Now things get a little more intense.
Photo by Nick Oza/The Arizona Republic

Four Pac-10 teams are in the NCAA tournament but one of them has to go to work early. Two other teams are in the NIT and a 7th Pac squad is in one of those tournaments that may or may not truly exist.

TWIT-Pac is hunting brackets.

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Josh Pastner played at Arizona before focus was invented.
Photo by Brian Bahr, Getty Images Sport

The 12-month nightmare is over.

I love Selection Sunday. I love each team being revealed like an answer on Family Feud. “Survey says… 5 seed!”

I love the discussions about easy draws and loaded regions. I enjoy the debates about which teams got robbed and which teams did the robbing.

Last year wasn’t much fun without the Arizona Wildcats. The fun is back in a big way.

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Sometimes you hit the ball.

Sometimes the ball hits you.

The Arizona Wildcats baseball team took its lumps in a three-game sweep at Cal but none was bigger than the one on Kurt Heyer’s head. The freshman pitcher was cruising along Thursday afternoon before a line drive hit by the Bears’ cleanup hitter caromed off Heyer’s skull and sent the Cats into a tailspin.

Now that Kurt is OK I think it’s safe to say…DUCK!

That’s actually oversimplifying things. Heyer’s misfortune explains why the team gave up five runs in the 4th inning of the first game but it doesn’t explain the eight runs given up in game two. And it certainly isn’t an excuse for Arizona’s bats only producing five runs in three games.

This was the lingering question as the home wins piled up. Could the UA offense keep it up on the road against Pac-10 pitching? The early results are in and the reports are not favorable.

The 2010 Wildcats have to hit to win. This team is not going to win a lot of 4-3 games. The Cats need to put seven or eight runs on the board and then hang on. That’s not good news heading into a series against a Washington team that only gave up 11 runs in three games in their league opener against WSU.

(Speaking of the UW/WSU series, the Cougars have a nomination for the “Worst Way To Lose” list. Yikes.)

It’s way too early to throw in the towel on the season but the Cal series reminds Arizona fans that if this freshman-heavy team gets into the postseason in any way, shape or form it’s a successful year. So what will it take to make the NCAA tournament? Here’s a look at the number of Pac-10 teams to get bids in each of the last few years and what it took to end up on the right side of the bubble:

If Cats were to finish 13-14 in Pac-10 play and split the six remaining non-conference games (half are on the road) they’d be 34-21 overall. That would put us on par with other middling Pac teams that have made the tournament in recent years. The key would be to pick up some RPI-boosting wins (against ASU, UCLA and/or OSU) to add some meat to the cupcakes.

It’s worth noting that half of these average teams went on to do great things in the postseason. The ’06 Cardinal won its regional, the Cats made the College World Series in 2004 and OSU won the whole thing in ’07. Anything can happen, as long as you get in.

Now the question this: Can this team go 13-14? There are 21 Pac-10 games left and 12 of them are at home. If you win every home series that gives you eight wins meaning you’d have to win three road games. Doable, as long as you don’t get swept again.

Winning the series at Washington this weekend would help a lot. Beating the Huskies once and winning the Monday game with Gonzaga would be decent. Winning a single road game would be a start.

Lose all four games? That’s a headache none of us want to deal with.

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So who are you rooting for in the NCAA basketball tournament championship game?

I know, what a stupid question. What color is the sky? Who’s buried in Grant’s Tomb? Is ASU on probation?

You would be hard pressed to find a sporting event where the rooting interests of the general public are so lopsided. On the one side you have a small school from a small conference. Their coach looks younger than his players. They play in the gym from “Hooisers.” Butler is such an underdog their mascot is a real live dog.

And in this corner you have the most universally disliked team in college basketball.

Wouldn’t it be a shame if the New York Yankees and Duke Blue Devils were reigning champions at the same time? The only way to make it worse would be to add victories by the Dallas Cowboys and Soviet Union.

So…go Bulldogs. Slay one last Goliath for all the aspiring Davids out there. Is it likely to happen? No.

