Is it March yet?
The Big Dance might still be seven weeks away, but an NCAA Tournament-like atmosphere is likely to be on tap tonight when the University of Washington and University of Arizona renew acquaintances in Tucson, Ariz.
In addition to essentially being locks for the upcoming tourney, the UW and Arizona come into tonight’s meeting tied atop the Pac-10 with identical 6-1 conference records. That’s exactly where the so-called experts expected these two teams to be, having picked them to finish 1-2 in the Pac-10.
“Both teams are going to be sky-high, I’m sure, for the game,” said Arizona coach Lute Olson, whose team is 16-3 overall. “I know our fans have anticipated this game for some time.”
The Huskies (10th) and Wildcats (11th) rank among the nation’s best teams, and they’ve separated themselves from the rest of the conference.
As if that’s not enough intrigue, there’s more.
The Huskies (16-2 overall) swept Arizona last season – twice during the regular season, and again in the Pac-10 tournament semifinals. Fourteen of the 17 players who were on the court for the conference tournament game are expected to play tonight. The 10 projected starters in tonight’s game played in all three meetings last season.
So Washington’s sweep, which marked the first season in school history that Arizona had lost three times to the same team, won’t be forgotten.
“I would take that pretty personal,” Huskies senior Tre Simmons said of how the Arizona players might feel about being swept last season. “I’d have a lot of aggression toward that team.”
Actually, Arizona’s players and coaches are saying all the right things this week. There might be thoughts of revenge, but no one is willing to talk about it.
“To be honest, I am really sick about people talking about it and what happened,” Wildcats center Channing Frye told The Associated Press. “You can see we are not the same team as last year. This will be a different game and we are a different team, and hopefully we will have a different outcome.”
Not even the Huskies are putting much stock in the sweep.
“Last year is over,” UW coach Lorenzo Romar said. “This is a brand new year. Arizona is playing better basketball than they were at this time last year. They’re an improved team, and we’re playing on their floor, so we know this is not going to be an easy game.”
The Huskies shocked ninth-ranked Arizona with a 96-83 upset last January, then surprised them again less than a month later with an 89-84 win at Tucson. By the time Washington faced the Wildcats again in the Pac-10 tournament, nobody was surprised at all with the result – a 90-85 Huskies victory.
This time around, the two teams are so evenly-matched that just about anything could happen.
“I would look for this to be a very competitive game, closely contested,” Arizona’s Olson said. “It should be very exciting. Both teams like to get it up and down the court. It’ll be a fun game – for the players and the fans.”
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