Arizona Basketball has about one month left in the regular season. Time to take an in-depth look at what the outlook of the season looks like for the Wildcats
Expectations. Heading into this season, not much was expected from this team after losing their entire starting lineup from last season. Here we are in February, the Wildcats have lost three straight Pac-12 games. albeit road games in hostile territory, and are 7th in the conference standings at 5-4. They haven’t had any real quality wins this season, except for Iowa State (who are now No.20 in the country) during the Maui Invitational. Yet they still continue to bear down each game.
This team still has something to play for. With Washington likely to win the Pac-12 regular season title, the only real chance the Wildcats have to make the NCAA tournament is to finish the remainder of the season strong and then win out the Pac-12 tourney. That is very much a realistic possibility as this team showed signs of fight still left in them with an overtime loss to ASU on the road, minus Brandon Williams and a Chase Jeter who was not quite 100%.
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There have been many times this season when they have played poor defense or had silly turnovers that led to easy buckets for the other team. The one thing though that has really plague this team is weak shooting. Our own Zona Zealots editor Shereen Ryan has said many times that when this team makes their shots, even though they are undersized, their chances of winning are much improved. Against the Sun Devils, Ryan Luther got his confidence back making five three-pointers and even Ira Lee, who was four for six gained confidence with finishing around the rim. Dylan Smith contributed on defense and contributed 11 points and Brandon Randolph is baaaaaccckkkk! B-Rand scored 17 points
Confidence is one of the most important factors in any sport. Without it, the struggle is real. Against USC and UCLA the Wildcats shot poorly, which is an understatement. But against ASU they began to find their rhythm. Yes, they played poor defense and had some bad turnovers, but they found a way to give themselves a chance to win.
They didn’t get the win against ASU, but what they did get was confidence by making their shots. For them to have any chance to be one of the teams selected during March Madness, they will need to continue that type of performance. It will be a challenge, but facing adversity is nothing new for this team. Injuries, starting player transferring, scoring droughts, losing streaks, this teams has seen it all this season.
Up next for the Wildcats, are the Washington Huskies on Thursday night, who are currently undefeated at 8-0. The Wildcats are playing at home and will need to use that to their advantage. Hopefully, both Jeter and Williams will be at 100% and ready to play. Everyone else will need to be ready to play right from tip-off as they can not afford to have any mental lapses if they want to come out victorious against a very good Huskies team.
From here on out, they will need to bring it! At Zona Zealots, we are not giving up on this team. They fought hard and came up short against an ASU team. In my book, this was a good loss. Wildcats fans if there ever was a time our team needed us, now is the team. So get up and Bear Down!. This season is not over yet.