INDIANAPOLIS - He doesn't talk about his father, except to say he'd really rather not talk about his father. Mike Bibby shares his father's last name, his electrifying quickness, a place in the Pacific 10 Conference and little else.
''I go out and play for myself and my name,'' Mike Bibby said. ''The expectations are my own. If I have a bad game, I have a bad game.''
Mike Bibby is a 6-foot-1 freshman point guard for Arizona, the opponent for the Kentucky Wildcats tonight at the RCA Dome as they attempt to repeat as NCAA champions. Henry is head coach at Southern California.
Mike was raised in the Phoenix area by his mother, Virginia. Their contact with Henry was minimal as he pursued coaching jobs in the Continental Basketball Association and the college ranks. Henry rarely saw his son play before Mike lined up at the point in a Jan. 16 Pac-10 game.
Henry Bibby was a fine basketball player who belonged to three championship teams at UCLA, but it is more the competitive proximity of father and son that makes this a compelling situation.
When Henry Bibby was elevated to this job last winter and Mike was still a senior at Shadow Mountain High, there was an immediate assumption among those who know basketball - but not the Bibby family - that Mike would escape his commitment to attend Arizona and join his father at USC.
This did not happen, and Arizona still is playing basketball as a result. Mike Bibby has averaged 17.8 points, .469 three-point shooting and 81 percent free throw shooting in five NCAA Tournament wins.
''Mike is just a kid. He's just having a lot of fun doing what he's doing,'' Arizona coach Lute Olson said. ''His mother did a fabulous job with him in terms of the self-confidence he has. There are very few freshmen that can step in and do it.''
Of the greatest college point guards in the past two decades, only Duke's Bobby Hurley reached the position in which Bibby finds himself: playing in the NCAA championship game as a freshman.
When North Carolina's Phil Ford was a freshman in 1975, his team lost in the second round to Syracuse. Isiah Thomas and Indiana were eliminated by Purdue in the 1980 regional semifinals.
Michigan had a freshman at the point in 1992, although part of the Fab Five's weakness was you never could tell who that was. Duke beat the Wolverines by 20, and Jalen Rose had more missed shots (seven) than assists (four).
''Certain people are just not
freshmen. And he's one,'' Kentucky coach Rick Pitino said of Bibby. ''He's mentally tough as well as physically tough.''
Bibby has not always played with such maturity. He produced miserable shooting nights in nearly all the Wildcats' losses - a composite 33-of-91. When they win, he hits .556 from the floor.
He was not composed in his first Final Four game, at least at the start. Bibby was 1-of-7 in the first half and committed three turnovers. He didn't give away the ball once in the second half and scored 17 points.
''I think it was just that I was a little nervous and not focusing,'' Bibby said. ''Some said there was a little draft in the dome affecting the ball when you released it. I just think it was nerves from us playing in our first Final Four.
''I haven't done my job unless we win against Kentucky. I have a chance to win a prestigious event like this.''
UK CAN FULFILL MERCER'S WISH
DEJA VU FOR KENTUCKY?
DAUGHERTY COLUMN
KAISER COLUMN
Previous Final Four stories
ARIZONA 66, NORTH CAROLINA 58 March 30, 1997
BOX SCORE March 30, 1997
SIMON SAYS: TAKE THAT, DEAN March 30, 1997
ARIZONA WALKS TIGHTROPE TO INDY March 28, 1997
ARIZONA JOINS NO.1 PARTY March 24, 1997
