Arizona coach Sean Miller hardly dreamed his team would share the Pac-10 lead one month after absorbing the worst loss in McKale Center history.
``I did know that we could get better, because we couldn't get much worse,'' Miller said.
The Wildcats have gone from a 30-point drubbing by Brigham Young on Dec. 28 to a tie for first place in the Pac-10 at the midway point.
The fact that Arizona (12-9, 6-3 Pac-10) shares the lead with California is partly a testament to the weakness of the Pac-10, whose members did not receive a single vote in this week's Associated Press Top 25. It's also evidence of improvement in Miller's first year at the helm.
After leaving Xavier for Arizona last spring, Miller cobbled together a touted recruiting class. But his most important recruit was senior point guard Nic Wise, who had to be persuaded to play for his fourth coach in as many seasons.
Midway through his final college season, Wise is etching his name on the long list of star Arizona point guards.
``He's the heart and soul of our team,'' said Miller, a former standout point guard at Pitt. ``Nic has been fantastic from start to finish. Believe me, I can't explain to you where we would be without him.''
Wise, a Houston product, and junior forward Jamelle Horne are Arizona's only upperclassmen. Early in the year, the Wildcats needed the 5-foot-10 Wise to be a star every night.
Arizona sputtered to a 6-7 start, although the record may have been misleading because the Wildcats played one of the nation's tougher nonconference schedules.
The record would have been worse had Wise not hit a miracle shot to beat Lipscomb on Dec. 21, averting what could have been one of the more embarrassing losses in school history. He also dashed the length of the court to make the winning layup against North Carolina State two nights later.
Wise was the difference in an emotional 76-72 victory over California on Sunday in McKale Center, personally outscoring the Golden Bears 7-3 in the final 53 seconds. Afterward, Wise noted that Miller had told the Wildcats the game would provide a measuring stick for their progress since the BYU debacle.
``He said this would be the game to redeem ourselves and to kind of let ourselves know that we are a lot better than we were when we played BYU back then,'' Wise said.
They're better because the rest of the Wildcats have begun to come around.
Freshman power forward Derrick Williams, who averages 15.9 points and 7.3 rebounds per game, is emerging as one of the hardest players to guard in the league. Meanwhile, the enigmatic Horne has made strides at both ends of the floor.
``In November and December, we weren't able to win unless (Wise) played great,'' Miller said. ``We're now at a point where we've been able to win some games when he's not played great.''
Cal coach Mike Montgomery said Wise is the best player the Golden Bears have faced this year. But Montgomery was also impressed with the other Wildcats.
``You want to call Arizona young? They're good,'' he said.
They used to take Pac-10 titles for granted at Arizona; the Wildcats won the regular-season championship 11 times in their first 31 years in the conference.
But Arizona slipped badly at the chaotic end of the Lute Olson era. The Wildcats' last league title came in 2004-05, and the four-year drought is the longest in a quarter century.
Arizona tied for fifth last year, matching its worst finish since 1984. Behind future NBA draftees Jordan Hill and Chase Budinger, the Wildcats slipped into the NCAA tournament as a 12th seed and made a surprising run to the round of 16.
That was Arizona's 25th straight NCAA appearance, the nation's longest active streak and two shy of North Carolina's record run of 27 straight appearances from 1975 to 2001.
When the Wildcats started this season 6-7, the prospect of extending the streak seemed a bit ridiculous.
Now, it's quite possible, although Miller resists tourney talk.
``For our team to look big picture, really, I don't think is smart,'' Miller said.
Miller wants his team to look only as far as this weekend, when it travels to Washington State and Washington. The Wildcats are a combined 2-4 on their last three trips to Seattle and Pullman.
``I don't really want to talk a lot about first place,'' Miller said. ``Can we continue to be who we've been here that's helped us get better? If we do that, I think at the end of the year we'll be in a good place, and I think we'll all really be able to feel good about how far this team has come.''
