The Arizona Wildcats looked like a really good team early in the college basketball season. They won at Duke. They beat Michigan State, Wisconsin, and Alabama. That’s a lot of high-quality wins. Heading into Pac-12 Conference play, Arizona’s only losses were to No. 1 Purdue and to nationally-ranked Florida Atlantic in a classic 96-95 overtime game which was one of the very best college basketball games played this season.
How is it that Arizona has become a much worse team in a not-very-good Pac-12 Conference? The same team that was beating Duke, Wisconsin, and Alabama — and played FAU in an epic game — now can’t beat Oregon State?
It happened.
Arizona led by as many as 12 in Corvallis on Thursday night. The Wildcats led the Beavers by eight points at halftime. Somehow, they still lost to the lowly Beavers, who had lost five straight games. OSU won 83-80 on a last-second 3-pointer by Jordan Pope, who finished with 31 points. Arizona’s NCAA Tournament seed took a big hit. The Wildcats might not be able to do better than a No. 3 seed right now, after previously looking like a strong No. 1 seed candidate.
Another result of Arizona’s loss: Oregon is all alone in first place in the Pac-12 at 6-2. Oregon hosts Arizona on Saturday in Eugene.
Speaking of Oregon, the Ducks handled Arizona State to improve their position. If Oregon beats Arizona, the Ducks will enter February in very good shape for an NCAA Tournament bid … but if they lose, they’re in real trouble after recent losses to Colorado and Utah.
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