By BRYAN ROY
The Orange County Register

[The back story: This appeared as a "Morning Read" feature story on A1 of The Register]

David Bagga scanned the gym and saw something familiar:

Fear.

As shoes squeaked and balls bounced and grown men grunted and cursed and sweated, Bagga knew the question in the gut of every one of the 200 players trying out for a precious handful of the low-pay, high-potential spots in pro basketball’s minor league, the Development League.

The question was simple: “Am I good enough?”

Bagga has been asking so long it’s almost not worth asking anymore.

At Mater Dei, the high school basketball power in Santa Ana, Bagga was the team’s rah-rah guy.

Coaches and fans and sportswriters love rah-rah guys. Athletes – those with ambition, anyway – sometimes don’t. For Bagga, being the rah-rah guy meant he practiced and learned plays and did everything he was supposed to do. But, come game time, he spent a lot of time on the bench, jumping up and clapping and slapping butts when other kids scored.

Bagga, a shooting guard, averaged one point a game his senior year.

Somehow, it was enough.

Bagga next did something nobody figured he would – or could – do. He made the basketball team at the University of Arizona. He was a walk-on, a non-scholarship guy. And, naturally, he was that team’s rah-rah guy, too.

So, if nothing else, Bagga knows basketball. Last month, as he tried out for the D-League at a gym in Hawthorne against men with more life experience than he did, Bagga could see and hear and almost smell the stakes. If the coaches and scouts in this gym didn’t feel like they got full effort, his last and only option is to settle as a rec league player and search for a real job.

That’s fear.

And, weirdly, Bagga wasn’t feeling it.

•••

Almost all walk-ons hang up their shoes after playing for a prestigious college basketball program.

“I’m not ready to do that,” Bagga says.

Bagga has tasted something few athletes – even decent ones – get. At Arizona, Bagga was part of a big-time, Division 1 team, a minor stud on campus and a major inspirational story. Throughout his college career, when Arizona was drilling somebody at home, the kid from Foothill Ranch got to hear an entire arena scream his name:

“Da-vid Bag-ga! Da-vid Bag-ga!”

It was tongue-in-cheek, something the fans chanted during blowouts. But it represented a real desire to get him some playing time. The fans admired his energy and his attitude and the way he used his towel as a lasso after key dunks and surges in momentum.

“He’s just one of those great guys that you just love to have on the team,” said ex-Arizona wing Chase Budinger, who was drafted in the second round of the 2009 NBA Draft. “He never complained.”

But all that love didn’t translate into much during games. Bagga’s career at Arizona amounted to 19 points scored over 40 minutes spread out over nearly four seasons.

His highlight (just one) came March 7 of this year, Senior Night, the last home game of the season.

“When we first got into the arena, I almost started crying.… I didn’t know if I could warm up.”

But, as always, Bagga did warm up. And, as always, his body cooled off during the game.

Then, with 23 seconds remaining, and the Wildcats beating the Stanford Cardinal by 11 points, Bagga got the signal to enter the game. He sprang up from the bench and took off his warm-up shirt and…

Chills.

In the stands, 14,545 Arizona Wildcat fans rose to their feet, giving Bagga a standing ovation. It was no joke. It was respect.

Then, Bagga gave something back.

With about 12 seconds left in the game, a lazy pass inbound was intercepted by Arizona guard Nic Wise, who relayed the ball to a wide-open Bagga, who spotted up for an NBA 3-pointer, and…

Swish.

Bagga’s teammates became rah-rah guys – they mobbed him as the buzzer sounded. The arena roared; the TV camera shook.

The shot made SportsCenter’s Top 10 plays.

He saluted the students and fans. In the post-game Senior Night ceremony, he kissed the half-court logo which read “Lute & Bobbi Olson Court” – the retired Arizona Hall-of-fame coach that first gave Bagga a chance.

“It was something that I’ll remember for the rest of my life. It was one of the biggest things to ever happen to me.”

His mother, Liz Bagga, wore sunglasses to hide her tears.

•••

Something about this rah-rah guy is different. Years of practicing at Arizona, a couple thousand hours practicing against recent NBA draftees such as Jerryd Bayless, Jordan Hill and Budinger, have transformed Bagga.

He’s 6-foot-4 and 180 pounds – a little undersized for the pros. When he wasn’t cheering his teammates and hamming it up for the home crowd, Bagga was sweating and learning and developing something that ambitious athletes long for: Talent.

