For Arizona, Sweet 16 — featuring 4 teams Wildcats beat and their ex-coach — is anything but

If Arizona is still hurting from its first-round loss to 15th-seeded Princeton last week, the Wildcats probably won’t find any consolation this weekend.

It might even make the pain worse, especially for a team that thrived off the revenge motive all season.

In each of the four regional sites that will be hosting Sweet 16 games Thursday and Friday, the Wildcats have a source of frustration that they won’t be able to do anything about.

In the South Region, where UA lost to Princeton, the Tigers have moved on to a Sweet 16 game against Creighton, the team the Wildcats beat for the Maui Invitational title back in November. Also in the South: San Diego State, another team UA defeated in Maui, will be taking on No. 1-seeded Alabama.

Then there’s Tennessee, whom Arizona beat at McKale Center in December, facing Florida Atlantic in an East Regional semifinal game in New York. Oh, and UCLA, a team that lost twice to Arizona, will be playing Gonzaga in the West Region in Las Vegas.

That Sweet 16 game will be played at the Wildcats’ adopted home of T-Mobile Arena, where Arizona is 8-0 under Tommy Lloyd.

And, if all that isn’t enough, over in Kansas City the Wildcats might notice a familiar face who has guided Xavier into a Sweet 16 Midwest Region game against Texas.

His name is Sean Miller. The same guy Arizona fired in April 2021.

Here’s a closer look at the Wildcats’ five “connections” to the Sweet 16:

Creighton: No. 6 Midwest (23-12)

Arizona ousted: The Bluejays 81-79 in the Maui Invitational championship game on Nov. 23, when Oumar Ballo had 30 points on 11-for-14 shooting and 13 rebounds to pick up tournament MVP honors. The Wildcats shot 52.9% from the field and had assists on 21 of their 36 made field goals. Guard Kerr Kriisa had 12 points and nine rebounds, while Courtney Ramey had five assists.

Since then: The loss to Arizona was actually the first of six that kicked the Bluejays from a No. 10 ranking all the way out of the Associated Press Top 25 poll. But four of the six losses were against eventual NCAA Tournament teams, and center Ryan Kalkbrenner was out with a non-COVID illnesses for three games during the losing streak.

All that might have toughened the Bluejays up. When Kalkbrenner returned, Creighton won 11 of its next 13 games. The Bluejays finished in third place in the Big East at 14-6, then lost to Xavier in the Big East Tournament semifinals. Creighton defeated No. 11 N.C. State 72-63 in the first round and No. 3 Baylor 85-76 in the second round to reach the Sweet 16.

He said it: “To endure a six-game losing streak, with all the noise that there was on the outside, to stay together and to stay oriented and ... not point a finger at each other, to be in the Sweet 16, it’s a pretty remarkable story. I’ve been blessed to be part of this journey.” — Creighton coach Greg McDermott

San Diego State: No. 5 South (29-6)

Arizona ousted: SDSU 87-80 in the second round of the Maui Invitational, when Arizona shot 58.6% from the field and held the Aztecs to just 38.1%. Kriisa and Ramey each had 21 points to lead UA in scoring, with Ramey hitting all five 3-pointers he took.

Since then: The Aztecs lost in overtime to Arkansas in their final Maui game — but only four more times the rest of the season. Led by fifth-year guard Matt Bradley, SDSU won the Mountain West regular-season title at 15-3 and won the conference tournament by beating Colorado State, San Jose State and Utah State.

At Orlando last weekend, the Aztecs beat Charleston 63-57 in the first round and then defeated No. 13 Furman 75-52 in the second round after the Paladins upset Virginia in their opener.

The two wins put SDSU in the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2014, when Arizona beat the Aztecs 70-64 after Nick Johnson scored 15 points in the final 2:46.

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He said it: “This is a veteran group. They play the right way. They’re for one another. Most teams can’t play this deep a bench and have great chemistry. We have incredible chemistry playing a nine-man rotation. That’s been the key to our success. We play selfless, we play together, and we’re all about winning.” — SDSU coach Brian Dutcher

Tennessee: No. 4 East (25-10)

Arizona ousted: The Volunteers 75-70 during a gritty back-and-forth showdown of top-10 teams on Dec. 17 at McKale Center. The Wildcats scored 16 more points off free throws, outrebounded Tennessee 38-30 overall and scored 15 second-chance points from 10 offensive rebounds.

Since then: The Vols won nine of their next 10 games, but then lost five of seven games in the middle of SEC play. They also lost starting guard Zakai Zeigler for the season to a torn ACL on Feb. 28 against Arkansas.

Tennessee finished in a three-way tie for third in the SEC, then beat Mississippi and lost to Missouri in the SEC Tournament. Last week at Orlando, the Volunteers beat No. 13 Louisiana 58-55 in the first round and No. 5 Duke 65-52 in the second round.

He said it: “This is a different group of guys, and I thought they handled it great. We struggled some games coming down the stretch here obviously without Zakai, but each game I feel like we’ve gotten better with what we have right now.” — Tennessee coach Rick Barnes

UCLA: No. 2 West (31-5)

Arizona ousted: UCLA 58-52 on Jan. 21 at McKale Center, the first time the Wildcats had won a game while scoring in the 50s in eight seasons. Arizona held UCLA to just 31.3% shooting.

While the Bruins beat the Wildcats 82-73 on March 4 at Pauley Pavilion, UA pulled off a rubber-match victory in the Pac-12 Tournament championship game a week later. UA beat UCLA 61-59 after Ramey hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with 16.7 seconds left.

Since then: The Bruins have continued to adjust without Jaylen Clark, the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year, who suffered a reported Achilles’ injury on March 4 against Arizona. They beat No. 15 seed UNC Asheville 86-53 in a first-round game in Sacramento, California, and then defeated No. 7 Northwestern 68-63 in the second round.

He said it: “(Guard Tyger Campbell) missed a (key late) free throw against Arizona, and in hindsight I’m glad. I’m glad. We weren’t happy coming here. The odds of him missing again are very low, you know? That’s just who he is.” — UCLA coach Mick Cronin after Campbell hit two free throws with 11 seconds left to clinch the Bruins’ win against Northwestern

Xavier: No. 3 Midwest (27-9)

Arizona ousted: Miller on April 7, 2021, for what UA said were both on- and off-court reasons. Miller had coached the Wildcats to a 17-9 record in the COVID-limited 2020-21 season, which might have qualified them for one of the final NCAA Tournament berths had the school not self-imposed a postseason ban.

In December 2022, the Independent Accountability Resolution Process cleared Miller of wrongdoing while determining that the Wildcats had committed six total violations during Miller’s tenure, including three Level 1 (most serious) violations.

Since then: Miller, who spent five years as Xavier’s head coach before joining UA in 2009, took a year off before Xavier rehired him on March 19, 2022. Exactly one year later, Miller led the Musketeers to the Sweet 16 with an 83-74 win over his alma mater, No. 11 Pittsburgh.

Running the nation’s 33rd-fastest tempo — in marked contrast to the Miller-led Wildcats — the Musketeers finished second in the Big East at 15-5 and beat DePaul and Creighton in their conference tournament before losing to Marquette. They then beat No. 14 Kennesaw State 72-67 in the NCAA Tournament first round before beating Pitt.

He said it: “It’s remarkable, and as much as it’s about me being the coach, it’s way more about these guys and the way they play. They’ve grown by leaps and bounds from November.” — Miller