Arizona's NCAA Tournament seed jumps after Big 12 Tournament win over Texas Tech
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With impressive back-to-back wins in the Big 12 Tournament, the Arizona Wildcats (22-11) have significantly improved their NCAA Tournament seed.
Friday night's 86-80 victory over Texas Tech was Arizona's 10th Quad 1 victory of the season, which puts them in select company. Heading into Saturday's slate of college basketball games, only seven other teams in the country have 10 or more Quad 1 wins.
Why is that important? The 12-person NCAA Tournament Selection Committee puts a lot of weight on Quad 1 and Quad 2 victories when it comes time to seed the 68-team NCAA Tournament field. A Quad 1 win is defined as home victory over a team in the top 30 of the NCAA NET Rankings, a neutral-site victory over a team in the top 50 of the NET or a road victory over a team in the top 75 of the NET.
Kansas (No. 20) and Texas Tech (No. 7) are both highly ranked in the NET. And Arizona's opponent in Saturday's Big 12 Tournament championship game, Houston, is ranked No. 3.
Arizona moves up in March Madness predictions
With 10 Quad 1 wins and a No. 11 ranking in the NET, Arizona has moved up to the No. 4 seed line in the latest NCAA Tournament Bracketology projections from ESPN's Joe Lunardi.
Lunardi has Arizona as a No. 4 seed in the West, playing No. 13 Lipscomb in the first round in the Seattle. If the Wildcats win, they are projected to play former Pac-12 foe Oregon in the second round.
Florida is the projected No. 1 seed in the West, which means if Arizona advances to the Sweet 16, they would likely face Florida at the Chase Center in San Francisco.
Being placed in the West is a big advantage for Arizona — it limits their travel to the West Coast, and the host cities are all familiar places. Playing in the Pac-12 the Wildcats regularly traveled to Seattle to face the University of Washington and the San Francisco Bay Area to face Stanford and Cal.
If the Wildcats can beat Houston on Saturday, they have a chance to move to a No. 3 seed, which was their projected seed when the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee released their top 16 seeds a month ago.
The Arizona vs. Houston Big 12 Tournament championship game tips off at 4 p.m. MST/6 p.m. CT on ESPN.
More Arizona & Big 12 Analysis
-029877d49238355bd3388a94f90e3c72.jpg "Ben Sherman")
Ben Sherman has been covering the sports world for most of his 27-year journalism career, including 17 years with The Oregonian/OregonLive. A basketball junkie, March Madness is his favorite time of the year.