Arizona Basketball: Road to the Final Four starts against NAU

The Arizona Basketball team is looking to get back to greatness and to the Final Four. The road in getting there starts with NAU.

2001. The last time Arizona Basketball made it back to the Final Four. Under legendary head coach Lute Olson, they made it all the way to the title game before losing to Duke. Since the, they haven’t been back but have come awfully close. This season, the road to get Sean Miller to his first Final Four starts against NAU.

After the women took care of business in their opener against North Dakota, the men look to do the same. It will be important for them to send a message early on to help build team chemistry and confidence. In such a long and grueling season, it’s important everyone is on the same page and communicating.

Getting all the way to the Final Four won’t be easy. They will first need to care of business during the non-conference season. All the team they are facing are good quality opponents, highlighted by Gonzaga at home. Getting wins in November and December will be huge and go a long way to help with a good seeding in the NCAA tournament.

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The toughest part of the season will be of course during Pac-12 play when there are multiple teams who have a legit chance being conference champion. Taking care of home-court advantage is a must, but also finding ways on the road to get it done will be huge!

This team enters the season ranked at No.21, but has a really good chance of finishing within the top 15, maybe even the top 10. The key though will be getting a good seed in the NCAA Tournament. If the Wildcats can win or make it to the Pac-12 Tournament championship, they put themselves in a really good spot for a higher seed.

Then you have March Madness. Anything can happen. When the Wildcats won in 1997 they were a No.4 seed that beat three No.1 seeds to win the championship. Anything can happen.

After missing out on the tournament last season (which is a rare thing to happen), the Wildcats have the depth and athleticism to make a deep run this season. It won’t be easy, but knowing what it would mean to get Miller into the Final Four, is the exact motivation this team needs to make it happen!

Nico is one of those players looking to get Miller there:

Right now they are projected to be No.6 in the Midwest according to ESPN Bracketology. The disrespect! At Zona Zealots, we want to wish this team the best of luck as a new chapter for this program begins tonight against NAU. As always, Bear Down Arizona!