Greg Hansen's 2025 NCAA Tournament guide (Part II)

The Star's longtime columnist on notable stats from Arizona's NCAA tournament games; men's and women's Final Four predictions; March memories in Seattle, and more. Miss part I? Head on over to start from the top.

Return to Seattle stirs long-ago March memories

Arizona has played just three of its 98 career NCAA Tournament games in Seattle. One is an enduring memory: the 1988 Elite Eight victory over mighty North Carolina, 70-52, when Bobbi Olson, wife of UA coach Lute Olson, famously walked on the court to embrace her husband, celebrating the Wildcats’ first Final Four spot.

Three years later at the old Seattle Kingdome, Arizona played Seton Hall in the Sweet 16. The winner would play No. 1 UNLV, the defending national champion. At the time, UNLV, under coach Jerry Tarkanian, was Arizona’s top rival.

But Seton Hall beat the Wildcats 81-77 in a game tied 37-37 at the half. Arizona guard Matt Othick had a 3-point attempt from the corner to send the game into overtime but missed. It was the final game at Arizona for NBA lottery pick Bison Dele, who had a 21-10 double-double.

How long ago was 1991? Othick’s son, Chase Othick, is now a high school senior in the San Diego area. He is a standout shooting guard at Torrey Pines High School, but his main sport is probably football. His position coach at TPHS is Drew Brees, former New Orleans Saints Super Bowl champion.

Big 12 Final Four success: Men 55, Women 6

If anything, the Big 12 is known for basketball success. Men’s basketball success.

Twelve of the 16 Big 12 men’s teams have reached the Final Four, with a cumulative total of 55 appearances. Kansas, at 16, is the leader by a big margin over Oklahoma State, Houston and Cincinnati, all with six Final Four visits.

One thing to remember when comparing the men’s and women’s NCAA tournament histories: The men’s tournament began in 1939; the women's in 1982.

Of the Big 12 women’s basketball teams, Baylor has four appearances, all under ex-coach Kim Mulkey, including three national titles. The others were Adia Barnes’ Arizona team of 2021, and Texas Tech, 1992.

The men’s teams have been playing for so long that most fans probably have no idea Utah played in the Final Four in 1961 and 1966 under coach Jack Gardner, whose 1966 team included Walt Simon, father of Arizona’s 1997 Final Four MVP Miles Simon.

Here’s the count of Big 12 men’s schools in the Final Four: Kansas (16), Cincinnati (6), Houston (6), Oklahoma State (6), Arizona (4), Kansas State (4), Utah (4), Baylor (3), Colorado (2), West Virginia (2), Texas Tech (1) and Iowa State (1).

Records that have stood the test of time

Here are some of the most notable statistical barriers in Arizona’s 98 NCAA Tournament games:

Widest winning margin: 40 vs. Cornell, 1988 first round (90-50)

Worst loss: 39 vs. Louisville, 2009 Sweet 16 (103-64)

Fewest points: 41 vs. Alabama, 1985 first round (50-41)

Most points: 114 vs. UNLV, 1976 Sweet 16 (114-109, OT)

Top FG percentage: .650 vs. Oklahoma State, 2005 Sweet 16 (79-78 win)

Low FG percentage: .283 vs. Utah, 1998 Elite Eight (76-51 loss)

Most points UA player: 32, Derrick Williams, 2011 Sweet 16 vs. Duke; 32, Khalid Reeves, 1994 first round vs. Loyola-Maryland; 31, Sean Elliott, 1988 Final Four vs. Oklahoma; 31, Herman Harris, 1976 Sweet 16 vs. UNLV

Most opponent points: 35, Mike Glenn, Southern Illinois, 1977 first-round win; 32, Kyle Hill, Eastern Illinois, 2001 first-round loss; 32, Mark Hull, UC-Santa Barbara, 2002 second-round loss

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Akron’s Groce and Sean Miller go way back

When Xavier coach Thad Matta was hired to be the head coach at Ohio State in 2004, the two men interviewed to replace Matta were Xavier assistants John Groce and Sean Miller. Xavier hired Miller, Groce followed Matta to Ohio State.

Groce and Miller were almost inseparable. They had earlier been assistants together at North Carolina State under Herb Sendek, 1996-2001.

