The Arizona-UCLA basketball rivalry began in 1923, but it wasn't until 1986 that it became the West Coast equivalent of Duke-North Carolina.
The Bruins won over 20 games against Arizona in the first 60 years of their not-so-notable competition, and then it took flight, high, higher and highest: the most irresistible basketball rivalry in Pac-8/10/12 history.
That's part of why it was so crushing when UCLA left the Pac-12 to become a Big 10 member. How could the Bruins so callously forego the yearly home-and-home drama against Arizona?
That separation occurred at the time Bruins coach Mick Cronin, the Martian-like, hot-headed coach, became the No. 1 villain at McKale Center. It appeared 40 years of can't-miss entertainment would be junked.
The good news: It's back. The Bruins and Wildcats arranged for a three-year series of neutral-court games. That's not ideal. There's nothing better than the UCLA-Arizona game at Pauley Pavilion or McKale Center, but at least there's a thread connected to the Good Old Days. (How long it endures is uncertain).
People are also reading…
The Bruins and Wildcats meet Monday in Las Vegas, an early November showdown that features two coaches who couldn't be more different: Cronin is the temperamental, sideline stalking, defense-first Bruins' coach, one of the few in college hoops who still wears an (ugh) tie on the sideline. By comparison, Tommy Lloyd is the composed, smiling, sit-back-and-relax, run-and-gun Wildcat coach who'd have to rent a tie to wear one.
The two coaches will get almost as much TV time as their Top 25 teams.
It would be nice if the Cronin vs. Lloyd matchup could create enough drama to become one of the top UA-UCLA games of the last 40 years, but that's expecting too much, isn't it?
Go back to 1986 at McKale: Arizona stunned the hifalutin Bruins 85-60, a game in which Bruins star guard Reggie Miller fouled out with seven minutes to go. Rather than walk to the bench, he approached a referee and rubbed his fingers together as if the officials had been bribed. Technical foul. It sparked the arrival of Lute Olson's basketball program as one that couldn't be pushed aside by the Bruins and their fabulous history.
The rivalry gained momentum when UA sophomore guard Steve Kerr ripped Miller publicly.
“It all started because of Reggie and his showboat antics,” said Kerr. “Reggie is the biggest trash-talker of all time.”
Said UCLA coach Walt Hazzard, another target of the vocal McKale fans: “We were a little shook up by the crowd and all the noise.”
Fittingly, Arizona clinched its first-ever Pac-10 championship at Pauley Pavilion later that year, keyed by Sean Elliott's game-tying jumper that required overtime. Arizona won 88-76.
UCLA's Darrick Martin drives into traffic seconds before pulling up to sink the winning shot during UCLA at Arizona basketball at McKale Center on Jan. 11, 1992. UCLA won, breaking a 71-game UA win streak at McKale.
UCLA struck back in a historic 1992 game at McKale, possibly the most memorable game in McKale history. The No. 2 Bruins beat the No. 6 Wildcats 89-87 on a last-second jumper by Darrick Martin, breaking Arizona's 71-game home winning streak. Even with that numbing loss, UA fans continued to cherish the rivalry with UCLA.
Across the last 40 years, Arizona has a 48-40 record against the Bruins, the only former Pac-12 school to have a winning record against the Bruins in that period.
The best possible news would be if the athletic directors at Arizona and UCLA come together and agree to rotate the rivalry, year after year, on each team's home court, rather than an eight-hour drive away in Las Vegas or at some neutral site in SoCal.
Basketball history can't be rewritten or restored, but when it's Arizona-UCLA, it can be revived.
Arizona basketball’s Caleb Holt is already making an impression | Greg Hansen
