the guy who accused Hunt of cursing at his staff after diving into the Arizona bench in pursuit of a loose ball in 1990, and the man who demanded an apology and financial retribution when the 1991 Rebels defaced a trophy basketball in the Wildcats' locker room at McKale Center during the NCAA West subregional that year.

And they'll see someone who is enjoying doing what he does.

"I get asked that a lot," Olson said of how much longer he'll coach. "My answer always is, as long as I'm having fun, as long as I enjoy what I'm doing and the energy level is there, and as long as I still have the ability to teach, I'll keep doing it."

He left out one "as long as." As long as he remains in control, he'll remain on the sideline.

And now, more than ever, Olson is in control.