The 2002–03 Arizona Wildcats men's basketball team represented the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it ...

during the

2002–03 NCAA Division I men's basketball season The 2002–03 NCAA Division I men's basketball season began on November 10, 2002, progressed through the regular season and conference tournaments, and concluded with the 2003 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament Championship Game on Ap ...

. Head coach

Lute Olson Robert Luther "Lute" Olson (September 22, 1934 – August 27, 2020) was an American basketball coach, who was inducted into both the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame. He was the head co ...

led the team in his 20th season at Arizona. The team played their home games at

McKale Center McKale Memorial Center is an athletic arena in the southwest United States, located on the campus of the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona. As the home of the university's Wildcats basketball team of the Big 12 Conference, it is primari ...

Tucson, Arizona Tucson (; ; ) is a city in Pima County, Arizona, United States, and its county seat. It is the second-most populous city in Arizona, behind Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix, with a population of 542,630 in the 2020 United States census. The Tucson ...

as members of the

Pacific-10 Conference The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the Western United States. It participates at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I level for all sports, and its Co ...

. The team earned the program's 10th Pacific-10 Conference championship with a record of 17–1 in conference play and 28–4 overall.

Roster

Schedule and results

, - !colspan=9 style="background:#; color:white;", Regular season , - !colspan=9 style="background:#;", Pacific-10 tournament , - !colspan=9 style="background:#;", NCAA tournament , -

NCAA Division I tournament

* West ** Arizona (#1 seed) 80, Vermont 51 ** Arizona 96, Gonzaga 95 (2OT) ** Arizona 88, Notre Dame 71 ** Kansas 78, Arizona 75

Rankings

2003 NCAA Tournament

Arizona was invited to the NCAA tournament for the 19th-straight season, receiving the top seed in the West Region. The team advanced to the Elite Eight by defeating (16-seed)

Vermont Vermont () is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, New York (state), New York to the west, and the Provinces and territories of Ca ...

, (9) Gonzaga, and (5) Notre Dame before falling 78-75 to (2)

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

Awards

; Jason Gardner *Consensus NCAA All-America Second Team * Pac-10 All-Conference Team ;

Luke Walton Luke Theodore Walton (born March 28, 1980) is an American professional basketball coach and former player who is the lead assistant coach for the Detroit Pistons of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played 10 seasons in the NBA as a ...

*Pac-10 All-Conference Team ;

Hassan Adams Hassan Olawale Adams (born June 20, 1984) is an American former professional basketball player. He played college basketball for the Arizona Wildcats. Adams was selected in the 2006 NBA draft by the New Jersey Nets and played in the National Bas ...

*Pac-10 All-Freshman Team ;

Andre Iguodala Andre Tyler Iguodala ( ; born January 28, 1984) is an American former professional basketball player who played for 19 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The swingman was an NBA All-Star in 2012 and was named to the NBA All ...

*Pac-10 All-Freshman Team ;Lute Olson *Pac-10 Coach of the Year *Induction into the

Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame is an American history museum and hall of fame, located at 1000 Hall of Fame Avenue in Springfield, Massachusetts. It serves as basketball's most complete library, in addition to promoting and pre ...

(September 27, 2002)

References

External links

Arizona Wildcats men's basketball official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:2002-03 Arizona Wildcats men's basketball team Arizona Wildcats men's basketball seasons

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

Arizona Wildcats The Arizona Wildcats are the sport, athletic teams that represent the University of Arizona, located in Tucson, Arizona, Tucson. The Wildcats compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I (NCAA Divis ...