I’d say it’s probably as likely as an earthquake in Arizona.

Where were you five years ago?

If you’re not sure let me give you a one-word clue:

Illinois.

Yes, that game, five years ago this past Friday. Even if you weren’t in Illinois you know exactly where you were and how you felt. We didn’t know it at the time but we were witnessing even more than a monumental comeback/collapse.

It was the day the Lute Olson Era died.

You can point to Lute’s failing health and a dip in recruiting as the technical causes for the slide at the end of Coach Olson’s tenure but this game was the axis-shifting moment. If missing the tournament in 2010 was rock bottom, the 2005 Illinois game was the ship hitting the iceberg.

Women and children first!
Photo by Francisco Medina/Tucson Citizen

The 2005 Wildcats were really good. Thirty wins for only the third time under Lute. An 11th Pac-10 championship. An NCAA tournament seed of 4 or better for the 16th time in 18 years. A fourth Sweet 16 in five years and the seventh in 10 years.

All gone, and none of it has been back since.

To commemorate the anniversary I did something for the entire Wildcat Universe. I rewatched the game. That’s right, from start to agonizing finish, I watched so you don’t have to. I hope you never see it again, or at least not until we’re celebrating the fifth anniversary of Sean Miller’s fifth national championship.

(But if you really want to be a punishment glutton, here you go.)

I started with the end of the Oklahoma State game to remind me how close we were to missing the Elite Eight entirely. The chalk said the ‘05 run should have ended right there. The 3-seed battles hard but loses to the 2-seed. No shame there. But Salim Stoudamire had other ideas.

The brooding lefty with the wild hair was incredible in the final five minutes. He scored 10 of the Cats’ final 15 points without a miss. Stoudamire’s game-winner would make the short list of greatest moments in UA sports history if it didn’t take place two days before the absolute worst moment.

Let’s reset the scene. Rosemont, Illinois, just outside Chicago, a mere 153 miles from the University of Illinois campus. The Illini were 35-1 and the arena was packed with loud people wearing orange.

The game went back and forth early. Illinois eventually built a seven-point first-half lead, but the Cats cut it to two before halftime behind the inside/outside play of Channing Frye, Hassan Adams and Ivan Radenovic. Salim Stouramire was struggling, going 0-for-4 from the floor.

Bill Murray got a lot of camera time, rooting for the home team. Now his son is on the Arizona staff and Bill’s on our side. So we got that going for us, which is nice.

Dick Enberg and Jay Bilas were calling the game for CBS and as the second half progressed it was eerie seeing how prophetic they were. “Arizona’s gotta be stronger with the ball,” Nostradabilas said with 13 minutes left. “Those traps are bothering the Wildcats.”

With about eight and a half minutes left Bilas said, “He (Jawann McClellan) got fouled,” to which Enberg replied, “They’re letting them go.”

Channing Frye hit a 3 with six minutes left to push the lead to 12. His final line: 24 points, 12 rebounds, 6 blocks. It was such a joy to watch Channing develop for four years. It’s great to see him finding pro success with the Suns.

With 4:04 left, McClellan made two free throws to make it 75-60 in favor of the Cats. Right about this time my friend looks at me and says, “We’re going to the Final Four!” Never, ever turn your back on Arizona Athletics.

A turnover in the frontcourt with 12 seconds left on the shot clock lets Illinois cut the lead to seven with 1:25 left. With 48 seconds left 90% shooter Stoudamire passes to Mustafa Shakur near midcourt only to see Shakur get stripped. The subsequent inbounds pass to Frye becomes the freeze-frame image for the referee-blaming segment of UA fans.

At this point the Wildcats are clearly shell-shocked and logic goes out the window. On the final possession of regulation with the score tied Salim dribbles down the clock up top like he always did but then he passes to McClellan for the last shot. I don’t care if you’re 2-for-37. That’s your shot.

