Arizona is 10-6 and 3-3 in Pac-10 play. The nation's other marquee Wildcats are 11-6 and 1-2 in the SEC after a much-needed victory against Georgia earlier this week.

Fans in Tucson aren't quite as down on 71-year-old Lute Olson as they are in Lexington about Tubby Smith. Want proof? Check out www.firetubbysmith.com.

Arizona's streak of 21 consecutive NCAA tournament appearances is in jeopardy, especially if the Wildcats fail to sweep Stanford and Cal this week at home. The last time that Arizona wasn't in the Big Dance? 1983-84. Olson's first season in Tucson.

Kentucky lost at home against Vanderbilt for the first time in 31 years and then dropped another game at Rupp Arena to Alabama. Those two setbacks came after a blowout loss at Kansas. It was the first time that UK had lost three straight games since 1999-2000.

We take a look from the inside at why Arizona is struggling while we go to those who have played Kentucky for an outsiders perspective at why the other Wildcats are floundering:

Arizona

There's no shame in the Maui losses to UConn and Michigan State, but getting beat at Houston, at home against UCLA and most recently, being swept on the Oregon road trip, is unacceptable in Tucson.

"Tucson is spoiled and so used to winning," said former Arizona forward Gene Edgerson. "This could just be a down year. You're going to have roadblocks eventually. We're so accustomed to the Wildcats winning all the time that we don't know how to react when they aren't doing well. It happens."

Here are the primary reasons for Arizona's early-season struggles:

1. Effort: "We haven't had a concentrated game with effort in 40 minutes in every game," said Arizona assistant Miles Simon, the team's go-to guy and Final Four MVP in its national championship season in 1997. "Our guys think that if they put on the uniform, it guarantees you a victory. That's not the case with so much parity these days. Teams don't fear Arizona like they have in the past."

2. Chemistry: It will immediately improve with the departure of senior guard Chris Rodgers, who likely would have been kicked off the team this past off-season — except for the fact that Olson wanted to see Rodgers graduate. Rodgers was always a problem and a chemistry-killer at Arizona.

"I hope the chemistry will be better," Simon said. "But I can't say that for sure."

3. Leadership: As strange as it sounds, Salim Stoudemire became the team leader last season. Channing Frye was also a lead-by-example guy. This year's team really doesn't feature a true leader.

"We lost two high-level guys," Arizona assistant and former player Josh Pastner said.

4. Inside play: Kirk Walters hasn't gotten the opportunity to play consistent minutes yet this season, so his confidence is up and down. Mohamed Tangara is behind because of the lack of coaching he received at Mount Zion (N.C.) and Isaiah Fox just isn't good enough. Ivan Radenovic (6-foot-10) is more comfortable on the perimeter, so the Wildcats haven't gotten anything in the paint. The trio of Walters, Tangara and Fox have combined to average 7.4 points and 5.3 rebounds in 26 minutes per game so far this season.

"We need more production inside, but we haven't been playing our inside guys that much," Simon said. "It's not entirely their fault."

5. Talent: With Jawaan McClellan back after missing the first 14 games due to academics, Arizona still has enough talent to win the Pac-10.

"We're here to win a national championship," Pastner said. "This is not a rebuilding stage. It's not a question of talent. We've got pros on our team."

Added Simon: "We're talented. There's no team that we've played that has been much more talented than us."

Kentucky

Despite the three consecutive setbacks to Kansas, Vanderbilt and Alabama — and the trio of other losses to Iowa (neutral), North Carolina (home) and at Indiana — Kentucky has shown the ability to play at a high level, such as in the victory over West Virginia in the Guardians Classic.

Patrick Sparks played arguably his best game of the season against the Mountaineers with 25 points, but has been a non-factor since — scoring in double figures just one of the past nine games.

Randolph Morris is averaging 14.3 points and six rebounds in three games since being reinstated, but the Wildcats are 1-2 with the sophomore big man in the lineup.

1. Talent: "They don't have enough players," said one coach whose team knocked off Kentucky this season. "If you shut down (Rajon) Rondo and keep him out of the paint, you can beat them. They have solid players, but for Kentucky, they're down. Way down.

"When's the last time Kentucky had less than two pros?" he continued. "One of their leading scorers, Ravi Moss, is a walk-on. Times are tough in Lexington."

Added another opposing coach: "They definitely have some talent deficiencies."

"I don't think they score very well," chimed in yet another D-I coach whose team knocked off the Wildcats this season. "They just don't have enough talent. It's true. They should have better talent. C'mon, they're Kentucky."

2. Recruiting: "Maybe the recruiting situation has caught up to them," one coach said. "For years, they've done a good job — but they haven't gotten the premiere players from the South. Guys like Brandan Wright (North Carolina), Thaddeus Young (Georgia Tech) and Stanley Robinson (UConn) have gone elsewhere for whatever reason. They are getting guys like Michael Porter and Derrick Jasper — good players, but probably not top-notch guys. You'd think they'd be players for guys like Robinson and Young, but they weren't.

"They have made some strange decisions that have hurt them. They probably thought they made a good choice with Joe Crawford, but he's just not good enough. Vanderbilt didn't want Bobby Perry. Sheray Thomas is a mediocre SEC player. It's not so much their inability to recruit, but more the choices they've made."

