A friend of mine sent me a message during Arizona’s demolition of West Virginia for win No. 20 on the season Saturday afternoon.
“I actually want to see us lose a game just to see the blueprint because right now I don’t see one,” he wrote.
That’s a fair sentiment, especially after watching the Cats win while making 10 of 23 3-point attempts, showing that they can, in fact, make shots from deep.
Understanding the 88-53 win over a Mountaineers team that is at best average isn’t as consequential as many
of the victories that preceded it. But that’s the thing.
Arizona has wins over Florida, UConn, UCLA, Auburn and Alabama. The Wildcats have gotten in the habit of not only beating teams, but destroying them. Boasting an average scoring margin of more than 21, owning the top spot in KenPom and second in EvanMiya.com, it’s clear that this team has a legitimate shot of making a trip to the Final Four and bringing a national championship back to Tucson.
This of course brings us back to my friend’s thought, because even though Arizona is about to head into the toughest part of its Big 12 slate it’s not as if Tommy Lloyd’s team hasn’t already shown an ability to beat good teams in different ways.
So again, what is the blueprint for beating Arizona? Someone has to find it.
Right?
The idea that Arizona could run the table seems outlandish if only because of who is left on the schedule. Beginning Monday at No. 13 BYU the Cats have seven ranked opponents left on the schedule, with three of the matchups coming on the road.
Would any of us be surprised if Arizona lost in Provo or fell to Kansas at Allen Fieldhouse? A game at Houston is anything but a gimme and you have to figure Texas Tech and Iowa State (and BYU and Kansas) will give the Cats a challenge in Tucson.
One of those teams surely will have enough talent to keep up with and overcome whatever Arizona throws at them. They’ll come up with a zone defense that stifles Arizona’s bigs or they’ll crash the glass and prevent the Cats from owning the boards. Maybe they’ll devise a way for their star players to consistently get open looks or just have a game where they cannot miss and Arizona can’t buy a bucket.
Perhaps it’s foul trouble that ultimately fells the Wildcats. There has to be something.
And yet.
Assuming the team stays healthy, it has proven to be built in such a manner where most all of the traditional ways good teams lose are either minimized or non-existent.
Talent is clearly not an issue for Arizona, with its lineup consisting of proven veterans and star freshmen, all of whom have the necessary size and athleticism to guard at least their positions. Teams have run zone defenses with moderate success at times, but in the end Arizona has consistently found ways to beat it and did so with aplomb against West Virginia.
We’re not likely to see a team that’s bigger than Arizona up front, and the defensive versatility we’ve seen from the roster seems to allow it to defend most anyone. As for the possibility that the Cats could go cold from the field that is real, but with seven guys who have topped the 20-point mark this season it will take a lot of players being off for that to really matter.
The team’s depth really is something and the growth, especially from the freshmen, is something to be excited about. Is there a rotation player who you do not have confidence in? Who or what does the opponent game plan to stop?
No no no. This team will lose a game. Maybe even two or three. The Wildcats are not perfect and will not remain perfect. Someone is going to find a way to beat them. The blueprint or recipe or whatever will be discovered and while it will be disappointing to see, the team will ultimately be better for it.
Not because Arizona plays with the kind of arrogance you might expect from an undefeated group or that because they need to lose in order to keep playing hard. To the contrary, this team seems to play with maturity and an edge, maybe the kind you get when veterans who have gone deep into the tournament but lost are paired with freshmen who are unfamiliar with the concept of losing.
No, a loss would instead give Lloyd and his group a better understanding of what flaws the roster might have and thus be able to work on correcting them. It’s hard to envision something that would be their undoing, but until the confetti rains down and we hear “One Shining Moment” a something could exist.
Unless.
Arizona is doing everything it can to secure a favorable path in the NCAA tournament, with a No. 1 seed in the West there for the taking. The Wildcats’ resume up to this point is elite and there will be opportunity to bolster it even further in the coming weeks.
The Cats need not go undefeated to earn a top seed and even more, they don’t need to have one in order to make the Final Four or win a title.
However, the more times we watch Arizona outlast, bully, dismantle and torch quality opponents the more realistic it seems that this team may very well be the one that ends the Final Four drought. We keep waiting to see what it would take to beat them, and so far no one has figured it out.
Hopefully no one does.
