They say hindsight is 20/20, so as we hit the year 2020, we decided to take a look back at the biggest regrets of the 2010s for Arizona Wildcats fans.
There were more than you can imagine, almost too many to count.
What if just a few things went differently? The world might look entirely different.
Here are some of the memories that still sting the most:
What if … Kyle Fogg goes for the tie in 2011?
The 2010-11 Arizona men’s basketball team was just a bit ahead of schedule. Coming off a 16-15 finish in Sean Miller’s first year at the helm, the Wildcats were expected to take a step into the conference’s top tier with sophomore Derrick Williams, the reigning Pac-12 freshman of the year, back in tow and a strong, if young, supporting cast around him.
They didn’t just take a step, they leapt, just like one of Williams’ thunderous dunks, improving from 16 to 30 wins.
The one that got away, though, still haunts.
After blasting No. 1 seed Duke in the Sweet 16, Arizona squared off against No. 9-seeded UConn in the Elite Eight.
Out of timeouts and trailing 65-63 with 12 seconds left after a UConn miss, the Cats hurried down the court. Instead of setting up a clean look, Williams chucked up a contested three with 8.4 seconds left and the ball caromed into Kyle Fogg’s hands.
Fogg appeared to have a relatively clean look at the basket, but he spotted Jamelle Horne, the team’s lone senior, wide open in the corner. Fogg hit Horne with a chest pass, but Horne’s 3-point attempt clanged off the back of the rim.
What if Fogg had simply let one float? The Wildcats had no one in foul trouble, and they were the better team. What if it went into overtime? Chances were good Arizona could flourish in an extra frame.
A Final Four berth would’ve meant huge things for Miller and the Wildcats.
Instead, Kemba Walker and UConn carried on the momentum and won the Huskies’ third title in a dozen years.
What if … Brandon Ashley never gets hurt?
Forward Brandon Ashley broke his foot in a 2014 game against Cal. He missed the rest of the season and the Wildcats fell in the Elite Eight.
The 2013-14 Wildcats were no longer young upstarts under Miller; they were ruthless and exacting, winning 21 straight to start the season with perhaps the best Arizona lineup of the last two decades.
T.J. McConnell and Nick Johnson. Gabe York and Aaron Gordon. Rondae Hollis-Jefferson and Kaleb Tarczewski — and, for 21 games, Brandon Ashley.
A Feb. 1 showdown at Cal, however, cost the Cats their undefeated season and No. 1 ranking. It would hurt them again two months later.
Ashley, the team’s star sophomore forward, was lost for the season that night with a broken foot, and while Arizona was able to steady the ship, finishing conference play at 15-3 and the regular season at 28-3, Ashley’s absence would loom large.
What if … Nick Johnson gets his shot off in 2014?
Arizona guard Nick Johnson (13) walks off the court after overtime at the Arizona vs. Wisconsin game at the NCAA West Regionals in Anaheim, Calif., on Saturday, March 29, 2014. Arizona lost 64-63.
Three years after coming this close to their first Final Four since 2001, heartbreak found the Cats once more.
Missing the injured Ashley in a tightly contested Elite Eight matchup with Wisconsin, the Wildcats were roasted by Frank Kaminsky throughout the game. Kaminsky would finish with 28 points on 11-of-20 shooting — think the uber-athletic Ashley would have helped in that matchup? — but the Wildcats still had a shot with 2.3 seconds left in overtime.
Or, more accurately, no shot.
With the chance to win the game with a field goal or tie with a free throw, Nick Johnson got the ball far behind the 3-point line but could not generate momentum to the basket. Time expired with the ball in the hands of Johnson, one of the most beloved Wildcats of the decade.
Wisconsin would go on to lose to Kentucky, 74-73, in the Final Four. The Badgers would be pretty good the next year, though. So would Arizona.
What if … Arizona draws anybody but Wisconsin in 2015?
Leave it to the NCAA scheduling committee to torture Miller’s Wildcats time and time again.
In 2014, the Wildcats were the No. 1 seed in the West, with Wisconsin the No. 2 seed. A year later, the roles were reversed, as the Badgers claimed the top seed out west. They were headed for another showdown.
The Wildcats cruised through the first three rounds to set up a chance for revenge. And for 20 minutes, they had it, going up 33-30 before the break.
But Kaminsky took over in the second half, outdoing himself with 29 points in this matchup, and the Badgers again bounced the Cats, 85-78.
Arizona hasn’t been back to the Elite Eight since.
What if … Scooby Wright stays healthy in 2015?
After a spectacular 2014, UA linebacker Scooby Wright III injured his knee in the 2015 season opener and played in just three games that season.
After one of the truly spectacular seasons in college football history in 2014, Scooby Wright entered the 2015 campaign with a spotlight the size of Tucson itself. Wright had become the first FBS player since 2003 to register 150 tackles and 10-plus sacks for a 10-win Arizona team that played in the Fiesta Bowl.
Less than one quarter into the 2015 season opener against UTSA, Wright hurt his left knee. The Wildcats were up 14-0 at the time and looked every bit as exciting as the year before. They’d go on to win 42-32, with Wright sidelined the rest of the game.
Wright would go on to play just three games that season, the Wildcats would fall to 7-6, and that 2014 campaign would remain the high point of Rich Rodriguez’ tenure with Arizona. Two years later, after another 7-6 season followed a 3-9 catastrophe in 2016, Rodriguez was fired.
RichRod’s replacement, Kevin Sumlin, is 9-15 in two years at the helm.
What if … Cody Ramer scores from first in 2016?
Coach Jay Johnson puts his arm around Cody Ramer just after the UA fell to Coastal Carolina 4-3 in the deciding game of the 2016 CWS.
The Jay Johnson era got off to an incredible start for the Arizona baseball program.
With just one more hit, though, the Wildcats would’ve laid claim to two College World Series championships in five seasons.
Instead, Cody Ramer will forever be stranded on third.
Arizona trailed Coastal Carolina 4-3 in the bottom of the ninth inning of the 2016 College World Series. With Ramer on first, Arizona’s Ryan Aguilar blasted a pitch into the left field corner.
Ramer sprinted from first base toward and around second base, but Chanticleers left fielder Anthony Marks cut off the ball and delivered a strike to the relay man, forcing Ramer to stop at third. Johnson later told reporters that had he sent Ramer home, he would’ve been out by “a hundred feet.”
Arizona’s Ryan Haug then went down on strikes, and the Wildcats’ World Series wishes were wiped away.
That was one of two what-if plays in the decisive CWS final.
A bang-bang play at home plate in the third inning denied Arizona of what would have been a 1-0 lead.
The runner on that play, the guy who appeared on video replays to be clearly safe? Ramer.
