Arizona has done all it can, now it’s in the hands of a handful of people in a conference room in Indiana.
The Wildcats (22-12) will learn their NCAA Tournament fate at the same time as everyone else when the 68-team field is announced at 3 p.m. PT Sunday. The UA will earn an at-large bid, missing out on the Big 12’s automatic entry after losing to Houston in Saturday’s conference tournament final.
According to BracketMatrix.com, Arizona is a consensus No. 4 seed with an average seed of 4.06 on 106 aggregated projections. The Wildcats’ seed ranges from a No. 3 to a No. 6 but the vast majority have them at No. 4, which most likely means playing the first two rounds in one of the western tournament pods in Denver or Seattle.
ESPN has Arizona as the No. 4 seed in the South Region, opening in Denver against Mid-American champion Akron, with Bleacher Report having the same prediction. CBS has the UA in Seattle as the Midwest No. 5, opening against first-time qualifier UC-San Diego from the Big West, though Jerry Palm is routinely wrong with his brackets.
Denver games would be Thursday/Saturday, while Seattle is Friday/Sunday. The South Regional in Atlanta and the Midwest is in Indianapolis.