During the three-day tryout in Hawthorne last month, Bagga averaged 10 points a game, including a perfect 6-for-6 on three-pointers. This week, he’s in Las Vegas for a European basketball camp. Next week, he’ll be in New York for the same thing.

These tryouts are prelude to a D-League draft, to be held in November. After that, there’s a possibility for a minor league paycheck or a chance to play in Europe.

Bagga is training hard: two hours of pickup ball in the morning, followed by an hour of weight lifting and two more hours of pickup ball at an Irvine gym.

And there’s his book.

Bagga has been writing his account of his four years at Arizona, naming it “Walk This Way: Memoirs of a Walk-on,” He hopes to get it published by November.

“Because of the economy we’re in right now, (my parents) said ‘Go for it. You have nothing to lose’,” said Bagga, who graduated from Arizona with a 3.0 GPA in a degree that might as well be basketball marketing.

“They said ‘If this is what you want to do, we’re going to support you 100 percent. But don’t chase this until you’re 30 years old.’ I’m only going to give it another six to eight months.”

Maybe by then, he’ll have a new chapter to write.

Contact the writer: 714-796-7824 or broy@ocregister.com

[ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER, A1]

By Bryan Roy
Arizona Daily Wildcat

Sean Miller came here to continue traditions.

And now that the Two Million Dollar Man inked a seven-year deal, why would Arizona opt to symbolically destroy the 22 years of history that attracted Miller to Tucson?

About 50 cameras and media members thought they had captured the transition into Arizona basketball’s next era last Thursday. As Miller took questions at his inaugural press conference, the real transition had already begun.

It happened on the floor, where the action always happens.

The east end of McKale Center’s court looked worse than Reggie Theus would’ve looked in front of the microphone.

Construction workers uprooted stacks of wood, leaving McKale’s base exposed. The barren concrete felt coated with a film of dried-up sweat and tears that had seeped through the hardwood, accumulated from players like Jason Terry, Andre Iguodala and Gilbert Arenas.

As Miller, Tucson’s newest poster child, thanked Lute Olson for attending the press conference, the Hall-of-Famer witnessed the destruction of his namesake’s floor.

The construction only paused for the 50-minute on-air period when Miller spoke, but the silence of the drills spoke volumes.

Talk about entering a new era of Arizona basketball.

The direction? A new court that visually erases what McKale Center represented.

Since 1987, the court in Tucson’s main attraction has been adorned by the classic saguaro cactus logo. It separated McKale Center from other boring cookie-cutter floor plans in almost every college basketball arena – an oversized school logo with a small signature of the program’s respective “founder” along the sideline.

Beginning next season, the UA will display the school’s block “A” at halfcourt and replace the cactus logo with Lute Olson’s signature, saying goodbye to McKale’s classic identity that separates this school’s 25 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances from every other BCS conference bottom-feeder.

With all the state’s massive cookie-cutter housing developments, from Phoenix to Tucson and every worthless town in between, maybe it’s time McKale Center became just another statistic.

McKale’s old-school cactus logo existed for the same reasons Fenway Park’s Green Monster and Wrigley Field’s ivy do. When the old Boston Garden was destroyed, the Celtics kept the same floor plan: the classic parquet style that still exists today in Boston’s modern arena.

Not that Arizona can compete with Boston’s championship banners in the rafters by any means, but the tradition is relative to this small college basketball town. It’s a fixture. It’s iconic.

Arizona’s big cactus logo represents the desert that evolved into a basketball oasis.

It represents everything Point Guard U stands for in the state’s mountainous landscape and cactus surrounding.

It represents the Steve Kerrs, Sean Elliotts, Damon Stoudamires, Miles Simons, Mike Bibbys, Jason Gardners and Salim Stoudamires.

Watch highlights of those guys. It’s thrilling how many All-Americans have stepped foot on that exact cactus.

And when some 17-year-old AAU phenom walks in the same footsteps as his predecessors, how can he deny the nostalgia?

McKale Center might be an outdated building with oddly-placed yellow seats in the second level, but glamour can’t replace charm.

A jumbotron can’t produce atmosphere.

A fresh coat of paint can’t create tradition.

But it can sure erase it.

- Bryan Roy is a journalism sophomore. He can be reached at sports@wildcat.arizona.edu.

[Originally published in the Arizona Daily Wildcat]

[The back story: Every media outlet missed this opening scene unfolding in the bathroom. It turned out to be the most symbolic point.]

INDIANAPOLIS – The media assembled in Arizona’s locker room following its blowout loss to Louisville, but unknowingly rushed past a touching scene in the team’s bathroom.

