Arizona Wildcats earn West region's No. 1 seed in March Madness
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The Arizona Wildcats celebrate after winning the Big 12 conference tournament on Saturday. UofA is the No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament's West region. Photo: Ed Zurga/Getty Images
The Arizona Wildcats earned the No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament's West region as they look to end a quarter-century Final Four drought.
The big picture: The Wildcats are the second overall team in March Madness after winning the Big 12's regular season and conference tournament crowns.
- They won their first 23 games this season — a school best — and start the tournament with a 32-2 record.
- It's UofA's first No. 1 seed since 2022.
The latest: UofA has been through the fire, grinding its way to the conference tournament championship over the weekend.
- Senior point guard Jaden Bradley hit a buzzer-beating jumper in the semifinal to push the Cats past Iowa State.
- And in the conference title game they fended off a tough Houston team, who beat the Cats for last year's conference championship.
What's next: The Cats' first-round game is Friday at 10:35am against No. 16 seed Long Island University.
Zoom in: Head coach Tommy Lloyd relies heavily on two blue-chip freshmen — Koa Peat, a versatile, physical forward, and leading scorer Brayden Burries, a tough guard who can finish in traffic and crashes the boards.
- Bradley stepped into his leadership role in a big way this season and was the Big 12 Player of the Year.
- 7-foot-2 center Motiejus Krivas is an elite defender who's averaging 1.8 blocks per game.
- And big man Tobe Awaka — the Big 12 Sixth Man of the Year — is averaging nearly a double-double off the bench.
Between the lines: UofA will wear you down and punish you in the paint on both ends of the floor.
- The Cats are the fourth-best rebounding team in the country.
- They're also one of the most efficient shooting teams.
Threat level: The Cats' biggest weakness is outside shooting, which can be a problem in tight games.
- They attempt fewer three-pointers than almost any other team, though they hit a respectable 36%.
The intrigue: The Elite Eight could pit UofA against No. 3 seed Gonzaga, where Lloyd was an assistant under Bulldogs head coach Mark Few for 20 years.
- They could face No. 5 seed Wisconsin, who ended the Cats' tournament runs in 2014 and 2015, in the Sweet 16.
- Should the Cats reach the championship game, they could meet top overall seed Duke, who beat them in the 2001 championship.
- That Duke team included Carlos Boozer, whose son Cameron is the Blue Devils' star player.
Flashback: The Cats haven't gone to a Final Four since 2001 or an Elite Eight since 2015.
Of note: UofA is Arizona's only team in the men's brackets.
Meanwhile, Arizona State made it into the First Four in the women's tournament as a No. 10 seed and will face fellow No. 10 seed Virginia at 6pm on Thursday.
- The Sun Devils are Arizona's only team in the women's tournament.
The bottom line: This is probably the best UofA team since at least 2014, maybe since 2003, and the Cats have what it takes to win the national championship.