Arizona moved up from 59th early in the week to 58th in the NCAA Net Ratings following its 65-57 win over BYU on Wednesday night. The Wildcats remain firmly on the NCAA Tournament bubble ahead of Saturday's game at Houston. Arizona is a solid favorite in its final three games with Texas Tech and Arizona State to finish the regular season.
Arizona is 16-12 overall, 5-5 on the road, 0-2 in neutral site games, 11-5 at home, 1-7 versus quadrant one opponents, 3-3 versus quad two, 2-2 in games against quad three and 10-0 versus quad four. There will not be another opportunity for Arizona to earn quad-one wins until the Big XII Tournament.
Arizona is currently a game behind Colorado for eighth place in the Big XII. Teams who finished fifth through eighth in the Big XII standings earn a bye in the first round of the conference tournament. Colorado owns the tiebreaker over Arizona after beating them earlier this season.
Arizona and Cincinnati are currently tied for ninth place in the Big XII standings. The Wildcats own the tiebreaker over the Bearcats after defeating them this season in their lone meeting. Houston is currently 178th in the Net Ratings, which makes that a quad-three game for Arizona.
“⃝ Keep playing hard. ”⃝
— Arizona Basketball (@ArizonaWBB) February 20, 2025
Breya sounds off on tonight’s gritty win 🗣️#MadeForIt x #LeaveALegacy pic.twitter.com/WrLT3KL9WQ
Texas Tech is currently 83rd in the NetRatings which makes that a quad-three game and Arizona State is 133d, which is also a quad-three game for Arizona. As it stands now, Arizona would play Houston in the first round of the Big XII Tournament. On a neutral court, Houston would still be a quad-three game for Arizona.
If Arizona wins its first-round Big XII Tournament game, they would play Colorado based on the current standings. Colorado would be a quad two-game for Arizona in Kansas City. Beating Colorado in the Big XII Tournament would be a huge boost for Arizona's NCAA Tournament hopes.
Arizona probably has to win its last three regular season games and go at least 2-1 in the Big XII Tournaments to earn an NCAA Tournament berth. Baylor and TCU are currently tied for first in the Big XII at 13-2, with Kansas State a game behind at 12-3. Baylor, TCU or Kansas State would likely be Arizona's quarterfinal opponent.