For Olson, the sun rises in the West

Poor Lute Olson. The man's basketball team at Arizona gets no attention, no respect. Just ask him. He'll tell you.

Or don't ask him. He'll still tell you.

Lute Olson is annoyed that anyone could think Salim Stoudamire isn't the nation's best shooter. (Getty Images)

"I don't think we play basketball west of the Mississippi," Olson said last week. "The only school anybody recognizes is spelled U-C-L-A. There are other teams out here."

There are? Name one, because we had no idea. You mean they play basketball at ... Arizona? Seriously? Us effete media snobs in the East thought Arizona was just some place to look down upon as we fly into Los Angeles.

Basketball? In Arizona?

Thanks. We'll try to remember that.

As if Olson would let us forget. Over the years, in regards to college basketball's infamous East Coast bias, he has grown a chip on his shoulder the size of Lew Alcindor (UCLA reference, sorry). And while it's OK -- tiresome, but OK -- for him to repeatedly blast the eastern media establishment, it's not OK for him to start naming names.

Certainly not J.J. Redick's name.

At times Olson appears to have so much Redick-envy, you'd think he was a Maryland sophomore, not the 70-year-old, Hall of Fame-caliber coach of Arizona. (Did you know they played basketball at Arizona?) Twice this season, Olson has held up Redick as the symbol for eastern media ignorance.

Last week a TV mouthpiece called Redick the best shooter in the country. That didn't set well with Olson, who coaches senior guard Salim Stoudamire -- whom SportsLine.com identified Jan. 26 as "the best pure shooter in college basketball."

On Tuesday, SportsLine.com asked Olson about his penchant for dragging Redick onto his agenda with the East Coast media.

"I just said, if one takes a look at supposedly the greatest shooter in the country, then let's take a look at the stats before you start putting (an opinion) out," Olson said. "I don't care if it's Redick or whoever you want to talk about.

"I'm just saying, people shouldn't be making statements they can't back up. We'd love to have comparisons. Let anyone else in the country put their numbers up against Salim Stoudamire. It's ridiculous when people make statements like that without backing it up, I don't care who the person is."