Richard Jefferson isn’t the first and likely won’t be the last NBA player who saw the Duke Blue Devils end his collegiate career. It’s one of the many reasons some folks just don’t like Duke.
Taken No. 13 overall by the Houston Rockets – and quickly traded to the Nets – Jefferson played three seasons in second-most storied program west of the Mississippi: the Arizona Wildcats.
Led by the legendary Lute Olson, Jefferson’s 2001 squad featured Gilbert Arenas, Luke Walton and Loren Woods. They began the season as the AP’s top team, but went into the Tourney as a second-seed.
Arizona beat up Eastern Illinois then thumped Butler and Ole Miss to meet top-seeded Illinois in the Elite 8. Led by Arenas’ 21 points, the Wildcats beat the Illini by five to reach the Final Four and keep Coach Olson’s dream alive. (Olson, who helped guide the program to a then-NCAA record 23 straight Tourney appearances, had lost his wife, Bobbi, to ovarian cancer earlier that season.)
Arizona comfortably beat the reigning National Champion Michigan State Spartans – led by Jason Richardson and Zach Randolph – in the Final Four and had a date with the Blue Devils in the title game.
But Shane Battier owned the night, finishing with 18 points and 11 boards – hitting several key second-half shots to give Mike Krzyzewski his third title at Duke. Jefferson finished with 19 points and eight boards in the final collegiate game of his career.
In Today’s Tournament Tale, the Cavaliers’ colorful backup forward applies his insight and dry sense of humor to a junior season in Tucson that came close to ending with a title …
View snapshots from the Cavs collegiate days.
In the East, we mostly hear about the tradition of programs like North Carolina, Duke, Syracuse, Kentucky, etc. What makes Arizona special?
Richard Jefferson: It starts with Coach (Lute) Olson – obviously he was one of those faces of college basketball for 30 years. He really brought a family atmosphere to the team. He was like your grandfather. He didn’t cuss, he didn’t yell, he never got technicals.
He walked into the room and it was like your grandfather was teaching you how to play the game the right way. And the guys that all came back – the Sean Elliotts, the Steve Kerrs, the Judd Buechlers – there were so many guys who came back, hung out on campus, and they just really helped the atmosphere of the program.
How did Coach Olson and the team deal with his wife passing early in the season?
Jefferson: It was really tough.
We started out that year No. 1 in the country and then we won the Maui Classic. But his wife got progressively worse and worse. And he started spending more time away. Then we won only four of our next seven games and we almost dropped out of the top 25 – after being No. 1 to start the year.
After Coach Olson’s wife passed, he came back a week later – because he saw a group of young men that had dreams and had the potential to do something great, and he put his emotions on hold and came back to try to help us, which shows you the type of man that he was.
What was that team like – with some pretty big personalities like you and Luke Walton and Gilbert Arenas?
Jefferson: The thing is: Luke and I were actually the quiet ones. Gilbert was Gilbert. And we had some other guys – Eugene Edgerson, Loren Woods, Michael Wright – who recently passed away. But, our team, we just had different guys from a lot of different places. But it was all still one goal. One goal to win a Championship and I think, personalities aside, we were focused on that.
You guys still keep in touch?
Jefferson: A lot of us keep in touch. Some of us lost some contact. Again, we’re 35 years old. But the Arizona bond you see is still very strong. There was a scholarship fund set up in Michael Wright’s name at Arizona after he passed away.
And there were like 40-some guys who went back for Coach Olson’s 80th birthday party two years ago.
So we still keep in contact.
It’s a very tight group. And I think that’s part of the reason why Sean Miller’s had success. Once he took over the job, Arizona guys immediately tried to help him – making phonecalls and helping him with recruits and letting him know that he had the support of the whole alumni group.
You’re happy with Sean Miller?
Jefferson: I think he’s done a great job. I don’t think they could have found anybody better to lead the program for the next 20, 30 years.
Let’s talk about your experience in the 2001 Tournament. You go up against Michigan State – the reigning National Champs …
Jefferson: That was pretty easy. I’m not gonna lie.
Unfortunately, Gilbert got hurt in the first game of the Final Four and Luke Walton broke his thumb in the final practice before we got to the Final Four.
So Luke got it taped and then he got it injected with cortisone shots so it would numb up before each game and that’s how he was able to play, but he wasn’t himself.
But then you run into a red-hot Duke team …
Jefferson: One of those guys being injured – Gilbert or Walton – maybe we had a chance.
But you go against Duke, who was at full strength, they were playing great after that big upset of Maryland. And we were a little banged up. A couple of questionable foul calls in the first half and we just couldn’t overcome that.
They were the National Champs, they deserved it. But I feel like that wasn’t our best team. We weren’t at our best.
How is the NCAA Tournament different now than it was in your day?
Jefferson: How is it different? The talent pool is crap. The talent is terrible.
If you don’t think so, here are the players from my Final Four just 15 years ago. Jason Richardson, Zach Randolph, Charlie Bell from Michigan State. Me, Gilbert Arenas, Luke Walton and Loren Woods at Arizona. From Duke, you had Chris Duhon, Jay Williams, Carlos Boozer, Shane Battier and Mike Dunleavy, Jr. At Maryland, there was Juan Dixon, Steve Blake, Lonny Baxter and Chris Wilcox. And that was just the Final Four!
And we were a 2-seed.
That Final Four from 15 years ago had 15 players who played 10 years and left an impact on the NBA. Now you look at the Final Four, it’s hard to watch the games.
You get these Butlers and Wichita States and VCUs and they make good runs because they have older, more developed guys that are used to playing together. And they’re going against mostly freshman and sophomores.
Is it true that you claimed that Arizona alumni – newly-acquired forward Channing Frye (‘05) and assistant Bret Briemaier (’08) – ruined the program?
Jefferson: Oh yeah, they ruined the program!! Mainly Channing. Channing’s team had a 16-point lead with four minutes to play in the Elite 8 and lost it. And Arizona hasn’t been to the Final Four since then.
They’ve been to the Elite 8 a few times since then, but it’s not the same.