KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Arizona had one final gut-check moment before the Big 12 Tournament last weekend, when the second-ranked Wildcats had to rally from 11 down to beat Colorado and ultimately finish with the most regular-season wins in program history.
There hadn't been a whole lot of them this season.
The Wildcats (29-2) beat Florida and UConn, Alabama and UCLA before conference play. Then they romped through the Big 12, losing their only two games — back-to-back to No. 14 Kansas and No. 16 Texas Tech — by a combined seven points in mid-February.
So the close shave in an eventual 89-79 win over the Buffaloes may have come at exactly the right time.
“I think it’s important for us to understand, as you head into the postseason, that you’re going to have games like that,” Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd said, "where you’re playing against a team that’s playing their (butt) off and playing really good, and maybe your energy is not quite where you want it to be, but you've got to be able to dig deep and respond. I was really proud of our guys’ effort.
"Hopefully this was a lesson learned, you know, because obviously it’d be great if we could continue to play for a long time.”
Arizona's regular-season conference title earned it the No. 1 seed in the Big 12 Tournament, which begins with a quartet of first-round games Tuesday at T-Mobile Center. The Wildcats are among the top four seeds that have double-byes into the quarterfinals.
The others are defending champion and No. 2 seed Houston, third-seeded Kansas and the No. 4 seed Red Raiders.
Yet seeding often means little in the Big 12, where the top two have made the finals just twice in the last eight tournaments. In fact, there have been different champs each of the past four years, and seven schools have played for the title in the last five.
“In the three years we've been in the Big 12,” Cougars coach Kelvin Sampson said, “this is the best the league has been, top to bottom.”
That was underscored by the AP Top 25 on Monday, when the league held down three of the top seven spots and five of the top 16. Red-hot TCU and BYU were among the the top three schools that also were receiving votes.
How deep is the Big 12? BYU spent most of the season in the poll and climbed as high as seventh, yet it will be seeded 10th for the conference tournament. That means a first-round game Tuesday against No. 15 seed Kansas State, and the prospect of playing — and winning — five games in five days to cut down the nets by Saturday night.
“My experience in postseason basketball, whether it's March Madness or the NBA playoffs, you just have to rely on your habits. You can't come out and do something uncharacteristic,” BYU coach Kevin Young said. “You have to rely on what's gotten you to that point. Do what you're good at. Do your job. Ultimately, if you're able to do that, hopefully it leads to wins.”
First round
The tournament begins Tuesday with No. 12 seed Arizona State playing No. 13 seed Baylor and No. 9 seed Cincinnati facing No. 16 seed Utah. BYU-Kansas State tips off the evening session with No. 11 seed Colorado going against No. 14 seed Oklahoma State.
Long road
Iowa State is ranked seventh in the AP poll yet is seeded just fifth because of lost tiebreakers to Kansas and Texas Tech. That means the Cyclones will play the Arizona State-Baylor winner in the first of four second-round games Wednesday.
Defending champs
Fifth-ranked Houston will play BYU, Kansas State or No. 7 seed West Virginia in the quarterfinals Thursday night. The last school to defend its Big 12 tourney title was Iowa State, which beat Baylor in the 2014 finals and Kansas the following year.
Hot seats
Kansas State has already fired Jerome Tang, and Arizona State coach Bobby Hurley is almost certainly finishing out his tenure in the final year of his contract. The footing might be shaky for the Bearcats' Wes Miller and Colorado's Tad Boyle, too.
Bubble watch
The top five seeds along with No. 6 seed TCU, eighth-seeded UCF and BYU are locks for the NCAA Tournament. Cincinnati and West Virginia are the closest thing to bubble teams, and both may need to win the Big 12 tourney to make the 68-team field.
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