Arizona Athletics and their long history of “What-if’s”
It’s tough being an Arizona Athletics fan sometimes, and as we continue to pass time due to Covid, we look at their long history of “What-if’s”.
If you’re anything like me, you have found that it’s been tough being an Arizona Athletics fans for about the past 20+ years. But nonetheless, you still cheer on your Wildcats faithfully
Heartbreak after heartbreak, I know this next statement is going to purely be a subjective one, but one that I feel many will agree with… Arizona Athletics is cursed!
Arizona Wildcats
Cursed? Yes, cursed! Amid the illustrious history and success of Arizona Athletics, there have also been a number of instances that have certainly made fans, particularly myself, feel as if our department is cursed.
So close we have been to earning another championship, advancing deeper in the NCAA Tournaments, or even just making the elusive Rose Bowl, no matter the scenario, it seems as if it leaves many fans asking themselves “what-if”. So for fun, we thought we would highlight some of our favorite what if scenarios.
What if…
UCLA played Miami earlier during the 1998 Football season
As some of you may recall, it’s that Arizona Football finished a program best 12-1 during the 1998 season, however, even with their remarkable finish still wasn’t enough in getting to the 1998 Rose Bowl.
Instead a head-to-head loss to UCLA that season, and a UCLA loss to Miami later in the year pitted the Wildcats in the Holiday Bowl against Nebraska.
Even though the Wildcats ended up winning, this is still probably one of the biggest what-if’s in Arizona Athletics history, and I know it’s certainly a scenario many others will cite as well.
Would UCLA have won the match-up against Miamia earlier in the year if Hurricane Georges didn’t postpone it? Maybe, but I guess we will always wonder…
What if… Gilbert Arenas was completely healthy in the 2001 Championship game?
Perhaps one of the other biggest questions in Arizona Athletics history is the 2001 Championship game against Duke.
Despite some of the questionable calls in the game that I feel had an impact, to me, if Arizona had a healthy Gilbert Arenas, the Wildcats would have been champions!
What if… Brandon Ashley never got hurt
Still one of the most frustrating things to me was seeing Brandon Ashley go down during the 2013-14 Arizona Basketball season. A year that was shaping up to be quite special, the dynamic forward went down in a loss to Cal that broke Arizona’s 21-0 record.
The team had chemistry, they had defense, they had talent, size, length, all of it. 2013-14 was a special group, unfortunately we all know how it played out, as the Wildcats lost in overtime to Wisconsin… gross!
What if Gronk played alongside Nick Foles in 2009
I know I’m not the only one who’s brought this up, but during Arizona’s 8-5 season in which they also played Nebraska in the Holiday Bowl again, Arizona was without a crucial piece to their already talented offense.
Having arguably one of the NFL’s best Tight End’s would have been great to have for one final season in Tucson. Should Gronk have been healthy during the 2009 season, who knows what could have happened that year!
What if Anu Solomon stayed healthy?
I know this is one of my biggest questions, but as a freshman he showed a lot of promise, especially as the Wildcats had their best season in nearly 20 years, finishing 10-4 with a Pac-12 South Title, and a loss to Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl.
After that, he seemed to run into injury issues which hampered his once stellar and fearless play. If Anu stayed healthy, would Arizona have seen better football success with him under center? I think so, but unfortunately we will never know!
What if the umps got the call right for Arizona Baseball in the 2016 Title game?
As we all recall, Arizona had a tough match-up versus Coastal Carolina in the 2016 College World Series. After falling behind 4-0 fairly early, the Wildcats didn’t do themselves any favors, nonetheless, a missed call by the home plate umpire called Arizona at home, when actually on replay he had beaten the tag.
Had the umpires called it correctly, perhaps Arizona would have been the College World Series Champions.
Who knows, but nonetheless, we will always be asking ourselves “what-if”?
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Anyways, I’m sure there are plenty more examples, but these are just a few that stuck out to me the most. What are some of your biggest “what-if’s”?