ESPN: Arizona Wildcats a giant in danger of being killed early

Anyone who has watched this year's Arizona Wildcats understands they are not as good as the last two iterations.

Mar 16, 2016, 10:23 AM

Arizona head coach Sean Miller talks with guard Allonzo Trier (11) during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game against Northwestern State in Tucson, Ariz., Sunday, Nov. 22, 2015. (Mamta Popat/Arizona Daily Star via AP)

(Mamta Popat/Arizona Daily Star via AP)

Anyone who has watched this year’s Arizona Wildcats understands they are not as good as the last two iterations.

In 2014, Arizona entered the NCAA Tournament as a one seed and last season they were a two. This year, they are not only a six seed, but were ranked 23rd overall by the selection committee.

That means they were closer to being a seven seed than they were a five.

Still, the Wildcats are still regarded as one of the premier programs in all of college basketball, and their 25-8 record, while not good enough to win the Pac-12, is nothing to sneeze at.

They have a senior forward averaging a double-double, a shooting guard making 43 percent of his 3-point attempts and a freshman who averaged 15 points a game. They also have a senior center who averaged 9.4 points, 9.3 rebounds and 1.3 blocks per game, along with more size and depth on the bench.

Yet, again, these are not the Wildcats we’ve seen the last couple years, and when compared to those Final Four favorites, this year’s team has about as low of expectations as you could find.

In fact, according to an ESPN Insider article looking for Giant Killer upsets in the South Region, they point to Arizona’s matchup with 11-seed Wichita State as the most likely.

The Wildcats’ Giant rating, whatever that means, is 85.6, while the Shockers’ Giant Killer rating is a cool 42.5

According to the piece, Wichita State, who comes in with a 25-8 record, has a 47.7 percent chance of pulling off the upset.

The reasoning is that the Shockers were efficient on offense and defense against a fairly difficult schedule. Wichita State allowed just 59.3 points per game this season. This season, they were 6-11 against teams in the RPI top 100, with their best win being a 67-50 victory over Utah in December.

As the article notes, a Giant is more likely to be slayed when they have “weak sauce,” which to them is failing to dominate on the boards or struggling to generate turnovers.

Arizona enters the tournament as one of the best rebounding teams in the nation, and given Wichita State’s lack of size (no seven-foot players), so they should be fine there, but the Shockers excel at taking care of the basketball, so that could prove interesting.

At any rate, the article isn’t predicting the Wildcats will lose so much as laying out the case that of all the top seeds in their region, they are the most likely to be bounced in the first round.

Tipoff for the game is schedules for 6:20 p.m. Thursday in Rhode Island.