Arizona Wildcats Basketball: Cats start the New Year with a Bang

The Arizona Wildcats Basketball team went from being a top-10 team to some people hitting the panic button.

It’s still only January. The New Year began with a crazy start, and we are only two weeks into 2016.

So where do I start? The New Year for the Arizona Wildcats Basketball team has already met the expectations of 2016; the Wildcats are worthy of watching and cheering for.

Bring it on! Fans have being saying things like, ‘I don’t know if Miller can get the ship right,’ or ‘This team doesn’t have the defense to contend really,’ ‘These guys don’t have the fight or fire we have seen in the past.’ These were just some of the things I have heard in the last few weeks that infuriated me.

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For all the haters out there, there are ten great fans that know how to wear the red and blue proudly. This is only one reason I can be proud of the Wildcat fan base. If you’re reading this article, I hope you’re one of those fans. I’m proud of you.

If this feels like Deja Vu, then you are probably right, we all just survived an up and down football season.

The last few weeks have been some of the most exciting, disappointing and mixed emotion periods I have lived through; this is what if feels like to be a fan of the Wildcats basketball team. Two weeks ago Wildcats were 12-1 and ranked in the Top-10 of the ESPN polls and were heading into enemy territory for a matchup versus the team from up north.

The Wildcats took care of business in Tempe. But what was to come was one of the toughest road trips in college basketball.

The Wildcats travelled to UCLA and USC as the No.7 ranked in the country. A gut-wrenching buzzer beater and four overtime periods game later, they lost more games than they had all season by five points in total in all the losses. Then they suffered a possibly even bigger loss when leading scorer

But Wildcats adhere to the ‘BEARDOWN’ mentality and all that it stands for, like fighting until the bitter end and giving it all you got.

Trier played three overtime periods with a broken wrist. What could have happened if he had been healthy, could he had made the difference and gotten the Wildcats the victory? Now we know he will be out for 3-5 more weeks.

Even though we did take two losses on the Cali trip, can you say you did not enjoy the ride? The Wildcats fought back from a 12-point deficit late in the game against UCLA. They lost on a 3-point jumper that was difficult to defend.

In the next game, played ten miles to the east, we were treated to a thrilling quadruple-overtime game that you couldn’t have helped but enjoy as a fan because both teams played an extra half of basketball and the difference was only two points.

Are you one of the fans who have questioned and doubted the college basketball ‘process?’ Everyone takes their losses and growing pains. Would you rather lose now? Or lose like Kentucky did last year in the Final Four? It wasn’t a complete shock that we lost to both of the Southern California teams; we’re talking about the most decorated college basketball school in the country in UCLA and a team that has a lot of people talking this season in USC.

The Wildcats then fell to No.18 in the country and bounced right back at home to beat Washington by 32 Thursday night. So for those of you not sure about what to think after these crazy couple weeks, let’s not forget we have still yet to see the Wildcats fire on all cylinders. Between Kaleb Tarczewski‘s injury and now Trier’s, we probably won’t see the likes of a fully functioning Wildcats team until late February. Or, it may just happen at the best time possible, in March.

Think about it, all the behind scenes work this team and coach Sean Miller have put in to make sure they don’t ever duplicate results from the recent trip to California. If the team is full and healthy by March, teams across the country will not have much time to see or prepare for a full strength Wildcats squad.

Next: Arizona Basketball : Aussie Harry Froling Visits Tucson

It’s only January, but March is just around the corner. So make sure you get out and support your Wildcats in conference play. And don’t forget to BEARDOWN and get ready for the Cats Final Four 2016 run!