Who are the Wildcat stans? ESPN analysts pick Arizona to make Final Four

The Arizona Wildcats did not get a favorable draw as the last No. 4 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

With that, the Wildcats’ Final Four odds aren’t high.

As the No. 16 overall team by the committee’s standards, the Wildcats could win their first two games and then have to face the second overall seed, the Duke Blue Devils, led by the nation’s top player, Cooper Flagg. That’s if Flagg is healthy enough after suffering an ankle injury in the ACC Tournament.

While even Arizona fans might doubt this version of the Wildcats, there are some going out on a limb thinking the squad has a shot to make the Final Four in San Antonio.

ESPN polled 58 analysts to make picks through the Final Four and national championship, and five made the bold prediction that Tommy Lloyd’s Wildcats come out of the East Region instead of Duke.

Forty-four of those polled picked the Blue Devils, while eight others think Alabama is the survivor. One other selected Wisconsin.

One person in the poll picked the Wildcats to win it all.

Florida and Duke got 22 votes each, and Houston earned 10 more. Auburn, Maryland and St. John’s were the other teams getting a single national title prediction.

So, for those Wildcats fans who want to see who believes, which ESPN analysts are favoring the Wildcats?

Which 5 ESPN analysts have the Arizona Wildcats as their Final Four picks?

Corey Williams: The color commentator and noted former Wildcats player has maybe the edgiest picks. Not only is he the lone person who has the Wildcats winning the championship, he has four Big 12 teams making the Final Four: Iowa State, Houston, Texas Tech and Arizona.

Jerod Haase: The former Stanford head coach faced Lloyd from 2021-24 in Pac-12 play and probably gained a bit of respect for him.

Kris Budden: Budden most recently got to see the Wildcats up close as the sideline reporter for the Big 12 Tournament alongside Jon Sciambi and Fran Fraschilla last week.

Phil Martelli: The former Saint Joseph’s head coach must see something in the Wildcats. His bracket might be a little biased, because he has the wildest Final Four pick in the entire 58-person field: Bryant. Martelli’s son, Phil Martelli Jr., is head coach at Bryant.

Roxy Bernstein: The play-by-play man who got extensive looks at the Wildcats in past seasons when he worked for the Pac-12 Network is sticking with a West Coast bend.

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