The final 11.8 seconds of overtime were equally puzzling. Arizona is only down one and still has a chance to pull out the win. The ball is inbounded to Shakur who passes to Adams on the right wing. Salim stands on the left perimeter and doesn’t move. Channing walks down to the left block and doesn’t move. Hassan doesn’t make his move until there are three seconds left and he has to force up an off-balance shot from the top of the key that bounces off the backboard like it was fired by a catapult.

And then the Wildcat world stopped breathing. As fans it took a long time to get over. As a program we’re still trying to dig our way out.

But for the first time in five years we have hope.

In Derrick Williams we have a big man who has the potential to rival Channing Frye’s production. In MoMo Jones we have a budding leader with a flair for the dramatic. But most importantly we have in Sean Miller a coach who has proven he can build conference champions and win games in March.

Where were we five years ago? In a dark, dark place.

Where will we be in five years?

Don’t turn your back on Arizona Athletics.

Welcome to Collegebasketbaholics Anonymous. We’ve saved a seat for you.

My name is Scott, and I really miss watching the Arizona Wildcats in the NCAA tournament.

I hope you haven’t been boycotting this UA-free tourney. If so you missed one wild weekend of games. Seeing all these great finishes is the good news. The bad news is it just makes me wish all the more that the Wildcats were a part of it.

I miss it. I miss looking ahead to potential matchups. I miss complaining about bad draws. I miss rooting for the top seeds in Arizona’s region to lose. I’m jealous of the beautiful three days this year’s Sweet 16 will enjoy when everybody is talking about their team as they wait for Thursday’s games.

How are you holding up? Were you able to lose yourself in the drama or did you keep having UA flashbacks? Kentucky blasted through the first two rounds like Sean Elliot and the ’88 Cats. Murray State could be in East Tennessee. Does 11-seed Washington remind you at all of last year’s run as a 12-seed?

Here’s an optimist/pessimist litmus test for you: When you see #1 Kansas losing do you think of Arizona beating #1 Kansas in 1997, or do you think of Kansas beating #1 Arizona in 2003?

Sean Miller calmly bides his time.
Photo by Chris Morrison/US Presswire

Or did you dream of Sean Miller’s Wildcats beating Kansas?

I’m glad the tournament is back to you-never-know status. After the death of the underdog two years ago (only one team worse than a 3-seed in the Elite Eight, all four #1s in the Final Four) it’s great to see a 9, 10, 11 and 12 still dancing.

We need the Ali Farokhmaneshes of the world. Life is more interesting when unconventional clock-management strategies work like a charm. I tell you what, there’s no way Mr. Farokhmanesh runs the ball on second-and-12 protecting a seven-point lead against Oregon with four minutes left and a potential Rose Bowl bid on the line.

You never know. It took Washington eight tries to win its first game outside Seattle. They’ve now won nine straight away from home.

You never know. When we last saw Purdue the Boilermakers were scoring 11 points – eleven! – in the first half of a Big Ten tournament game. Immediately the nation left them for dead and picked Siena to win in the first round. And picked Texas A&M to win in the second round. Next up is a showdown with Duke in which Purdue has no chance. Right?

You never know. How is it Michigan State got to enjoy the thrill of building a big second-half lead and hitting the buzzer-beater? That’s not one Arizona fans can relate to.

Special congrats to Sean Miller’s former players at Xavier for making their third-straight Sweet 16. It has to be tough for the UA coach after going through a Bittersweet 15 (loss) season, but it’s a reminder to the Wildcat faithful that we got a guy who can build a consistent winner.

The UA news for the next month will be Miller’s chase of a McDonald’s All-American or two to add to this year’s recruiting class. The thing to keep in mind is Xavier’s success shows it’s not the end of the world if the biggest fish get away. Miller’s first goal should be building another Xavier, and then worry about rebuilding ARIZONA.

Sweet 16, Elite Eight, Sweet 16. That’s where the Musketeers have been and it’s not a bad place to be. It sure beats first round, first round, Sweet 16, nothing.

So do your thing, Coach Miller. We’re addicted to college basketball success and we need help. Get us back to the Madness.

Watch out, Kansas.