The brief exchange spoke volumes.

Unnoticed by the herd of reporters and cameramen preoccupied with player reactions, UA interim head coach Russ Pennell and his father, Dewey, quietly gave each other one last “thank you,” followed by a hug.

Both Pennells parted ways with red, teary eyes. Russ left to do his final post-game press conference as Arizona’s head coach. Dewey lingered around the locker room, absorbing the atmosphere one last time with the guys who accompanied his unusual journey during the past five months.

Tears, not because the Wildcats suffered their all-time worst loss in the NCAA Tournament, but because the ride was over.

In a season where the Wildcats used all nine lives and then some, Indianapolis ended the rocky road of 2008-09.

“I just thanked him for, you know, bringing me along basically,” said a choked up Dewey, almost unable to finish the sentence. “This really meant a lot to me. I’ve really enjoyed working with him and working with the guys. You’re around these guys and you learn to love them.”

Before the game, the Wildcats were written off like a bad check. Overdrafted. There went their credit, and the house money Arizona played with into its Sweet 16 run.

By halftime, Russ symbolically stepped down off the raised court and departed into the locker room as a lame duck.

After having stood on the big stage for the past few weeks, the end of his magical run stung like lemon juice in an open wound.

This time, David Bagga nailed a final-minute 3-pointer and nobody flinched. The bench didn’t budge. The Big Three just sat sidelined, emotionless, staring into the vast rafters filled predominately with Louisville fans at Lucas Oil Stadium.

With seconds remaining in what felt like a 75-point lead, Louisville’s Kyle Kuric dunked home an “F-you” two points after Russ Pennell waved off the troops – adding a jalapeño kick to that lemon-juice-filled, wide-open wound.

But while a double-digit loss like Friday night’s catastrophe against Louisville would’ve spelled disaster at any other point in the season, the post-game atmosphere in the locker room felt strange.

Strange, as in the anticipation that Arizona faces in the next upcoming weeks. Or days – who knows? That’s the strangest, most interesting twist. A group of 11 guys that have been through a roller coast of emotions throughout the season – they’re far, far from settled or content heading into the bleak 2009-10 campaign.

“There’s just so much uncertainty,” said UA forward Zane Johnson. “We don’t know who the recruits are going to be, if there are any coming in. We don’t know who our coaches will be. It’s all up to Mr. Livengood and how he handles things.”

Meanwhile, across the street, the carcass of the 1997 National Championship lies in a demolished pile of scrap metal and ruins as the RCA Dome’s last remains.

Now, it’s time for another era to begin rebuilding Tucson.

“The University of Arizona is a basketball icon. It has been for 25 years,” Russ Pennell said. “And there’s tradition, and tap into that tradition. Whoever comes in needs to understand what Lute built. And go ahead and build on top of that.”

So where does Russ go from here?

Where does a guy who suddenly went from radio commentator to Sweet 16 coach end up after shedding the interim tag?

“I will make a bold statement right now,” he said. “I will be coaching somewhere next year. OK? It might be my daughter’s eighth-grade team, but I will be coaching somewhere next year.”

Chances are, if Russ wants a high-profile assistant job, or head coaching job, he’ll have to leave the state of Arizona.

Certainly, quality of life will remain his biggest factor in wherever Russ ends up – that’s something that contributed to his move from Phoenix to Tucson. With two daughters in elementary school (Morgan, 12, and Emily, 9) the Pennell family’s future looks uncertain right now.

But Russ’ efforts in a Sweet 16-caliber season have surely proven him on the highest level.

At the very least, he’ll never have to buy a drink in Tucson again.

“I think it’s a weird situation he was put in, but I think he did a phenomenal job with us,” Johnson said.

Russ’ counterpart, associate head coach Mike Dunlap, will head back to Denver in the next few days after he finishes up academic paperwork, ensuring that the next regime makes a smooth transition.

Just like that, Russ and Dunlap will clean out their desks soon – if they haven’t already.

“I’ll be out quick, though,” Dunlap said.

Oh, how quickly it went by.

[Full story in the Arizona Daily Wildcat]

[The back story: Not only did the Wildcats leave it all on the floor, but so did we after covering all six games Miami hosted that weekend.]

MIAMI – They left it all on the floor.

Every last drop of energy, drip of sweat and dab of effort – the Wildcats left it all on the floor in Miami.

No regrets. No what-ifs, should-haves or second-guesses: Those are the most painful conversations any competitive athlete must endure after losing.

