Young talent growing at Arizona
■ DIAPER DANDY: Wildcats’
freshman point guard Mike
Bibby is turning heads as he
leads Arizona
By Chris Hansen
Sports Reporter
What do Damon Stoudamire,
Steve Kerr, Khalid Reeves and
Reggie Geary all have in common?
For starters, they are all currently
on NBA rosters.
And secondly, they all played
point guard for the Arizona Wild
cats.
So it should be no surprise that
one of the Pac-lO’s most talented
players is once again a point guard at
Arizona. But what might be surpris
ing, however, is that this point guard
is an 18-year old true-freshman.
In the 11 games that the Wild
cats have played this season, Mike
Bibby has started, and turned
heads, in them all.
Not only has Bibby put up some
pretty decent numbers, 13n*
points and six assists per game, he
has already established himself as
shooter who can hit a shot when it
matters the most — when the
game is on the line.
In the Wildcats’ conference
opener, Bibby nailed two free
throws with just seconds left on
the clock to give Arizona an 81-80
victory over California.
“It comes from practice,” Bibby
said, referring to the confidence he
has in his shooting ability. “I prac
tice a lot. I’m out there shooting
every day, every time I get a
chance.”
“He has great composure and
poise on the court,” Arizona head
coach Lute Olson said. “He has
outstanding basketball ability and
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he is not a young man who thinks
he knows it all. He came in with a
great attitude.”
With the success Bibby and the
rest of the Arizona team is having
comes the comparisons to all the
former Wildcat standouts at point
guard. But Bibby, whose father is a
former UCLA and NBA player,
and now the head coach at USC,
just takes it all in stride.
“I like it,” admitted the McDon
ald’s and Parade Magazine All
American. It
builds up my
confidence
and I like it
when people
think highly
of me."
Bibby, who
is a Phoenix
native and
has been a fan
of Wildcat
basketball all
BIBBY
ms lire, most enjoys watching for
mer California Golden Bears’
guard Jason Kidd.
“I don’t model myself after
anybody,” Bibby said. “But I do
like to watch the way Kidd pass
es because 1 like to pass too.”
His love for passing is much to
the delight of his Wildcat team
mates. Bibby’s passing ability
has been one of the leading fac
tors in the team’s success.
But even a kid this cool under
pressure and this confident in
himself has to be in awe of his
environment occasionally. For
Bibby, that time came against the
then 7th-ranked North Carolina
Tar Heels at the beginning of the
season.
"I’m never intimidated be
cause I think I can play with any
body if I put my heart into it,”
Bibby said. “But I was real ner
vous, probably as nervous as 1
have ever been. But when I got
out there, it was just like another
game.”
Too bad for the Tar Heels.
With a national television au
dience watching at home, Dick
Vitale screaming Bibby’s name
from the courtside broadcast
table, and 9,000 fans packed into
the stands, Bibby pushed his ner
vousness aside and introduced
himself to the world of college
basketball. He scored 22 points,
dished out five assists and
grabbed two rebounds in the up
set of North Carolina, prompting
Vitale to proclaim Bibby as a"dia
per dandy” and a “prime-time
player.”
“The North Carolina game was
sort of his coming-out party,” Ol
son said. "And there is no ques
tion he played even better than
what he displayed to us in prac
tice. He is an unusually talented
young man and I don’t really
think the job that he is doing is
surprising to the people that
know him or watch him play.”
He didn’t have the same suc
cess in Arizona’s victory against
Stanford on Jan. 4 when Brevin
Knight came to town and taught
Bibby a thing or two about de
fense, holding him to four points
and three assists. But for Bibby, it
is all part of the learning process.
The bottom line was that Arizona
won the game.
“We have a great team,” Bibby
said. “We come at you from dif
ferent angles. We have shooters,
inside players, and great drivers.”
And once again, the Wildcats
also have a great point guard.
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Thursday, January 9, 1997 Oregon Basketball - Oregon Daily Emerald 5b