Jerryd Bayless' performance as a freshman highlighted the Wildcats' 2007-08 season marked by a confusing coaching situation.

Greg Bryan / arizona daily star

More Photos (1):

Other articles by Bruce Pascoe:

McClellan's outlook goes from awful to 'awe' full No change in Jennings' UA status Bayless has familiar faces in his corner UA, Jennings expect to wait week for test score76ers offer UA's McClellan summer-league roster spot LOWS AND HIGHS Jennings' status remains unclear; no score yet Arizona Wildcats basketball: Bayless traded to PortlandArizona Wildcats basketball: Jennings score not coming today No couch potato tonight

Mechanical
Pioneer Landscaping
Diesel Fleet Mechanic Production and Manufacturing
Pioneer Landscaping
Crushing Crew Trades/Construction
Pioneer Landscaping
Yard Person/Loader Operator Trades/Construction
Wentz and Patrick Construction
Carpenters & Helpers Trades/Construction
Pioneer Landscaping
Yard Person/Loader Operator Sales and Marketing
Xentel
Expanding call center. New Hiring Bonus! General
Grocery/Market Mgr-Cafe/Restaurant Mgr

Having de-committed to Arizona last spring, Jerryd Bayless spent several months pondering his decision to play college basketball for the Arizona Wildcats.

Maybe his instincts were telling him something.

Bayless re-committed to the Wildcats in August and became Arizona's best player as a freshman this season. But the Phoenix native's success was one of few bright spots in a maelstrom brought on by a messy interim coaching situation and key injuries that included Bayless' sprained knee.

"I didn't expect it to be like it was this year, I'll tell you that much," Bayless said, following UA's 75-65 NCAA tournament first-round loss to West Virginia on Thursday. "I didn't think it would be like this coming to Arizona."

From the beginning — the morning of UA's first exhibition game on Nov. 4 — things were out of sorts around McKale Center. Head coach Lute Olson announced via news release that he was taking an unspecified leave of absence and, after trying to coach several practices, didn't announce until Dec. 6 that he would be out for the season.

That left Kevin O'Neill, an NBA defensive guru hired to revamp Olson's increasingly porous D, with the clean-up role as an interim head coach.

There was no choice, for O'Neill or the Wildcats.

"I never expected Coach O'Neill would be the head coach of this program this year," Bayless said. "I think he did a very good job with this team. I just never thought he would be the head coach. Then we had the injury bugs, and it's been a really tough year."

At first, O'Neill was unsure if he should coach as Olson or instead of Olson, but after a 75-72 home loss to Virginia on Nov. 17, O'Neill decided he would coach as he knew best. Once O'Neill began trusting his instincts, the season initially went well.

So O'Neill scrapped Olson's up-tempo motion offense, installed more offensive sets and shortened the talent-challenged bench even further than Olson had in recent years.

The team mostly embraced it. Even sophomore forward Chase Budinger, who noted Thursday that he came to the UA to play for Olson, denied that the Wildcats did not support O'Neill.

"I wouldn't say that," Budinger said. "It's just something that got sprung upon us this year. We were all assuming to play one way and then the coaching change happened and it kind of just flip-flopped on us."

By the end of November, having survived the odd spectacle of Olson's bringing back ideas that O'Neill had discarded in practice, the Wildcats were buying into KO's scheme. The UA had a 9-2 record by Christmas and rose as high as No. 17 in the Associated Press poll, while UA athletic director Jim Livengood named O'Neill the eventual successor to Olson.

But UA wore down after New Year's, through a combination of injuries to Bayless, guard Nic Wise and forward Bret Brielmaier, heavy minutes to starters and, possibly, continued confusion over the coaching staff's future.

The Wildcats managed to put together a four-game winning streak in January with Wise and Bayless in the lineup, including a Jan. 31 win at USC. But Wise actually tore his meniscus in pre-game drills that evening, had surgery on Feb. 6 and missed four weeks.

The Wildcats never fully recovered, and O'Neill couldn't blame them.

"These guys gave as much as they could," O'Neill said. They "learned patience, perseverance. Things were out of their control and it's hard to deal with things that are not in your control. There were a lot of moving parts to deal with this year."

As the season wore on, the Wildcats waited to hear about Olson's plans, and O'Neill was unable to change Olson's staff to his liking. He also said he was unwilling to fill the assistant coaching vacancy for fear that it might disrupt the team's fragile chemistry.

More than ever, O'Neill became almost a one-man staff. He ran some practices alone while assistants Josh Pastner and Miles Simon went recruiting and, after Simon was in and out while his grandmother was dying, said he had no idea when Simon would return after the funeral.

By Thursday, O'Neill's go-it-alone strategy had become so obvious that out-of-town reporters began picking up on it and asking if a rift was developing on the staff.

O'Neill responded plainly by saying he never speaks to his assistants. UA players, asked about another awkward situation, gingerly fielded the question.

"Um," Budinger said. "That's just Coach O'Neill's style. Coach O'Neill just wanted one voice throughout practice and most of the games."

Then, on March 10, another bomb hit. The oft-opaque Olson announced, again through a news release, that he planned to fulfill his contractual duties next season. He also said he took the season off to attend to a "medical condition," which somewhat contradicted his Nov. 4 statement that he was not leaving because of a "health scare."

O'Neill said he thought it was "great" that Olson was returning but noted that he wasn't the one who decided to release it two days before the Pac-10 tournament opener. Then he opened the doors to the Wildcats' locker room so the players could comment as they wished.

Budinger declined to say how the coaching situation might affect his future. Brielmaier said he was neutral. Jawann McClellan said he just looked it as "another thing that's been announced out of this program."

Meanwhile, Wise sought refuge from the questions in the only place available.

He hid inside the shower area.