Was facing UCLA something of a must-win game for the Arizona Wildcats, a final chance to beat a high-major team before heading into the Big 12?
Bruins coach Mick Cronin indicated he isn’t so sure.
“They needed this game, but they didn’t really,” Cronin said Saturday after UCLA beat Arizona 57-54 in Phoenix. “I think that’s all BS. When you’re in a league as good as some of these leagues, your fate will be decided in your conference. They’re gonna get 20 (Big 12 games). They’re gonna have plenty of chances. I lived it back in the old Big East.”
He had a point. Cronin’s Cincinnati teams of over a decade ago sometimes played their way into the NCAA Tournament or out of it depending on what they did in their then-rugged conference. They went 9-3 in nonconference play during the 2009-10 season but did not get an NCAA bid after going 7-11 in the Big East.
Conversely, Cronin’s Bearcats lost three of their first eight games in 2011-12, including home games with Presbyterian and Marshall, then started Big East play at 5-4 before finishing league play at 12-6 and ultimately reaching the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16.
Arizona forward Trey Townsend (4) stays tight on UCLA guard Dylan Andrews (2) at the Footprint Center, Dec. 14, 2024.
However, the Big 12 competition Arizona will face ahead could be even tougher from top to bottom than those Big East editions of the early 2010s.
While the SEC took over five of the top seven spots in Monday’s Associated Press Top 25 poll, eight Big 12 teams received votes – and those eight, along with Arizona (48) are all sitting in the Top 50 of the NCAA’s NET rankings.
In the AP poll, No. 2 Auburn narrowed the voting differential behind No. 1 Tennessee after destroying Ohio State 91-53 on Saturday, while Iowa State stayed at No. 3 and Kansas moved up two spots to No. 8.
Meanwhile, Houston remained at No. 15, Cincinnati moved up three spots to No. 19 while Baylor, West Virginia, Oklahoma State and ASU also received votes.
But the Wildcats at least are used to that sort of competition. All five of their losses so far have come to teams receiving AP votes, including No. 5 Duke, No. 14 Oklahoma and No. 18 UCLA, plus two teams outside the Top 25 in Wisconsin and West Virginia.
Bottom line: Arizona has played plenty of good teams and will keep doing so, but hasn’t beaten any of them yet. The Wildcats (4-5) will close out nonconference play with home games Wednesday against Samford and Saturday against Central Michigan.
“I think it all matters,” UA coach Tommy Lloyd said, when told of Cronin’s suggestion that nonconference games aren’t necessarily make-or-break. “Our nonconference, we didn’t go into the light schedule. We scheduled tough and it’s just been a tough go for us.
“Maybe some years, you look at it and you’re like, ‘Man, I could schedule a little bit different and we’d be, whatever, 7-2.’ Maybe it would feel a little different, but we wouldn’t be any better.”
Rim shots
— Kansas center Hunter Dickinson picked up his third Big 12 Player of the Week award Monday after collecting 21 points, 14 rebounds and eight assists in the Jayhawks’ 75-60 win over N.C. State on Saturday.
— The Big 12 also gave co-Newcomer of the Week awards to Kansas’ Zeke Mayo and Iowa State’s Joshua Jefferson. Mayo hit 5 of 9 3-pointers and scored 26 points against N.C. State while Jefferson averaged 16.0 points, 9.0 rebounds and 5.0 assists while posting a 10-to-1 assist-turnover ratio during Iowa State’s wins over Iowa and Nebraska-Omaha.
