Arizona Wildcats given No. 2 seed in West in NCAA's early Tournament bracket reveal

The NCAA Tournament Selection Committee gave Arizona a peek at its possible Selection Sunday present, and it was probably about as much as the Wildcats could ask for.

During its annual early selection reveal show Saturday, the committee assigned the Wildcats the No. 2 seed in the West — the sixth overall spot — meaning they would have an opportunity to play second-weekend games in Las Vegas.

That was a significant geographic edge over UCLA, which as the eighth seed overall was made the East’s No. 2 seed, meaning the Bruins would head to New York if they won their first two tournament games.

But Bradley athletic director Chris Reynolds, chair of this year’s tournament committee, told NCAA.com that there were “razor-thin differences between those teams” on the No. 2 line. There are also three more weeks of games in which things could change.

UCLA (22-4, 13-2 Pac-12) was two games ahead of Arizona (23-4, 12-4) in the conference-race loss column entering Saturday but lost to the Wildcats 58-52 on Jan. 21 at McKale Center. The teams are scheduled for a rematch on March 4 in Los Angeles.

Regardless of the region the Wildcats are ultimately assigned, as long as they don’t fall below the No. 4 seed line, they are likely to lead a four-team pod that would play first-weekend games in either Sacramento, California, or Denver.

If the Wildcats win two games there, they would advance to the Sweet 16 in either Las Vegas (West Region), New York (East), Kansas City (Midwest) or Louisville (South).

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If the West seeds all remain the same on Selection Sunday as they were during Saturday’s early reveal — and all win their first two NCAA Tournament games — Arizona would face No. 3 Kansas State in the Sweet 16 and either No. 1 Kansas or No. 4 Gonzaga in the West Regional final (Elite Eight).

Since the committee began holding the early reveal in 2017, 65 of the 80 teams included have ultimately remained among the top 16 seeds, and most have kept the same seed on Selection Sunday or stayed within one seed line.

Arizona has been among the top 16 teams three times in the early reveals and only once received a different seed on Selection Sunday. The Wildcats were assigned a No. 3 seed in 2017 but ultimately received a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament. In 2018 (No. 4) and 2022 (No. 1), Arizona kept the same seed that it was given in the early reveal.

In this year’s early reveal, Alabama was given the No. 1 overall seed and placed in the South region, while Houston was No. 2 overall and assigned to the Midwest. Purdue was the third overall seed, given the No. 1 spot in the East, while Kansas was the fourth and made the No. 1 seed in the West.

Both Arizona AD Dave Heeke and former UA athletic director Greg Byrne of Alabama are on this year’s selection committee. Heeke is serving the first of a five-year term.