Arizona-UCLA pregame: Bruins projected in NCAA field but still could play with urgency

LAS VEGAS – By all accounts, UCLA is in the NCAA Tournament field no matter what happens Friday night at T-Mobile Arena.

But center Thomas Welsh says the Bruins aren’t taking any chances, so they may still play with a sense of desperation against Arizona.

“You never really know because there’s so many tournaments going on right now and teams that are on the bubble may do well or may not do well,” Welsh said. “It’s about controlling what you can control, giving 40 minutes of great effort tomorrow and trying to do everything we can to win that game.”

As of Friday morning, ESPN’s Bracketology has UA as a No. 5 in the South (though starting in San Diego), while CBS has the Wildcats a No.4 in the West. SI has UA a No. 4 in the West and Sporting News also has UA a No. 4 but doesn’t specify regions.

UCLA is a No. 11 at ESPN, a No. 9 at CBS, a No. 11 at SI, and a No. 10 at Sports Illustrated.

ESPN has USC as a 10, CBS has the Trojans at 11 and SI has them at 12. Sporting News has USC and ASU both as 11s, but the other three do not project ASU making the field.

With all the talk over how important nonconference strength of schedule is, it will be interesting to see if the Sun Devils make it despite their Pac-12 slide.

And Oregon may still be well outside the NCAA Tournament bubble despite its win over Arizona two weeks ago and overall strong finish. 

After Aaron Holiday played 40 minutes against Stanford on Thursday -- he's now played all but three minutes in UCLA's last six games -- I asked him if he ever gets tired.

"I get tired but I gotta keep fighting and get the W," Holiday said.

Steve Alford says he's not about to take Aaron Holiday out.

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A reminder that the UA-UCLA semifinal game will be carried on Pac-12 Networks at 7:10 p.m. while the USC-Oregon semifinal will be shown on FS1 30 minutes after the first game ends.