The Arizona Wildcats don't deserve an NCAA Tournament bid

This year's version of the University of Arizona Wildcats basketball team does not deserve an at-large bid in the NCAA Tournament. Last night's loss to Stanford in the quarterfinals of the Pac 10 Tournament was pathetic, the Wildcats clearly lacked urgency and desire. Chase Budinger is too laid back, he is not a leader. Jerryd Bayless, Nic Wise, and Jordan Hill all played their hearts out, but it seemed like they were rolling rocks uphill. Jawaan McClellan, a high school All-American, has seemingly disappeared. Interim head coach Kevin O'Neil simply refused to use his bench, and the five starters were obviously exhausted by the middle of the second half, when Stanford pulled away. You've got players sitting there on the bench in uniform, Kevin, why not use them? It was frustrating.

The pundits are all talking about the Wildcats' strength of schedule and RPI as justification for them getting into the Big Dance. With apologies to all my fellow Wildcat fans, I completely disagree. It's one thing to play a tough schedule, but you have to suck it up and beat some of those teams. The Wildcats were a bucket away from beating Stanford twice in the regular season, a terrible referee's call from beating UCLA, a basket away from beating Kansas, etc. Who really cares? All of those games were winnable for the UA, and they simply did not get the job done. They just did not have the heart and desire to get there. They were swept by Stanford (three games), UCLA, and ASU, for crying out loud.

This year's version of the Wildcats is simply not a good team. They are a collection of good players, some of them very good (Bayless, Budinger, Hill), but they have not played like a team all season. Last night was no different. The coaching was bad, the desire disappeared in the second half, the starters were obviously exhausted (there was nothing even resembling a fast break), the supporting cast for Stanford were able to dominate (forget about the unstoppable 7 foot tall Lopez twins, it was the other guys who made the difference last night), and the Cats looked like they simply gave up.

So now the Wildcats will await their fate, root for other bubble teams to lose, and hope that the selection committee lets them in based on their schedule (number one in the nation as far as degree of difficulty), the toughness of the conference, an overall winning record, and respect for the program. The Wildcats have been in the Big Dance for the last 23 consecutive years. The only way they make it to number 24 is if they are let in as a charity case. I hope it doesn't happen.