Award season begins
Arizona guards Miles Simon and Mike Bibby were named finalists yesterday for the prestigious Wooden Award for college basketball's player of the year. The award will be presented at the Final Four in San Antonio on March 28.
In All-America news, Bibby picked up his first two awards this year and will likely have to make room for more.
He was named to the Basketball Times First-Team All-American squad. Kansas' Paul Pierce and Raef LaFrentz, as well as North Carolina's Antawn Jamison and Texas Christian's Lee Nailon were also on the team.
Arizona senior forward Michael Dickerson was named to the third team and Lute Olson was named Coach of the Year for the West.
The only other representatives from the Pac-10 was UCLA's Baron Davis, who was named to the All-Freshman First Team.
Bibby, Dickerson and Simon were named to the 1998 National Association of Basketball Coaches/General Motors Division I All District 15 first team. Arizona was the only team in the nation to have three players on the roster. UCLA's J.R. Henderson and Toby Bailey were also named to the squad.