And over the past two years, you’ve seen plenty of instances in which Arizona played soft or uninspired when it mattered most. You’ve seen lost potential, underachievers and heartbreakers in a gradual decline of the once-elite program.

Not this postseason. Not in Miami.

The Arizona Wildcats are in the Sweet 16.

Can you believe it?

“We left it all on the court tonight, and I think it showed on the scoreboard,” UA guard Kyle Fogg said softly, as if it was all that easy.

For one more week, forget rumors about the next head coach or Jordan Hill’s NBA Draft stock.

Instead let Duncan Budinger dish out high fives in the Arizona fan section – one for every point his son, Chase, scores.

Let UA interim head coach Russ Pennell soak up the CBS airtime with post-game interviews. And as he walks across the court heading into the locker room, let him wave to the loyal UA fans and point at his jubilant wife and daughter standing in the Arizona section.

Let UA walk-on David Bagga chest-bump Wilbur on the floor of an NBA arena.

Because after 2,200 miles of traveling, 80 minutes of basketball and four months of brotherhood, that’s how the scene went down in Miami on Sunday as the clock read 00.0.

The same team that lost its Hall-of-Fame head coach and barely snuck into the Tournament is the team in the Sweet 16.

“I’m speechless,” said UA wing Zane Johnson. “This team has come so far. So many ups and downs: it’s just a great feeling right now.

“We definitely deserve to be in (the Tournament),” Johnson added. “All the critics – they can just look at that now and soak it in.”

Soak it in. Let it soak in.

“Man, Sweet 16, how sweet it is,” said UA forward Fendi Onobun. “It’s going to be a nice plane trip home. (Monday) morning, just let it soak in, celebrate, then get back to the practice court.”

When asked Saturday in the locker room about the thought of Arizona sitting 40 minutes away from the Sweet 16, UA forward Jamelle Horne nodded his head and instantly said, “It’s been a long season.”

It certainly has, and it’s been an even longer span of time since Arizona basketball resurfaced on the national stage for good reasons.

Not the reasons like collapsing to Illinois in the 2005 Elite Eight; or Lute Olson’s undisclosed leave, return, then retirement; or recruits leaving; or players transferring; or NCAA infractions; or losses to UAB.

None of that. Believe it or not, a “Da-vid Bag-ga” chant echoed through the American Airlines Arena as the final seconds ran off the clock.

The clock counted down to the Sweet 16.

“Everyone counted us out, I think, especially towards the beginning when we were 11-8 and even after our seven-game run,” Fogg said. “I think we’re playing our best basketball of the season right now, and it’s a good time to peak.”

Arizona’s aggressiveness on defense paid off yet again, making Cleveland State look like it was dribbling in circles in the first half. As two Arizona defenders suffocated the ball with pressure, the Vikings’ Cinderella story gasped and heaved for air.

The Wildcats took a commanding double-digit lead into halftime despite foul troubles to the Big Three. But without Nic Wise, the steering wheel, or Jordan Hill, the gas pedal – how would Russ Pennell’s run-down machine with 250,000 miles keep chuggin’ to Indianapolis?

The breakdown lane – and bad, bad Tournament memories – looked inevitable.

When Cleveland State cut its deficit to four points with 10 minutes left, and then again with 6:17 remaining, the arena erupted.

The leftover Syracuse fans cheered for the Vikings. And it goes without saying that the leftover Arizona State University fans did, too.

Maybe fans at American Airlines Arena wanted a true Cinderella story – meaning, a school that hasn’t been to the Big Dance every season for the past 25 years.

While a No. 12-seed in the NCAA Tournament might seem like an unlikely series of upsets, the NBA-talented Wildcats certainly proved at isolated points this season that they could compete with anybody.

Maybe they’re not a Cinderella on paper. Maybe the No. 12 seed just shows Arizona’s regular season’s inconsistencies and time it took for important role players like Kyle Fogg and Jamelle Horne to eventually develop.

Boy, did they develop, and just in time, too.

With 3:13 remaining and a pesky Vikings squad still lingering by a handful, Fogg intercepted a pass, drove down the court and dished it to Horne, who slammed home a nine point lead and ticket to Indy.

In that instant, Fogg showed his developed awareness on defense, improved ball-handling skills and better control in an extremely fast-tempo game.

That’s just one instance of one player and how far he’s come. There are 11 guys on the roster who can share the experience, too.

“We said it all year long. We say it to each other every single night: We’re family. We stay together,” Bagga said. “We definitely knew we were capable, we just had to stay there, work hard with each other and believe in each other.”

