Dec. 17, 1999

Coach Fran Fraschilla said the Lobos have telephoned a number of quality programs this fall, including Duke, UCLA, Syracuse and Stanford, about a possible series. Only Stanford has shown any interest, he said.

Among top regional opponents, Texas has refused to schedule a series with UNM, but a series with Oklahoma is a possibility, said Fraschilla, who's friends with Sooners coach Kelvin Sampson. Fraschilla said the Lobos also have interest in playing Arizona State, though discussions haven't taken place.

Fraschilla said it's still early in the process of composing the 2000-01 schedule, but the loss of Arizona -- the last school west of the Mississippi River to win a national title, in 1997 -- is a big blow. The Lobos and Wildcats will play the final game of a four-game series Tuesday night in Tucson.

"We'd love to play them," Fraschilla said.

"Unfortunately for us . . . (Coach Lute Olson) got tired of coming to The Pit."

In the first three games, the series has not so good to Olson's 'Cats. Arizona won by 19 two seasons ago in Tucson, but the Lobos won both meetings at The Pit, including 79-78 last Jan. 16 on a buzzer-beating layup by Damion Walker.

Olson complained about the officiating after the loss and said it would be Arizona's last visit to The Pit. He kept his word this summer.

"He said they got jobbed by the officials," Fraschilla said of summer negotiations. "When you win as many games as he has, you get spoiled, you get used to having things your way."

On the winning basket, UNM went the length of the court in 4.6 seconds to make the game-winning shot, leading Olson to complain the game clock hadn't started on time. He also pointed out that the Lobos had played more physically but were whistled for three fewer fouls.

The man in charge of basketball scheduling at Arizona until recently said considerations other than Olson's concerns about officiating went into the decision to stop scheduling UNM.

Bob Logan, who helped negotiate the four-game series with UNM before the 1996 season, said many of Arizona's nonconference games are determined by television.

The Wildcats' appearance against Connecticut in the Great Eight last week, their home-and-home series with Michigan State and this weekend's visit to the Las Vegas Shootout are made-for-TV events, Logan said.

"I don't think Lute Olson needs New Mexico to make his schedule," Fraschilla said.

Arizona also is two games into a four-game series with Texas and is in the first year of a two-game series with Nebraska.

Logan said with the NCAA limit of games having dropped from 28 to 27, Arizona doesn't have room to schedule another series with UNM. "I think eventually we'd like to schedule New Mexico again," he said.

Meanwhile, the Lobos' first schedule under Fraschilla is wide open. "The good news is we have flexibility to play whoever we can whenever we want," he said.

Athletics Director Rudy Davalos said he believes Fraschilla will put together a quality schedule.

"He has contacts," Davalos said. "We're not going to have any problems playing people."

Fraschilla said the Lobos received phone calls earlier this week from a couple of good basketball schools interested in playing UNM. He wouldn't name either school, but said he assumed they called because "they see New Mexico is a little down."

Ultimately, getting top programs like Arizona in The Pit again will come down to whether television wants them here, Fraschilla said.

"It all revolves around how much better we get as a program," he said.