By
Keith Carmona
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Stanford's success may push Cats out of West bracket
While most of the college basketball world is absorbed in "Championship Week" complete with conference tournaments, Arizona will embark on a road trip as important to the team's momentum as any year-end tournament.
Even though Stanford bagged the Pacific 10 Conference title Saturday by defeating UCLA 85-79, the matchup between No. 8 Arizona and the No. 1 Cardinal Thursday holds momentous bearing on possible NCAA Tournament seedings.
"Now that it's coming to the end of the season, everything is starting to flow in the right direction," sophomore guard Jason Gardner said. "We couldn't be hitting Stanford at a better time because with the way our offense was clicking (Saturday), I think we have a better chance against them than most people are saying. Cal is a good team too, so this weekend is pretty close to what the rest of the country is going through."
With the Bay Area road trip looming, the Wildcats could earn anything from a second to a fourth seed, depending upon how they fare Thursday and on Saturday against California.
Still, UA head coach Lute Olson is not about to make any predictions on where his team will be headed next week.
"We certainly will be tested in both games (this) week because I think Stanford has become a better-balanced team as the season has progressed, and they have a good bench much like we do," he said. "The guys really were disappointed about not beating them here in McKale, and I expect us to come out full force in both games."
As Wildcats' spring break plans are in limbo, as there seems to be only two destinations to where Olson's team isn't headed - San Diego and Boise, Idaho. With only one loss, Stanford is a veritable lock for the No. 1 seed in the West, which would likely send them to San Diego.
The tournament selection committee frowns upon placing two of a conference's top teams in the same bracket subdivision, which means that UA's spring break destination could be Dayton, Ohio; Kansas City, Mo.; Memphis, Tenn.; New Orleans, La.; Greensboro, N.C. or Nassau, N.Y.
But so much can change between now and when the selection committee makes its decision Sunday.
UA assistant coach Josh Pastner likes the idea of being placed in the Midwest bracket, which would send his team to San Antonio, Texas if they advanced past the second round.
"I realize that the chances of them shipping us out west are pretty low, so after that - the prospects of going to San Antonio are pretty appealing," said Pastner, who is from Houston. "I would only be about three hours from home, and being in Texas would make it easier for our fans in Tucson to come out and see us. But my guess is as good as anyone's."
Not that the Wildcats want to jinx themselves by making too many connections between this season and the 1997 National Championship team, but a first-round trip to Memphis would start the Wildcats in the arena where they began their title run four years ago.
To Arizona's credit, the tournament selection committee tends to look favorably on a team that has been successful later in the season, rather than earlier. So the team's 44, 30 and 39-point victories against Southern California, Arizona State and Oregon over the past three weeks hoist its chances at earning a higher bid.
The committee will also likely consider that UA is worlds away from where they were when they were dealing with the death of Bobbi Olson in January and the NCAA suspensions of senior center Loren Woods and junior forward Richard Jefferson in November.
"The biggest thing for us is building the momentum going into the tournament," said Woods, who has not played in an NCAA Tournament since his freshman campaign at Wake Forest. "I think we can go far this year because we have guys that are ready, we have the intensity and both our offense and defense are operating well."