They believed through the 11-8 start, Selection Sunday and beyond.

— Bryan Roy is a journalism sophomore. He can be reached at sports@wildcat.arizona.edu

[Originally published in the Arizona Daily Wildcat]

By Bryan Roy
Arizona Daily Wildcat

[The back story: Someone once told me you'll always remember your first death threat. Well, this was mine. I told Mom not to read the comments on this story.]

Wild pool party. Alcohol by the gallons. He’s fondling his girlfriend without much regard for those watching.

Hand up her skirt. Minding his own business. Unknowingly, he’s targeted for off-field mayhem that every athlete at every level fears the most.

From a few feet away, some complete stranger catches the scene on camera and posts the video on YouTube.com.

Within hours it’s on the popular gossip Web site TheDirty.com in a prime spot for humiliation, embarrassment and reputation homicide.

Josh Lewis, a sophomore at the time, had some explaining to do — to his friends, his family and most notably his football coach, Mike Stoops. The walk-on UA defensive end needed a few weeks to sort through the mess and clear the air filled with gossip and outrage calling for drastic discipline.

So Stoops suspended him.

“People get a kick out of other people’s mistakes and bad decisions and there’s really nothing you can do about it,” said Lewis in his first public interview now more than one year after the incident and aftermath.

Stoops and school officials tried to hush the gossip. Too late. It’s way too shocking and especially interesting because the bad guy is an Arizona defensive end.

Athletes’ misbehaviors always become a target in itself, but that’s not why he was portrayed as the bad guy.

Lewis is black. The woman is white. Outraged viewers immediately assumed it was sexual assault or rape, calling for everything from expulsion to jail time.

In fact, no charges were even pressed against Lewis.

Nobody knew who the girl was, or if she was actually yelling “Stop, Josh” as heard in the video. The unknowns only fueled an anonymous onslaught of people portraying him as a criminal.

Now beginning his senior year — and permanently removed from the football team — Lewis and his girlfriend at the time still don’t know who posted the video of them.

More than 100,000 views later, the video from the infamous Starr Pass pool party was taken off YouTube.

But the wounds will always remind him of the time he was a victim.

• • •

Mega off-campus apartment complexes boast some of the biggest pool parties around. When Playboy ranked UA its No. 5 party school last year, many credited those signature pool parties and videos capturing them on YouTube.

At his apartment on a Saturday morning in April, Lewis began pre-drinking with his girlfriend and her roommates. Just like the thousands of students that arrived at Starr Pass, they soaked up the scene, had a fun time and “just started hooking up wherever,” Lewis said.

“We didn’t care at all who was watching or what else was going on,” Lewis said.

Somebody wasn’t only watching.

The next day, friends informed Lewis that a video had been posted on TheDirty.com and urged him to take a look.

“When I did I freaked out,” Lewis said. “When my girlfriend and her friends saw it they were all in shock. Everyone was asking my girlfriend questions about me thinking that she had been sexually assaulted. I told my parents what happened and they were upset that I would let myself be vulnerable to such an attack.”

Lewis compared his aftermath to the Henry Louis Gates incident earlier this summer. Gates, a black Harvard scholar, was arrested outside his own home after officers received a 911 call of potential trespassing. It sparked racial debate and tension, just like the treatment Lewis received.

One message board poster on goazcats.com said: “That guy should be kicked off the team, kicked out of the University and placed in prison.”

Had the races been reversed, perhaps the controversy wouldn’t have become a story of its own.

“In my situation I was hooking up with my girlfriend and it was made to look like a rape incident,” Lewis said. “The comments I received were basically referring to me as a monster of a human being. Even talking about this now just reminds me of just how bad the cruelty and ignorance of people can be.”

• • •

As if adjusting to college life is difficult enough, student-athletes face little margin for error in a quicker-than-normal maturation process. They’re not just students — they’re public figures facing ensuing pressures in the public eye.

Each year, student-athletes get an orientation specifically designed for instances like Lewis’ pool party mishap. One segment gaining more and more attention recently: UA athletics now takes a firm approach to curb careless usage of social networks.

While the UA can’t legally censor a student’s freedom of speech, it highly recommends student-athletes to keep photos private.

“If I do something bizarre at a party that I know is going to be not very good, I might get pictures taken,” UA athletics director Jim Livengood said in an interview with the Daily Wildcat earlier this year. “When I figure out the next day that it can be harmful, it’s too late. That’s the scary thing.”

Lewis, a Phoenix native, can echo that same awareness having experienced it first hand.

