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NCAA Tournament first round: Arizona vs Utah

The NCAA Tournament selection committee decided that the Arizona Wildcats’ quality victories overshadowed their late-season struggles.

Despite losing five of their last six games, the Wildcats (19-13) were awarded an at-large berth to the 65-team NCAA tourney field, extending the school’s streak to 25 consecutive trips to the Big Dance. As the 12 th seed in the Midwest Region, the Wildcats will play fifth-seeded Utah (24-9) in a first-round contest in Miami on Friday.

“Seeing how things were going down, I knew we still could get one of the 34 at-large bids,” Arizona interim head coach Russ Pennell said. “We beat four conference champions (Gonzaga, Kansas, Weber State and Washington). We beat Gonzaga, Kansas and Washington when they were all ranked. There was no doubt that with our tough schedule we put ourselves in good position.”

The Wildcats -- who are led by junior standouts Jordan Hill, Chase Budinger and Nic Wise -- didn’t have to wait long to learn their fate when the brackets were unveiled on Selection Sunday. Arizona’s game against the Utah Utes was the third of the 32 opening-round matchups to be revealed on CBS-TV’s Selection Show.

“We were surprised,” Pennell said about his team’s reaction to the announcement. “We had just finished practice and catered a meal for the players. I was looking down, then the players just went crazy. They were running around, jumping on chairs and tables. The celebration must have lasted five minutes. I hugged the same guy five times because we were so excited.”

The Wildcats and Utes will tip off at 7:10 p.m. Eastern time (4:10 p.m. Pacific) in the third of four games at Miami’s American Airlines Arena on Friday. The earlier games at the site, both from the South Region, will pit Syracuse against Stephen F. Austin at 12:15 p.m. Eastern time (9:15 a.m. Pacific) and Arizona State vs. Temple at approximately 2:45 p.m. Eastern (11:45 a.m. Pacific). A half hour after Arizona and Utah conclude their game, fourth-seeded Wake Forest and 13 th-seeded Cleveland State will square off in a Midwest Region matchup.

The Arizona-Utah winner will play either Wake Forest or Cleveland State on Sunday in Miami for the right to advance to the Midwest Regional in Indianapolis.

The Wildcats have ridden a rollercoaster of emotion throughout this season, beginning with the Oct. 23 announcement of the retirement of head coach Lute Olson, who led Arizona to the 1997 national championship, four trips to the Final Four and 23 consecutive appearances in the NCAA Tournament from 1985 to 2007. After taking a season-long leave of absence during the 2007-08 campaign (when the Wildcats extended their NCAA tourney streak to 24 years under the direction of acting head coach Kevin O’Neill), the 74-year-old Olson was back at the helm during preseason workouts in October. Two days after Olson discussed the upcoming season with reporters at his annual media day press conference on Oct. 21, he informed the university of his decision to retire because of health reasons.

The 48-year-old Pennell, a former assistant at Arizona State whom Olson hired to the Arizona staff in May 2008, was named interim head coach the day after Olson retired. Pennell’s second game as interim head coach was a last-second, 72-71 loss to UAB on Nov. 18. The Wildcats rebounded to post quality non-conference victories over San Diego State (by a score of 69-56 on Dec. 10), Gonzaga (by a count of 69-64 on Dec. 14) and defending national champion Kansas (by a final of 84-67 on Dec. 23).

After stumbling to a 2-5 start in Pac-10 competition, Arizona embarked upon a seven-game winning streak, which included a 106-97 victory over eventual conference champion Washington on Jan. 29 and culminated with an 84-72 triumph over perennial powerhouse UCLA on Feb. 14.

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The victory streak ended with a 70-68 setback at Arizona State on Feb. 22. The Wildcats then lost to Washington State, Washington and California in succession before closing out the regular season with a win over Stanford.

When the Wildcats lost in their opening game of the Pac-10 Tournament, falling to rival Arizona State for the third time this season, it appeared that Arizona’s NCAA Tournament bubble may have burst. Pennell, however, remained hopeful that the selection committee would be sufficiently impressed with his team’s season-long body of work.

“When they made the announcement, there was a feeling of everything we have gone through is worth it,” Pennell said. “I have never seen a celebration like that. The celebration lasted so long. Again, I must have hugged the same person five times. This is one of the best moments in these young men’s lives and something they will never forget.”

Pennell said he is honored to be part of a team that has been able to persevere through a challenging season and extend Arizona’s streak of consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances.

“The 25 straight years is great for the university,” Pennell said. “I am proud of every guy who is on this team. I embraced every player and told them how proud of them I was. There was so much adversity and things could have gone wrong, but we fought through.”

By Tom Kessler
DFN Sports Staff Writer