UA women want off the NCAA Tournament bubble

Nicholas Valenzuela Arizona Daily Wildcat UA junior forward Adia Barnes (30) helps junior Marte Alexander to her feet during the Wildcats' game against Arizona State on Saturday in Tempe.

Those two words in college basketball jargon separate the elite from the rest trying to fight their way into the postseason.

It means that come NCAA Tournament time, sleep will be lost because it is up to a committee to compare your team with 33 other bubble teams to see which one gets in.

Last season the UA women, who finished the regular season 19-8, were a bubble team that had their bubble popped. They were sent to the Women's NIT and thanked for trying. The Wildcats responded by winning the NIT, slapping the committee in the face.

At 17-4 after Saturday's 66-42 win over Arizona State, the Wildcats are off to their best start ever. With two wins in Los Angeles this weekend, Arizona could take sole possession of second place behind third-ranked Stanford (23-1).

"We don't want to be on the bubble at tournament time," said UA coach Joan Bonvicini, who led Long Beach State to 10 consecutive NCAA appearances. "Our thing is 21, 22, 23 wins. If you do that there is no way they can keep you out and we are in position to do that, we just have to take care of business."

The Wildcats are in fourth place in the conference at 7-3, while Oregon is third at 8-3 and Southern Cal is second with a 9-2 league record.

Arizona plays UCLA on Friday and USC on Sunday. Oregon hosts Cal and Stanford.

"We don't want it to be up to a committee. Right now we are in a good situation, it's in our hands and up to us," Bonvicini said. "We are better than we were last time we played USC and UCLA."

The pressure to succeed is not only on the coach.

"We can't get too excited about this win because every game is a must-win, and we still have eight more to accomplish," junior center Marte Alexander said.

That one-game-at-a-time approach started at the beginning of the season. It stemmed from the combination of the disappointment of being rejected and giving notice that Arizona is a program on the rise.

"Last year they (the NCAA committee) decided to only take three teams from the Pac-10," Bonvicini said. "We have to beat UCLA first, then USC and continue to win to be in that position. I told the team before the ASU game that 7-2 would do it, 6-3 is all right, but 5-4 and worse won't get it done."

That philosophy is expected to be understood by everyone, from the upperclassmen to the newcomers.

"I came here because coach is a winner and wants to win. That is easy to understand and like," freshman Felecity Willis said earlier this season.

In the most recent Associated Press women's poll Arizona has 10 points. Southern Cal has 26 and San Francisco, a team UA beat, has 14.

"The bottom line is that we have to win," Bonvicini said. "And if we do our thing we will be fine."

In last week's Rating Percentage Index, which is a poll based on several categories, including toughness of schedule and opponent's winning percentage rather than AP writers' votes, had Arizona at 29th out of the 298 Division I teams. Stanford was No. 1 and USC was 13th.

"They showed us that they are a good team. I think that they belong in the Top 25," said Washington head coach June Daugherty after Arizona's 80-57 win on Jan. 30.

With a 10-game winning streak earlier this season and having currently won four straight, the Wildcats have a strong case for playing in NCAA Tournament. But, that all depends on the outcome of this weekend's matches with UCLA and USC and the March 6 showdown with Stanford at McKale Center.