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Now 23-0, coach Brian Peabody‘s Aztecs are a high-tech team that goes beyond live-streaming. They average 106 points per game and threaten to become the first ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ basketball team — high school or college, boys or girls — to go undefeated since coach Dwight Rees‘ 1993 Sunnyside High 29-0 boys team of 1993.

This news doesn’t seem to faze Peabody. Across the last 35 years, he’s seen just about everything but an undefeated season.

Peabody has been part of a state championship team as a high school senior on Dick McConnell’s 28-1 team of 1982. He has coached two state championship teams: Green Fields Country Day School in 1991 and Ironwood Ridge in 2008. He also coached a 7-23 Pima team in his first go-round at the school, 2004.

“All losses, I remember,� he says. He mentioned Salpointe’s 1997 and 1999 state championship game losses to Phoenix Carl Hayden and Mesa Mountain View, and the 2018 NJCAA championship game, an 89-85 loss to Triton College of Illinois.

“They still sting,� he said.

I asked if Peabody remembered his first game as a head coach. He does. On Nov. 27, 1990, after taking over defending Class 1A state champion Green Field Country Day School from Bill Ludeke, Peabody coached the Griffins against Kearny Ray High School.

Peabody lost, 62-59. He was 26 years old.

“A guy named Camacho made a 35-footer at the buzzer to beat us,� Peabody remembered.

Now, 35 years later, Peabody has coached more than 950 games. Pima College says he will be coaching for his 700th career victory on Wednesday at Scottsdale Community College, but I think it’s possible he won his 700th game Jan. 25 against Glendale Community College.

I added, re-added, and re-re-added his career coaching totals and suspect he has won 701 games, not 699, but what does it matter? The important games of the 2024-25 season remain.

Some might say Pima and Peabody have been handed a bit of a pass to the ACCAC Division II title and the NJCAA D-II national tournament. The ACCAC divided into two divisions this season, and Pima no longer plays toughies like ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ College, ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ Western and ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ Eastern. Thus, the run toward an undefeated season.

Peabody voted against breaking the league into two divisions. “The system wasn’t broken,� he says. He did what he could to schedule a higher caliber of opponent, including No. 4 Salt Lake Community College, and is playing the hand he was dealt.

So far, it is a full house.