the 1995-96 Arizona mens basketball team

I was attempting to think back to when Reggie Geary was playing basketball for
the University of Arizona. The 1995-96 team started out its' season with a win over Long Beach State in the Pre-Season NIT by 91-57.
Arizonas' next opponent was Arkansas, in a game played in Fayetteville.Wow. It was a dream
come true for me. I'm still trying to piece the memories together:
I drove to Fayetteville on my lunch hour. Was late getting back, but no one seemed to mind.
It was $15 for a ticket. All seats cost $15,each. I remember asking for an Arizona/visiting team
ticket. Now that got me a strange look from the lady at the ticket window.
I had never been to Bud Walton arena before.After buying my ticket, I tried to map out the
area in my mind, for when I came to the game. I walked across the street from the ticket office,
and approached the arena. The first person I came across was a young woman carrying her
books.
"Where are the entrance doors ?"
The pleasant response made my day; "Any door you want to go in" she said.
Thinking back, I should of bought two tickets, but I was in 'enemy' territory.
What 'hog fan' would want to go to a game with a fan of the opposing team ?
This was at the height of the Nolan Richardson era, when Arkansas played a trapping style of
defense. a few years after their National Championship.
Arizona had just lost their Mighty Mouse, Damon Stoudamire in the NBA draft of 1995.
So who were these Cats I was going to see playing ?
Names like Corey Williams, Ben Davis-a transfer from Kansas (?) , Michael Dickerson,
Kelvin Eafon-just before he became better known for being a football Wildcat,
I think Miles Simon played as freshman(?) , and Reggie Geary was the best defender on
Arizonas team. He would have been the best on almost any team,that year.
Rounding out the names I recall, at center, Joseph Blair .
Strange, but I found that Joseph Blair is still playing professional ball in Russia.
There is a video on YouTube of him punching a player for the other team.
The game ended up with 16 players ejected, mysteriously, Joe Blair was not one of them.
The game continued with 4 on 4 players for Spartak St.Petersburg-Joes team,
who eventually lost to Lokomotiv Rostov.That game ended with only 3 players on the court for each team.
Back to 1995, my first problem was finding a place to park. I stopped about 10 blocks from the stadium, near a convenience store. There was no traffic in the area,it was a residential street.
I parked in front of the store,but on the street.Not in their parking lot.
Within 2-3 blocks, I was part of a mass of people moving toward Bud Walton arena.
There was about 20 people in line, to get in the door. This was one of the side doors;I just followed
the crowd I was with. Lucky, I only missed my seat by a few sections.
Twenty people ahead of me was in the door in less than 2 minutes,just enough time to
halve their ticket, and receive the stub back from the gate attendant.
The arena is fairly spacious inside,and it was easy to mill about. My first order of business was to find a mens room!
Eventually I found my seat; there was a television right above it. I could look up, and watch the replays fairly easily. Sweet. It was a spacious arena,the best I have been in.
The teams were shooting, and doing their warm-up drills on the floor.
Soon, the teams disappeared, and the Arkansas cheerleaders started the crowd to
'call the hogs' . Woo-pig. Sooey. Everyone around me is cheering along, but at least we didn't have to stand for their arrival.
Soon, the 'Cats came out, and started the layup drill.
I just kept shouting, "Let's go,U of A!" Which, both teams were the U of A . So , deep in enemy
territory, I had found my place among the hog faithful. I'm sure they knew it was my first time in Bud Walton, because I didn't do any of the Arkansas cheers. Blah.
I kept whispering, out loud, Don't look back. Take this win, and move on.
Arizona did win, 83-73 . The next round was in New York ,against Michigan.
We went to grandmas house in Iowa for Thanksgiving. Grandma never had cable TV,
so I laid on my bed, listened to the game on a walkman .
The Cats won 86-79,and then went on to beat Georgetown 91-81 in the final.
Three weeks later, I was in Tucson for Christmas. My brother inlaw , had two tickets to
the Syracuse game on December 23,1995. It was a company perk, he could take a client to the
game if there was a client interested. But since he had family in town, he was't going.
The ticket was in row 29, which was fairly close to the floor.
The 'Cuse gave Arizona its first loss of the season, 79-70 .
On December 28th, I paid $23 for one ticket in row 15. It was close enough to the floor,
that the players could hear me cheering. I might have been the only one who was clapping my hands when Joseph Blair made an easy dunk; I swear he looked right at me.Raising his hands,
asking for more applause! Not too long after, he blew a dunk, and Lute benched him.
Joseph was a little too energetic that game against Texas A&M . But the Cats won, 88-44.
It was the Fiesta Bowl Classic. Up next was Rutgers in the final.
My brother inlaw took me to this game, and we rode with his good friend Paul.
It was funny because, they liked to sit in the upper decks. So there I was, down in row 21,
and these guys went and sat in the 'nosebleed seats' . Right next to an iron girder.
The Cats won,79-70. That was the last of their games I attended that season.
During the season, coach Lute Olson reached a pair of head coaching milestones, as he won his 300th game as the UA mentor and attained his 500th career victory as a college head coach.
That was the year the Cats made the sweet sixteen, where they lost to Kansas , in Denver.
Reggie Geary was drafted by the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Ben Davis was drafted by the Phoenix Suns.
Joseph Blair was drafted by the Seattle Supersonics.
I haven't been to Bud Walton arena since.