All-time Arizona Basketball March Madness starting lineup
By Mason Duhon
Center
Surprisingly, this won't be Bob "Big Bird" Elliott, who only ever played in four NCAA tournament games across two seasons. Instead, Loren Woods will round out the starting five at center for his performance in the 2001 tournament. The towering 7-foot-1 Woods hauled in 46 rebounds and posted 96 points across the six tournament games for an average of 16 points and 7.6 rebounds per game.
Woods' best performance came in the National Championship game against No. 1 seed Duke. He logged 22 points and 11 rebounds for his second double-double of the postseason and added four blocks as well in the crushing 72-82 loss. His other double-double came in the Sweet Sixteen against No. 3 seed Ole Miss, where he posted 16 points and 11 rebounds in the 66-56 win. He fell just one rebound short of a double-double in the Round of 64 (17 points, nine rebounds) and posted seven blocks alongside his 18 points in the Elite Eight.
Even in his worst performance of the tournament, he nearly earned a double-double with 11 points and eight rebounds. Woods earns the start here over someone like 2002-03 Channing Frye by virtue of being a better shooter and far more reliable from the charity stripe: Woods shot 52.4% from the field and was 30-33 from the line while Frye shot 47.1% from the field and was 6-10 from the line.