Arizona Basketball: Are they a Blue Blood, or Slightly Watered Down?

Is Arizona Basketball a ‘blue blood’ basketball program, or are we just homers as fans that think otherwise? And will Tommy Lloyd get us there?

Duke. Kentucky. North Carolina. Kansas. UCLA. These men’s college basketball programs are synonymous with the term ‘Blue Blood’. But is Arizona Basketball?

When you ask a sports fan to define blue blood, it is akin to asking someone to define obscenity; you cannot define it, but you know it when you see it. Any subjective concept with unclear parameters will foster debate, and debating is sports fans’, well, sport.

Like most young, impressionable U of A students, I immediately developed a healthy (and arguably unhealthy) passion for our Wildcats when I stepped foot on campus many years ago. Now, I am not so young nor impressionable.

This fresh, dynamic, Tommy Lloyd era of Arizona Basketball has generated so much excitement in Tucson and everywhere else, that Wildcat fans are yearning for sustained success once again.

The post-Olson years have dampened expectations, regardless of the quality recruits Sean Miller brought in and the Pac-12 titles he acquired. The average U of A fan has been humbled, meanwhile the Duke’s, UNC’s, Kansas’, etc. continue to play on the last weekend of March Madness, amassing titles.

So, no, Arizona is not a college basketball blue blood by its basic definition, as much as it pains me to acknowledge that.

The fact is, U of A has one lone national championship, which came years before current Arizona undergraduates were even born. From 1988 to 2001, Arizona made four Final Fours, once every few years (with two championship game appearances). We were spoiled.

It has been over two decades now, and Arizona has made way for Villanova and Michigan State in the blue blood conversation.

Consider these fun (albeit heartbreaking) facts:

• UCLA has had four Final Four appearances since Arizona’s last Final Four in 2001.
• Kansas Jayhawks, the current national champions, have had five.
• Heck, Oregon has been to more Final Fours than Arizona in the last two decades.
• Twenty-one (!!!) teams have had more Final Four appearances than Arizona since 2001.

Although Arizona has been blessed with successful campaigns in the last 30-plus years, which most college basketball programs could only clamor for, we should just be thankful Arizona can be considered one of the West Coast’s elite programs, of which there are few.

Speaking of Few (as in Mark), at least Arizona has one more title than Gonzaga. And with an ex-Zag and current AP Coach of the Year, Tommy Lloyd, leading the charge, let us hope the “is Arizona a blue blood” debate can be put to rest one day.