“Back then I was just an unheard of walk-on athlete and I really didn’t see myself as any different from any other college student,” Lewis said. “I quickly realized that me being an athlete means something to a lot of people.”

• • •

So far there haven’t been any long-term affects from the incident. He’s still gotten numerous jobs despite being one Google search away from a potential red flag to employers.

But his personal record is still clean and Stoops will even write his letter of recommendation for medical school.

“It was emotionally and spiritually tough for a very long time, but I feel like such a stronger person for being able to endure something like that.

“It’s just the way the world works,” Lewis said.

Unfortunately, it still is.

— Bryan Roy is a journalism junior. He can be reached at media@wildcat.arizona.edu.

[Originally published in the Arizona Daily Wildcat]

Cinderella, meet Cupid.

Sure, it wasn’t love at first sight, but these Wildcats earned every last ounce of love – the hard way. They’ve trapped you back into the Big Dance, clawing their way into not only relevance, but a newfound, old-fashioned sense of excitement.

Valentine’s Day goes down as the day that made everyone believers – believers that a team’s camaraderie and chemistry can overcome the most bizarre adversities.

Valentine’s Day: the day Hollywood begins scripting its new against-all-odds sports flick – starring Russ Pennell, goatee and all.

Valentine’s Day: the day Tucson fell in love with basketball again.

Saturday morning in McKale Center, the Wildcats officially entered the building through the Zona Zoo, slappin’ high-fives and showing love to the students and fans who haven’t seen a win over UCLA since 2005.

On his way down, a fired-up UA forward Fendi Onobun put his hand on a sign that read “BELIEVE.”

He believed; he always did.

Now you do, too.

The Wildcats captured the hearts of all 14,611 fans in attendance who made an overpacked McKale Center feel absolutely electric.

Arizona (18-8, 8-5 Pacific 10 Conference) led by as many as 25 points against No. 11 UCLA, completing an improbable sweep over the Los Angeles schools this weekend.

“Coming here, beating UCLA was one of my top priorities,” said UA wing Chase Budinger. “It feels great. I just can’t say any more than that. That reputation of us being soft I don’t think is with us anymore.”

This team essentially survived on life support just four weeks ago, and has risen above and beyond all expectations.

That’s what seven straight wins will do. That’s what winning can do, period.

UA interim head coach Russ Pennell candidly spoke Friday about the same program that was turned inside-out merely four months ago.

“When we started, how much was really expected? We were hoping we didn’t embarrass people,” Pennell said. “Even the fans, it was wait and see. And I don’t blame them.”

He used the word “embarrass”. At the beginning of the season, Pennell was worried about embarrassing the program, its tradition and reputation.

Saturday’s game bled tradition. Ex-Wildcats and current NBA pros Jerryd Bayless and Jason Terry sat together court-side after giving the team a pep talk before the game.

During the second half, the “Ooh Ahh” man signed Terry’s left-hand cast. That’s homecoming love.

Soaking up the post-game environment, UA walk-on David Bagga jumped on the media table in front of the Zona Zoo, giving the fans some love.

Officially, you’ve seen it all.

“We feed off our crowd,” said UA point guard Nic Wise. “The last couple games they packed the stands. It’s big for us.”

Added UCLA forward Alfred Aboya: “I don’t know what happened today – whether it was the crowd or the pressure – but we didn’t do what we normally do.”

So here they are, your hottest team in the Pacific 10 Conference, if not the nation. The crowds have caught on, as will the attention while the streak continues.

Then, there’s that other streak: the program’s coveted 24 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances.

Number 25 never felt so close – with three weekends remaining, the Wildcats sit two wins away from a 20-win season.

Five games left on the schedule, including two home contests – and there’s no hotter venue than McKale Center.

As the post-game press conference began, Budinger turned to UA forward Jordan Hill, and said “There’s a lot more media people here than about a month ago.”

Added Pennell: “People have just caught on. The fans have been absolutely phenomenal. I just think that our team has kind of played under the radar.”

And that’s the way he likes it.

It’s been easy to fly under the national radar as a mediocre team seeking an identity in a jumbled conference.

It’s still a jumbled conference, but now Pennell has the team with the Pac-10’s longest league-winning streak of the season.

That’s the stuff ESPN loves, not to mention the fact that this team might be America’s best story-line in college basketball this season.

“I hope everyone forgets about us and leaves us alone,” Pennell joked at the end of the press conference.

It’s hard to forget true love.

[Originally published in the Arizona Daily Wildcat]