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Arizona wins dual Pac-12 title, but they’re on the wrong side of No. 1 seed line

Oregon v Arizona

Getty Images

Getty Images

Arizona completed their demolition of the Pac-12 conference late on Saturday night, as they blew out Oregon in the Pac-12 tournament title game, 80-52.

The win caps off what has been an incredibly impressive season for Sean Miller’s club. They’re 31-3 overall and dual-champions of the Pac-12, winning the regular season title by three games and the tournament title by 28 in the finals. They’re currently sitting second behind Kentucky in KenPom’s rankings, a stat that’s made all the more impressive by the fact that Arizona is currently playing their best basketball of the season.

The Wildcats are legit, and look every bit the part of a true national title contender.

And yet, they’re a longshot to end up as a No. 1 seed on Selection Sunday.

Let’s lay it out like this: Kentucky is getting the No. 1 overall seed. Everyone knows that. Beyond that, there are five teams vying for the other three spots: Duke, Virginia, Wisconsin, Villanova and Arizona. Villanova is 32-2 and won a dual-Big East title in as dominating a fashion as Arizona won their’s. Wisconsin is one game away from doing the same thing. Virginia won the ACC regular season -- playing a (very) unbalanced schedule -- and Duke won no league titles, but based on the wins that those two have landed, particularly on the road, it wouldn’t be all that surprising to see both of them end up on the No. 1 seed line.

To put it another way, Arizona’s three road losses to sub-100 teams are likely going to keep them from having a real shot at a No. 1 seed on Selection Sunday.

However it ends up playing out, I can tell you this: No one wants to play Arizona right especially, especially if the Wildcats get to play in the Los Tucson, I mean Los Angeles regional.