A Slice of Bacon

I must begin this with a very relevant disclaimer; I went to the University of Arizona. It was an amazing time. I wrote for the newspaper there, and covered, among other sports, the men’s basketball team. 

I must admit one other thing; my senior class was the first under Lute Olson to not make a Final Four. I got in as the team was budding, with both Sports Illustrated and the then-relevant ESPN The Magazine ranking us number one in the nation before the season began. Sadly, that was the last time anyone cared about the University of Arizona men’s basketball team outside of Tucson. 

Since Kansas ousted the Wildcats in the Elite Eight back then, Arizona has made waves exactly once, and that was a heartbreaker to Illinois in another Elite Eight that was such a dreadful collapse that I’ve still never subjected myself to a second viewing of the game. I can’t do it. It’s like watching your soon-to-be wife in bed with another man. No thank you. I’ll pass.

But this season has been different. During a college basketball year when more teams have been number one than an expert could count, Arizona has coasted along to a very respectable schedule. Of the two non-conference losses (Arizona is currently 23-4, and leading the Pac-10), both have been against teams currently in the top-seven in the country. There has really only been one embarrassing loss in the last two months, a 17-point defeat against a sneaky good Washington team in Seattle. 

But again, nobody has taken notice. Arizona is currently ranked 10th in the country, moving up two spots after a week when they won their eighth game in a row hosting those same Huskies in Tucson. They have one of the best players in the nation currently hogging up the middle of the court, yet nobody is mentioning them. Nobody. 

Frankly, the only team west of Austin that is getting any recognition (And rightfully so) is BYU, but it’s strange that a team with few expectations to start the season is getting such little from anyone. Media folks LOVE these type of stories. They love a team that is playing well when nobody really thought they would. But it is another case of people in the east loving teams in the east. 

Do I find it strange? No, not really. When I fill out my March Madness bracket, I usually stray away from picking Pac-10 teams to go very far, because most of the people in my bracket are west coast people, and they’ve watched more of these games than other teams, so they always rank them high. A lot of people around Arizona thought Oregon would roll Auburn in the National Championship just because that’s the team we were fed all season. It’s just how things go.

But it is strange that in a season with so much parity, nobody is focusing on a team like Arizona. Could they win the national championship with the guards they have and the lack of an inside presence bast Williams? Probably not, but doesn’t it seem like the year a three or four seed has a chance to do it? I think so, and maybe little Arizona could sneak out of the pack and reel off six wins. Or not. But you’d think at least someone besides a guy with a Tumblr account might actually notice.