Aaron Gordon, taking flight soon at a hoops arena near you.
Photo by Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports

Are you ready for an Arizona Wildcats basketball season unlike any we’ve ever seen?

There were already high hopes for 2013-14 but with the addition of Aaron Gordon, the UA’s first 99.999% certain one-and-done player, the anticipation heading into the season will be off the charts.

I know the first game is seven months away but it might take We The People that long to prepare for this thing.

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Sean Miller will have to lean on his big men more in 2014.
Photo by Casey Sapio-USA TODAY Sports

Losing at the buzzer in the NCAA tournament always feels like crashing into a tree. You’re driving along – full speed, full speed, full speed – bang. It’s over.

Sometimes a loss is devastating because you know you missed your best chance to reach a huge goal and now it’s time to rebuild. Fans of the Arizona Wildcats, however, hope the near miss of 2013 was just a pit stop on the road to bigger things next season.

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Things could get a Thad heated in L.A.
Photo by Steve Dykes-USA TODAY Sports

What was the best part of Arizona Basketball’s great week? Was it the two convincing wins leading to the school’s 16th Sweet 16? Was it the national exposure that comes with tournament victories, or the oh-by-the-way extra revenue?

Or maybe – just maybe – was it earning another week of TWit-Pac hoops?

Read on for the March Madness TV schedule (all times Arizona/Pacific) and – uh oh – Pac-12 baseball.

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The Wildcats have been in the Sweet 16 so many times they’ve lost count.
Photo by Steve Dykes-USA TODAY Sports

The Arizona Wildcats basketball team played exceptionally well in Salt Lake City, blowing out Belmont and Harvard to advance to the West regional semifinals of the 2013 NCAA tournament.

As soon as Saturday’s game ended the announcements went out: This will be Arizona’s 15th appearance in the Sweet 16.

No, wait, it’s the school’s Sixteenth Sweet 16.

So which is it?

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Now would be a great time for the Wildcats to put their size to good use.
Photo by Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

It’s 1986 all over again.

That was Lute Olson’s third season at Arizona and he won his first Pac-10 title only to receive just a 9-seed in the NCAA tournament. Second-place Washington was the only other team from the conference to get in and the Huskies were a 12.

We can’t even blame East Coast bias for the Pac-12’s low seeds this year. There are well-regarded teams out west but they happen to be in the West Coast Conference (#1 Gonzaga) and Mountain West (#3 New Mexico and #5 UNLV).

This Week in the Pac-12 (TWit-Pac) Marches on with the TV schedule (all times Arizona/Pacific) plus baseball down below.

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