Arizona coach Lute Olson, along with his entirely new assistant coaching staff, showed this summer he still has some recruiting muscle.

It didn't figure to be easy considering Olson, who will be 74 during next season, was coming off a season-long leave of absence for unspecified health reasons. More uncertainty was the loss of whiz-kid recruiter Josh Pastner.

New coaches Mike Dunlap, Russ Pennell and Reggie Geary all come with fine resumes, but it was unknown how they would do in elite recruiting circles, especially given the defections of two signed recruits -- power forward Emmanuel Negedu and, more famously, point guard Brandon Jennings, who opted for Europe.

Arizona moved quickly to replenish the 2008-09 roster, adding late-blooming combo guard Kyle Fogg and then combo guard Garland Judkins, who had appeared headed to a prep school. The Wildcats also got a commitment from 2009 freshman forward Solomon Hill (No. 27 in Rivals.com national rankings) and forward Mike Moser (No. 85). Center Greg Smith (No. 35) was committed for several weeks, but then decided to stay closer to home and attend Fresno State.

Most notably, Arizona was still a strong candidate for one of the top points guards for 2009 -- Abdul Gaddy, who de-committed from UA amid all the coaching changes so he could re-assess the situation.

All in all, the Wildcats still seem to have pull on the recruiting trail, giving hope that Olson can keep the beat going as the program goes for its 25th consecutive NCAA appearance.

That should happen, given the team has two potential 2009 lottery picks -- junior forward Chase Budinger and junior post Jordan Hill. Those two, plus junior point guard Nic Wise, will be the leaders of the team, which will need contributions from newcomers and young players in much bigger roles -- such as sophomore forward Jamelle Horne.

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