3. Chemistry: "They also have bad chemistry issues," the coach said. "They've got a couple guys from New York, a couple international kids, one from the West Coast, one from junior college. It's a crazy mixture of guys — a strange group. "

4. Confidence: "Right now it's a confidence issue," added another opposing coach. "They're not a great team. Not a top five, or even a top 10 team. But they're also not a team that should lose two in a row at home."

5. Rotation: The Wildcats have nine players that receive between 18.4 and 31.8 minutes per game with 7-footers Lukasz Obrzut, Shagari Alleyne and Jared Carter all receiving a combined 25 minutes per contest.

"They play so many guys that I don't think the staff nor the players are comfortable with whose going to play and who isn't going to play," one coach said.

While both of the 'Cats have had their share of issues, in this year of college basketball where parity seems to reign supreme, anything can happen.

Even Arizona and Kentucky can turn it around.

The University of Kentucky announced yesterday that 7-foot-3 reserve center Shagari Alleyne asked for and received a release from his scholarship.

Alleyne, a Bronx, N.Y. native and the tallest player in UK basketball history, has one year of eligibility remaining. Should he transfer to another NCAA Division I school, he will have to sit out the 2006-07 season under NCAA rules.

Alleyne is the third UK player to transfer after the Cats' 22-13 season ended in a second-round loss to Connecticut in the NCAA Tournament.

Guard Adam Williams and forward Rekalin Sims announced earlier in the spring that they would leave. Rajon Rondo, who entered the NBA draft after just two seasons in Lexington, also will not return next season.

Alleyne played in 22 games last season -- starting two -- but averaged just 6.2 minutes per contest. He averaged 2.0 points and 1.3 rebounds and had 15 blocked shots. His season was marred by two suspensions for academic reasons.

Alleyne's absence will leave 7-0 senior Lukasz Obrzut, 6-10 junior Randolph Morris and 7-2 sophomore Jared Carter as the team's remaining centers. Morris, who started 14 games last season, figures to be the incumbent.

University spokesman Scott Stricklin said yesterday that UK coach Tubby Smith would have no comment on the matter.

Smith recruited Alleyne out of Rice High School in 2002 as somewhat of a project. Although his height made him a shot-blocking threat, Alleyne was lacking in offensive skills.

Aside from his role as a fan favorite, Alleyne never truly developed at UK, averaging just 2.0 points and 1.4 rebounds for his career.

The final horn had barely stopped sounding and the Miami Heat players were still jumping and celebrating their freshly minted title on the court in Dallas when every other team in the NBA was scrambling to find the next Dwyane Wade.

In a copycat league in a copycat world, the recent rule changes that have made life easier on the perimeter for scoring guards plus Wade's amazing playoff run have made him basketball's version of the XBox or the iPod — everybody wants one.

Enter Randy Foye, who is coming off a senior season at Villanova during which he was first among equals in a four-guard lineup frequently employed by the Wildcats.

The 6-3, 205-pound Foye is part New Age and part throwback. He's not a point guard and not a shooting guard. Just a guard, who can get a shoulder in front of every defender and drive to the hoop or pull up into an open spot and stick a mid-range jumper.

"I don't like to think of myself as playing any one type of role," Foye said. "I like to think I can do a lot of different things in a game — whatever my team needs from me at a specific time."

He has been described as a prototypical New York-style combination guard, which means he is both versatile and fearless and always can find a way to create a scoring opportunity for himself. He has great footwork and an excellent crossover dribble and seems to get better when he gets into traffic and has to resort to a second or third move to get clear.

Like Wade, Foye has surprising strength that allows him to twist and turn and almost always find a way to get his shot off.

"I'm flabbergasted watching him," Saint Joseph's coach Phil Martelli said after running into Foye last season. "He's mean, and I mean that in a complimentary way."

Foye is resourceful and relentless, traits he developed while growing up without parents on the hardscrabble streets of Newark, N.J. His father was killed in a motorcycle accident when Foye was 3. He was abandoned by his mother at 6 and raised by his grandmother.

"It was just a matter of knowing what could happen if you slip up or go in the wrong direction," Foye told Basketball Times. "Where I'm from, there aren't many people who have positive information for you or can influence you in a positive way. Growing up in a tough area, bad things are always going on around you, so you have to get good people around you."

Foye found a good environment for four years at Villanova and eventually became the top scorer on a team that went to the Elite Eight and pushed him into the draft spotlight.

Washington's Brandon Roy is another top prospect at the shooting guard spot, along with Ronnie Brewer of Arkansas, J.J. Redick of Duke and Shannon Brown of Michigan State.

The leading point guard candidates are Marcus Williams of Connecticut, Rajon Rondo of Kentucky and Foye's Villanova teammate Kyle Lowry.

The downside to Foye is his size and the fact he does not possess the ball-distributing skills to play the point in the NBA. Foye has improved his 3-point shooting, hitting at a 35 percent clip as a senior, and is very good at coming off a screen for catch-and-shoots.

But what makes him especially attractive is his headiness and the instincts that seem to make him a natural leader. In fact, he was one of the key players on the U.S. team that won the gold medal last summer at the World University Games.

"I think I'm here to give everyone who thinks they're down and out a little hope," Foye said. "It's like, 'If he can do it, then I can do it.' "

With the ball in his hands, Randy Foye can do plenty.