Wildcats' trip to Final Four at Indy was full-circle moment for Jason Gardner

If they did, it would have been a completely full-circle moment for Arizona player relations director Jason Gardner, who committed to the Wildcats as a North Central star not long after the Wildcats practiced there before winning the 1997 national championship.

“I did think about asking Tommy about that,” Gardner said. “I didn’t but that would have actually been pretty cool.”

It worked out pretty well for the Wildcats last time. An often-told story in UA basketball circles says then-coach Lute Olson purposely chose North Central for an alternative practice site specifically because Gardner was then a highly regarded sophomore who was considering Arizona, even though NCAA rules at the time wouldn’t officially allow him to view the practice.

But it wasn’t quite the thing that clinched the deal anyway, Gardner said.

“I did sneak in to watch a little bit of practice, and that was actually really cool watching guards who were NBA guys,” Gardner said. “That really helped me later when I'm playing for Lute Olson, playing for Arizona.

“But it really started from a Sega Genesis game where my brother was playing Damon Stoudamire with Arizona. Then it kind of snowballed into somehow, some way, I'm at Arizona.”

Gardner committed to Arizona in November 1998, became a McDonald's All-American while leading North Central to a state title in 1998-99, then started playing for the Wildcats in the fall of 1999.

He helped them reach the 2001 national championship game and led a 2002-03 UA team that spent much of the season atop the national polls.

Then, after an eight-year professional career in Europe, Gardner began a coaching career that included stops at Memphis, Loyola Chicago and back to Indianapolis, where he coached at North Central and IUPUI.

Gardner jumped on Lloyd’s first UA staff in August 2021. He said he always thought it would be “awesome” to return to Indianapolis for a Final Four and doing so also gave him a chance to visit children that include a four-star class of 2027 basketball player, Jason Gardner Jr.

He makes for another potential full-circle moment, too, of course, though a visit to North Central probably wouldn't have made a difference. Gardner Jr. actually players for suburban Fishers High School, and it's unclear how heavily the Wildcats have been recruiting him at this point.

His father says Jason Jr. will get a firmer idea of his offers this summer. 

“We’ll just kind of see what happens,” the elder Gardner said. “If not, I think the offers that he has right now, there’s some really good schools.”

Three decades since he started considering the Wildcats, Gardner is sitting on a different side of recruitment: Hearing from schools that, instead of calling him, are calling about his son.

“It’s actually cool to kind of sit back and think your son's being called by a lot of schools that we're playing against,” Gardner said. “His dream is playing Division I basketball and getting to the NCAA Tournament.”