Will the Wildcats Dance in '08?

In the quarterfinals tonight of the Pac-10 Tournament, the Wildcats lost to Stanford 75-64. An 11 point deficit for all those english majors out there. A source told me tonight that if the Wildcats lost by more than 17, the Wildcats would not get the at-large bid that they need to get in this year's NCAA Tournament. So by his standards, the Wildcats have a shot. I'm really torn as to if they actually deserve a spot this year. Do I want them in the tournament? Can I say yes? But there are certain factors that may contribute to the Cats not making the tournament this year.

#1: 2 Key losses to Arizona State.. As much as it pains me to type the previous sentence it needs to be said right off the bat. First losing to the Sun Devils on the road 64-59. At the time, the Cats were ranked #24. James Harden, the Freshman phenom for the Devils this year put up 26. The second loss came at McKale Center, where the Cats pretty much only needed Jarryd Bayless to play. Bayless put up an unbelievable 39 points, but the Cats had no other help and lost the game 59-54. Can someone say where was Chase Budinger? These 2 loses, as much as I cringe to think about them, where just 2 shots in the foot.

#2. Jarryd Bayless' knee injury.. The Wildcats went 1-3 when Bayless was injured. Thats an average of 20 ppg that you just don't get. Other players tried to step up, mainly Budinger who already should have, but to no avail. Those three loses (one against ASU) put the Cats on a bad track and they desperately needed Bayless back.

#3. Wise steps up, then sits down. There's so much you can say about Nic Wise this year. He increased his playing time significantly after keeping the team together when Bayless went down. He stepped up defensively and increased his ppg by 8. But then a knee injury sidelined him for more than 2 weeks. He was a spark plug to the team, then it was extinguished when he went under the knife.

#4. Going 8-10 in conference games. Jay Bilas even said that the Pac-10 was the toughest conference to be in this year. This fact made it even more important for the Wildcats to show a strong presence and win games. They didn't. Not only did they lose to ASU twice, but they lost to Oregon twice as well. Porter and his tre-ball always kill the Cats when they play the Ducks. However, the Cats did beat Washington State twice. And they have been ranked all year long. Those two wins could keep them in the hunt.

There's so many factors that go into what grants a team a spot in the NCAA tournament. As a team, you hope that the committee focuses more on your important wins, as opposed to you're big losses. It's a tough situation that the Wildcats are in. They have one of the hardest schedules in the country this year, if not the hardest. That may work in their favor but we won't know what will happen until Sunday. My projection: Arizona makes it and earns a 8 or 9 seed in the field of 65.

Question: If the Wildcats do in fact make the tournament, how deep will they go? Sweet-Sixteen? Elite-Eight? Final-Four? National Champion?!?

Trivia answer: The team with a current 10-game winning streak? The Boston Celtics.