Arizona Basketball: Is this the year the Wildcats make the Final Four?

The Arizona Wildcats are looking to make another deep run in March Madness this year. Will they make the Final Four? See why they are in a good position to do so.

Simon says Championship! Many Wildcat fans remember that moment when Miles Simon was holding the ball the under the basket and Jim Nantz said those three iconic words after the Wildcats won their first National Championship in 1997. It’s time again once again Wildcat fans hear their team announced as National Champions!

It has been 17 years since the Wildcat have made it to the Final Four. The last time they made it was in the 2001 Final Four when they lost in the championship game against Duke 82-72. That year the Wildcats were lead by Richard Jefferson, Gilbert Arenas, Jason Gardner, Michael Wright, Loren Woods, Luke Walton and Eugene Edgerson – what a line up!

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Since the 1985-86 season, the Wildcats have made it four times to the Final Four, all under coach Lute Olson. Combination of great players and coaching resulted in consistency and deep runs in the NCAA Tournament during the Olson era.

Under Coach Sean Miller, the Wildcats have made the NCAA Tournament 7 out of 8 seasons. They have made it to the Elite 8 three times, including a overtime loss to Wisconsin in the 2014 tournament 63-64.

In 14 years of coaching (five years at Xavier and nine years at Arizona), Coach Miller has yet to make it to the Final Four. This is the year! With the talent he has, the possibility of watching Miller climb that ladder and cut down those nets is very much a reality.

When you have two Wooden Award Finalists, a Karl Malone Award Finalist and a Jerry West Finalist all on the same team anything is possible!  Let’s not forget three possible NBA Draft Picks next year as well.

The keys for the Wildcats to make a championship run this year are:

• Consistent and solid defense
• Getting off to good starts
• Three point shooting
• Staying out of foul trouble
• Of course, get the ball to Ayton inside!

As this teams gets into the second and hopefully third weekend of the tournament, staying focus, confident and working together as a cohesive unit will be key to this team’s overall success.

The Wildcat’s have one of the best starting five in the country, led by Deandre Ayton, Allonzo Trier, Rawle Alkins, Parker Jackson-Cartwright and Dusan Ristic. They will need to use that to their advantage and get off starts like they did against the Arizona State Sun Devils. Getting productive minutes from the bench will be huge too and key to getting to the national championship game.

Many feel the Wildcats have a legitimate chance in making the Final Four, including Fox college basketball analysts:

Imagine seeing the Wildcats face off against Xavier in San Antonio?  Last year the Wildcats loss to the Musketeers in the Sweet 16 71-73. This time around, they will be looking for some sweet revenge

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As the Pac-12 regular season winds down and we get closer the Pac-12 tournament then the NCAA Tournament, the Wildcats look to have their shinning moment in March, BEAR DOWN!