Now, all these years later, Miller is back at Xavier after 12 years at Arizona and Groce is the head coach at Akron after head coaching stints at Ohio and Illinois.

Groce’s NCAA tournament résumé is impressive.

In 2010, as a No. 14 seed, he coached Ohio past No. 3 Georgetown in a first-round game. In 2012, as a No. 13 seed, Groce coached Ohio past No. 4 Michigan in a first-round game. Thus, you’d think he won’t be intimidated by playing No. 4 seed Arizona on Friday.

After being hired at Akron, Groce’s top NCAA Tournament moment came in a 2022 game against No. 4 seed UCLA. The Bruins had All-Pac-12 players Jaime Jaquez and Tyger Campbell and squeaked out a 57-53 victory.

Don’t expect the Zips to be awed in Seattle.

Zips have gone Zip in the Big Dance

The best men’s basketball season in Akron history was probably … well … this season.

Akron has never won an NCAA Tournament game. It is 0-6. Until now, its best season was probably the 14-0 team of 1919 or maybe the 21-2 club of 1945, or, more likely, the Zips’ 26-7 team of 2013 that was 26-6 entering the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

That ’13 team, however, a No. 12 seed, was humbled 88-42 in a first-round game against VCU.

So it’s a no-brainer that the 2025 Zips are the best-ever at Akron, especially given its 17-1 record in winning the Mid-American Conference.

This won’t be the first time Arizona has played a team with zero NCAA victories in a first-round game. It’s a long list of 0-fers: St. Francis (Pa.), Loyola-Maryland, Cornell, South Florida, Texas Southern, North Dakota, Jackson State, Vermont and Wright State.

Many believe the list of Arizona’s first-round winless opponents includes East Tennessee State, which stunned the Wildcats in 1992 in Atlanta. But East Tennessee State beat both Ohio State and Florida State in the 1967 tournament.

Would it be a colossal upset if the Zips beat Arizona? No way. Arizona knows what colossal upsets are, having lost to not only to East Tennessee State but also to 15-seeds Santa Clara in 1993 in Salt Lake City and Princeton in 2023 in San Francisco.

One man’s men’s Final Four

• Houston: Did you know Cougars coach Kelvin Sampson was 0-17 against Arizona while coaching at Washington State from 1987-94?
• St. John’s: Many have forgotten that Rick Pitino was an assistant coach at Hawaii in 1975-76 when Fred Snowden’s Arizona club beat the Rainbow Warriors 84-74 in Honolulu. It was a bad season for Hawaii, one in which Pitino was hired as the interim head coach with six games remaining, leading to his career of head coaching at Boston, Providence, Kentucky, Louisville, Iona and now St. John’s.
• Auburn: Coach Bruce Pearl was part of one of the most unexpected Arizona victories ever. In March 1983, Pearl was an assistant coach at Stanford, which lost to a 3-21 Arizona team (0-14 in the Pac-10) at McKale Center, the only conference victory in coach Ben Lindsey’s forgettable 4-24 season at UA.
• BYU: The Cougars handed Arizona its worst loss ever at McKale (99-69) in December 2009 — Sean Miller's first UA team — when Jimmer Fredette scored an arena-record 49 points.

Winner: The best story would be Pitino, at 72, winning his third national title, 29 years after the first one, at Kentucky, and 12 years after his second, at Louisville. I’ll go for the good story. St. John’s wins it all.

... and the women’s Final Four

• UCLA: The Bruins benefited from the retirement of Stanford Hall of Fame coach Tara VanDerveer by getting Stanford transfer Lauren Betts (19.9 scoring average), as well as key transfers from Oregon State and Texas A&M.
• USC: It has been 41 years since USC last won an NCAA championship, but it’s likely the Trojans have never had a better player than JuJu Watkins, who receives help from another Stanford transfer, Kiki Iriafen.
• South Carolina: Dawn Staley’s last four years at the USC of South Carolina: 35-2, 36-1, 38-0, 30-3. John Wooden would be impressed.
• Notre Dame: The Fighting Irish have beaten UConn, USC and Texas and played a wicked ACC schedule.

Winner: USC. I’ll take JuJu Watkins, the Aari McDonald of Trojans basketball, against the field.