Arizona Wildcats have history as an NCAA Tournament 2-seed
Mar 18, 2015, 1:30 AM | Updated: 1:30 am
The Arizona Wildcats posted a 31-3 record this season, including a 16-2 mark in Pac-12 play. They won the conference regular-season championship as well as the tournament championship, and are riding an 11-game winning streak as they enter the NCAA Tournament.
They’re entering the tournament, of course, as the 2-seed in the West region, set to face off against 15th-seeded Texas Southern University on Thursday at 11:10 a.m.
Though many experts predicted that fate for Sean Miller’s team, there are still some who feel like the Pac-12 champs got slighted some.
After all, if last year’s team — which entered the dance 30-4 and did not win the Pac-12 Tournament — could be a No. 1 seed, how could this year’s squad be a 2?
You can blame the parity in college basketball or think the committee got it wrong, but ultimately, the truth is it probably does not matter much.
As anyone who has ever watched the tournament can attest to, at some point seeds can be thrown out the window. It comes down to matchups more than anything — that and how a given team plays on any given day.
Does the best team always win? No, it does not.
Arizona, of course, is one of the country’s best teams. Winners of 11 straight (only two of which were decided by single-digits), KenPom.com ranks the Wildcats as the second-best team in the country, behind only unbeaten Kentucky.
So, maybe Arizona, though seeded second, is destined for a deep tournament run. It wouldn’t be the first time for the ‘Cats, who have been a 2-seed five previous times.
Here’s a look at how they fared:
1990
