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Christopher Boan is the lead writer at BetArizona.com after covering sports and sports betting in Arizona for more than seven years, including stops at ArizonaSports.com, the Tucson Weekly and the Green Valley News.
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What Seed Is Arizona in The NCAA Tournament?
For the second year in a row, the Arizona Wildcats enter March Madness as a second seed in the 68-team field, with Tommy Lloyd’s bunch securing the No. 2 seed in the West region, with a first round showdown against Big West champion Long Beach State on Thursday afternoon in Salt Lake City across Arizona sports betting.
The Wildcats finished the year 25-8 after falling to Oregon, 67-59, in the semifinal round of the Pac-12 Tournament on Friday night, while The Beach surged through their conference tournament, beating UC Riverside (86-67), UC Irvine (83-79) and UC Davis (74-70) to notch the program’s first trip to the Big Dance in 12 years.
The Beach will play in the tournament less than a week after the school announced that it would part ways with longtime head coach Don Monson, who had been with the program since 2006, though the CBB veteran was allowed to finish out the year before ending his tenure.
Now, LBSU faces off against Arizona for the first time in five years, with the Wildcats going 7-0 in past showdowns against The Beach, with their largest margin of victory coming in 2019 (104-67), while the smallest was in 2015, when the Wildcats won, 85-70.
All year long, BetArizona.com has updated the Wildcats’ NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament seeding odds, with this week’s update putting a bow on Arizona’s season, with an eye towards their opening game of the Big Dance.
Can Arizona Make Final Four For First Time Since 2001?
Since the NCAA Tournament field expanded to 64 teams in the mid-1980’s, the Wildcats have been a No. 2 eight times, with Arizona making it to the Sweet 16 or farther in five of those trips, while falling in the first round twice (to Santa Clara in 1993 and Princeton in 2023) and to Alabama in the 2nd round of the 1990 tournament.
Arizona’s fallen twice in the Sweet 16, losing to Seton Hall in 1991 and Xavier in 2017, while the Wildcats fell in the Elite Eight to Wisconsin as a 2nd seed in 2015 and in the Final Four to Arkansas in 1994.
Finally, Arizona’s lone loss in the championship game (to Duke) came in 2001 as a 2nd seed, with Lute Olson’s team falling to Coach K and the Blue Devils, 82-72, to put a dour note on a memorable March Madness run for the Wildcats.
This year, Lloyd and Arizona will look to get off to a solid start on their March Madness journey on Thursday as a 20.5-point favorite on bet365 Arizona, with a -3500 moneyline in favor of the Wildcats, to +1800 for The Beach.
With a victory over LBSU, Arizona would play the winner of the first round showdown between seventh seeded Dayton and No. 10 seed Nevada, while the other end of the Wildcats’ pod features No. 3 seed Baylor, No. 6 seed Clemson, 11th seeded New Mexico and possible Cinderella Colgate as the 14th seed out West.
For now, Lloyd and the Wildcats will look to avenge their first round loss as a 2nd seed last year, when the Princeton Tigers shocked the world by upsetting Arizona, 59-55, to put a sour final note on a memorable season in the Old Pueblo.
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Arizona Wildcats NCAA Tournament Seeding FAQs
Since the NCAA Tournament expanded to 64 teams in 1985, the Arizona Wildcats have been a No. 1 seed seven times, most recently doing so back in 2022. The Wildcats have never won the men's NCAA Tournament when they came in as a one seed.
The Wildcats men's basketball team has won just one NCAA National Championship throughout its history, in 1997. Arizona entered that March Madness Tournament back in '97 as a four seed as it beat both North Carolina and Kentucky in the Final Four to win.
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