Arizona might be one game ahead of Oregon in the Pac-12 race, but the Wildcats trail the Ducks in the NCAA Tournament selection committee’s eyes.
UA coach Sean Miller has no problem with that.
“I mean, were you at the Oregon game?” he said when asked about the selection committee’s choices on Saturday. “I’m surprised they put us on the TV, period. (Oregon) beat us so bad. That’s a great reason. We talk about it’s not what you say, it’s what you do. That’s what they did. I was there.”
During the selection committee’s first-ever preview of the bracket seeding to date on Saturday, committee chair Mark Hollis indicated the Ducks’ 85-58 win gave them the edge. Oregon was handed a No. 2 seed in the West, while Arizona received a No. 3 in the Midwest.
“At this point — we don’t have all the data points like we will in March — head-to-head common opponents became important,” Hollis said. “The head-to-head with Arizona and Oregon was looked at.”
While the selection committee’s preview may appear meaningless since there are still four weeks to go counting conference tournaments, it was somewhat significant because it showed that the Wildcats must leapfrog the Ducks over the next four weeks in order to gain the Pac-12’s most-preferential tournament placement.
If Saturday’s bracket holds firm until Selection Sunday and then plays out as seeded, UA’s No. 3 seed in the Midwest means the Wildcats would have to play Florida State in the Sweet 16 for the not-so-desirable right to face top-seeded Kansas in Kansas City for the Elite Eight.
Kansas was awarded the No. 1 seed in the Midwest.
But if the Wildcats were able to get the Pac-12’s best seed, they would likely instead be placed in the West Region, where they would instead be in line for a possible Elite Eight game against Gonzaga in San Jose. Gonzaga beat the UA 69-62 in Los Angeles on Dec. 3, but the Wildcats did not have guards Allonzo Trier or Parker Jackson-Cartwright in that game.
Miller said he thought the early bracket reveal was a great idea because it promotes the tournament and also “holds everybody accountable.”
“If you’re whatever seed you’re at today, there has to be an explanation (on Selection Sunday) of why you went up or down, or whatever,” Miller said. “ So it’s really, really good. …
“Tonight, it’s already changed and it will continue to change every day moving forward, but I’m glad we’re on the TV. It’s a good testament for our program that one of the 16 teams was Arizona. We’ll take it.”
The UA beat Cal 62-57 on Saturday while Oregon beat USC 81-70, likely keeping their NCAA Tournament order in place for now. In the Pac-12 race, Arizona is 12-1, a game ahead of 11-2 Oregon and two games ahead of UCLA.
Rooks is touched
When he took a recruiting visit to UA, Cal center Kameron Rooks was shown the video clip of his father, former Wildcat standout Sean Rooks, saying “This is Arizona.”
Kameron didn’t mind seeing it again Saturday when it was spliced into the end of UA’s pregame intro on the video board.
“That put as a smile on my face,” Kameron said. “I love seeing him. That’s all I get to see right now.”
In a video posted on Twitter by the Daily Wildcat, Kameron said he used to always talk with his father after games, but Sean Rooks passed away last June at age 46 of heart disease. Now Kameron says he mostly talks with Cal coaches and finds them helpful, too.
“Just gotta stay positive,” Rooks said. “He always preached to trust the process.”
That hasn’t been easy for him to do. Rooks sat out 2014-15 with an ACL tear and missed 10 games this season that included a Dec. 30 Pac-12 opener with Arizona because of a knee sprain.
“He’s done really well and fought through some injuries,” Miller said. “So he’s already been hit with some adversity, and then he lost his father at a young age.”
Miller said the UA administration came up with the idea of adding Sean Rooks to the video board, and the school cleared it with Cal AD Michael Williams, Cal coach Cuonzo Martin and Kameron to ensure they were OK with it.
“Just to make sure in our attempt to do something that is meaningful and the right thing that it would impact him in a good way,” Miller said. “We didn’t want to impact him in a negative way. He was aware we were gonna do it and he OK’d it and I think it was certainly the right thing for a lot of reasons.
“In some ways you wish you could do more, but I think that would have put too much pressure on him as a young person who had to play. We lost a couple of our former players, and it’s tough. You feel it as a basketball family, but your heart goes out to their family. But we’re big fans of Kameron. Cal’s a lot better team with him.”
Rooks had 10 points on 3-for-5 shooting and a team-high six rebounds Saturday, his most productive outing since returning from the knee sprain last month.
Off the Markk
Arizona freshman Lauri Markkanen shot 1 for 5 Saturday after going 2 for 9 against Stanford and a collective 2 for 11 at OSU and Oregon the previous week.
That’s just 20 percent shooting from the field, including 4 of 16 from 3-point range, in the past four games.
Markkanen hasn’t been made available for comment since his slump began, but Miller said Saturday that picking up two early fouls threw Markkanen off Saturday. Markkanen sat out 16 minutes in the first half after the fouls.
“Lauri had a tough night,” Miller said.
“Thought he competed well. Played really hard. We have to find a way to help him out on offense and in some cases, he has to find a way to do it as well. But it was hard; he had two quick fouls.
“It’s very difficult to put that behind you and somehow come out in the second half and play great. (Cal’s) Ivan Rabb was in the same situation. He couldn’t get it going as well.”
Rabb played six minutes in the first half while picking up two fouls and finished with only four points and four rebounds.
