Just around five months ago, a 30-point performance against the defending national champion Florida Gators put freshman forward Koa Peat on the college basketball map.
“Koa, it was a coming out party for him, so to speak,” UA coach Tommy Lloyd said at the time. “Everyone’s known about him, but no one’s really studied him and watched him. He’s a special player.”
Since then, Peat has helped Arizona get off to its best start in program history, win
the most consecutive games in program history, win the program’s first Big 12 championships (both regular season and tournament), and get the Wildcats back to the Final Four for the first time since 2001.
His legacy did not start in the season opener. It started in his high school days when he won the Arizona Gatorade Player of the Year. He was put into an elite group of players who won that award while also choosing to go to Arizona.
Now here’s where the nickname “Mr. Arizona” comes into play. While the nickname goes to those that win the award, there is only true meaning behind it once that player reaches the Final Four.
Other Wildcat greats like Sean Elliott, Mike Bibby and Richard Jefferson have all accomplished the same feat of winning the Arizona player of the year in high school and eventually leading the UA to the Final Four.
Peat is now part of the “Mount Rushmore” of homegrown players to do that.
“They call him Mr. Arizona,” said Lloyd. “Koa is special, and I know you guys hear it, but you got to hear it again. Four state championships at the same high school. Didn’t go to a prep school. Four gold medals with USA Basketball. No one in FIBA history has ever done that. And helped lead Arizona to a Final Four.”
With all the accolades, it’s also the small stuff that has helped to cement his name as Mr. Arizona. In the two wins over ASU this season, Peat had a 24 point performance in Tucson and a 21 point performance in Tempe.
It’s clear as day that he takes ownership of the state of Arizona personally.
“It was pretty cool, especially being a kid from here,” said Peat after the win at ASU. “I was 20 minutes away, I always wanted to play here, I came to a lot of games here.”
It gets pretty simple of what Peat’s goals are at the end of the day. Winning. All he wants to do is win.
In the regular season finale at Colorado, it would have been really easy for Arizona to take it easy against the Buffaloes. The Wildcats had already wrapped up the regular season Big 12 title and the No.1 spot in the conference tournament. Why put in effort against a lesser Colorado team?
Winning. From day one, it’s been all about winning for Peat and the Wildcats. Peat’s 19 points in the first half helped keep Arizona within reach of a surprise performance from Colorado and eventually helped Arizona win.
“I think Koa is just a really good basketball player,” said Lloyd after the Colorado win. “I think he got to his spots, he made a few shots, he finished with force at the rim. He’s just a really good player.”
It’s been a long road since the season opener in Las Vegas, but the road will end in Indianapolis. Will Peat stamp his legacy at Arizona by winning it all? It will take another Mr. Arizona type of performance against Michigan on Saturday.
