5 ESPN analysts pick Arizona to make Final Four, including 1 as National Champion

Five ESPN analysts picked Arizona in their "Final Four, national champion predictions for the men's NCAA tournament" that the mothership posted on Wednesday. Roxy Bernstein, Kris Budden, Jarod Haase Phil Martelli pick Arizona to reach the Final Four and former Wildcat Corey Williams predicts a National Championship.

Bernstein was a longtime play-by-play announcer for ESPN and the Pac-12 Network who has called probably hundreds of Arizona games. Auburn, Florida and Houston are the other Final Four picks by Bernstein. Bernstein recently called Arizona games during the Big XII Tournament last week.

Budden who is the main sideline reporter for Big XII games has the same Final Four as Bernstein with Auburn, Florida and Houston advancing to the Final Weekend with Arizona. Budden was the sideline reporter for at least the final two Arizona Big XII Tournament games versus Texas Tech and Houston.

Haase plays a big part in Arizona NCAA Tournament lore and coached against the Wildcats in eight seasons as the head coach at Stanford. In the 1996 NCAA Tournament, Haase made a critical three-point shot with about a minute left to help Kansas beat Arizona in what ironically was the last game of Williams' career.

A year later, Arizona beat Haase and top-ranked Kansas in the South Regional Semifinals on their way to the 1997 National Championship. Haase worked multiple Arizona games this year in his first season as an analyst. Haase chose Arizona, Florida, Michigan State and Houston as his Final Four with the Cougars winning.

Martelli is the former longtime head coach of St. Joseph's in Philadelphia. Martelli's son Phil Jr. is coaching Bryant in the 2025 NCAA Tournament. Arizona, Bryant, Maryland and Tennessee are the Final Four picks for Martelli with the Terrapins winning the national championship.

Williams predicts an all-Big XII Final Four with Arizona, Houston, Iowa State and Texas Tech with the Wildcats to win the title. A conference has had three teams in the Final Four only once when Georgetown, St. John's and Villanova from the Big East along with Memphis from the Metro Conference were in the 1985 Final Four.

Arizona begins its 2025 NCAA Tournament run at 4:35 PM Mountain Standard Time on TruTV versus Akron in Seattle. If Arizona wins they advance to play the winner of Liberty and Oregon who are scheduled for a 7:10 PM MST tip-off also on TruTV with the last start time of the first round.