As the Pac-10 Tournament gets underway, the Arizona Wildcats are looking to win the title in order to improve their seeding for the upcoming NCAA Tournament. They are currently ranked as a five seed in the Southeast region by ESPN's Joe Lunardi, whose latest bracket has Arizona paired up with Boston College in the opening round. A win in this game would likely set up an all-Wildcat battle in round 2 against four-seed Kentucky. Arizona could play one-seed Pittsburgh, who suffered a disappointing 76-74 loss to Connecticut on Thursday in the Big East Tournament, in the Sweet 16.
SB Nation's Chris Dobbertean also has the Wildcats ranked as a five seed for the NCAA Tournament in his latest edition of bracketology. Dobbertean, though, has the Wildcats placed in the Southwest region instead of the Southeast region. Dobbertean's bracket pits the Wildcats against either Michigan State or Viriginia Tech in the first round, and Big East power Louisville looms in round two as the four-seed. Two-seed Purdue or three-seed North Carolina could await the Wildcats in the Sweet 16 should Arizona advance that far.
Right now, the Wildcats will focus on winning the Pac-10 Tournament in order to give themselves a chance to improve their seeding for the Big Dance. Arizona took the first step toward achieving this goal by beating Oregon State 78-69 in the quarterfinals on Thursday. They play USC in semifinal match-up on Friday.