Sean Elliott: Homegrown talent gives Arizona basketball special spark in Final Four run

Nobody knows that better than Wildcats legend, Tucson-born-and-raised Sean Elliott.

"If you have a homegrown kid that's playing for your team, your college team, and playing well, it's always going to bring a lot more excitement," Elliott said. "Just has to. It matters more if it is from Arizona as opposed to a kid from L.A. going to UCLA. That kind of stuff happened over and over again, because they're a hotbed for basketball talent.

"But Arizona, it hasn't been known for that as much, so when you get a kid who's a really good player, it brings out a sense of pride and excitement.

Since Arizona came to national prominence during Lute Olson's tenure, which began two years before Elliott's freshman year in 1985, two teams that stick out — for good reasons — have been led by this "homegrown" talent: the 1988 Final Four team and the title-winning 1997 team, led by Wildcat great Mike Bibby, who graduated from Shadow Mountain High School in Phoenix before joining the Wildcats in 1996.

Now, the Wildcats are led in part by another "homegrown" kid: Koa Peat, born and raised in Gilbert.

"Having Koa Peat there definitely adds something, through the atmosphere and the energy, and the enthusiasm, the excitement for the city and for the state," said Elliott.

Elliott, who as a junior led the Wildcats to their first Final Four berth in the Olson era, said he didn't have a whole lot of offers as a student-athlete at Cholla High School in Tucson. Actually, he said, the first two schools to call him were Arizona State and UTEP. It wasn't until he attended a basketball camp at the end of his sophomore season, one that Olson held in the summer, that UA began to take notice.

Following another camp between his junior and senior years, Elliott said he got tons of offers to play at other schools, but by that time, "I'll be honest with you, the way Arizona basketball was going, it didn't make sense for me to really go anywhere else."

"My sophomore year (of high school), I went to a game. We were playing against Oregon, and I mean, when I say there were 200 people in the arena, that might have been overestimating it ... at that point, it wasn't like I had Arizona on my radar at all, I mean, that wasn't the type of atmosphere I wanted to play in. I mean, I got that many people in my high school games," he said. "When (Olson) came in and turned it around, it was completely different, so that's when it started to make sense to me to stay at home."

Elliott, in staying at home, quickly became the greatest Wildcat in school history, eventually leading the team to a Final Four berth in 1988 during his junior year season, and breaking the Pac-10 scoring record long held by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar — then Lew Alcindor — during his senior season.

Staying in the Old Pueblo for college meant Elliott got recognized around town. But nothing compared to how "the city was on fire" during the Wildcats' run in 1988, he said.

"It was a whole different thing. I mean, we got back from the Final Four ... they were waiting for us at the airport. We each got like a convertible, and we rode on the back of the convertible, sitting on the back of convertibles, waving to people that line the streets all the way from the airport to the football stadium," he said. "That's how crazy people were, and there were so many people at the football stadium just to celebrate the Final Four team. We didn't even win it that year, but it was a turnaround. I mean, we turned that thing around and kicked the door in and pretty much at that point the program was established."

Looking ahead to Saturday, Elliott praised head coach Tommy Lloyd's job, saying, "he's the kind of coach that you want your kids to play for."

"I'm just really proud of the team, you know. I'm getting comments everywhere I go, I was at the airport flying the other day, and random people in New York are telling me like, 'hey, love your team. Your Wildcats look really good.' And it's good, you know. I'm just thrilled that Tommy is doing such an amazing job, and he's doing it the right way," he said. "We have a thread with all of our '88 team, we have a text chain going, and everybody's just super proud and excited, just full of pride because it's (giving the program) the recognition that it deserves.

"People can spot character, and this team, it has character. And these guys, you can tell they're playing for each other. They're winners, and it seems to me like they're stand-up guys that hold each other accountable, they have great leadership, and you can see that. Sometimes fans look at a team and they have a feeling about them. They don't know exactly what it is, but that's what it is."