Reading the Tea Leafs for Arizona
2006-07-08
Posted by: badanov
Arizona is usually one of the top mens basketball programs in the NCAA. Year in and out you can expect them at some point to be in the Top 25 rankings.
The 2005-2006 year, however, was a less than stellar performance for the Wildcats. They had a respectable 20-13 overall record and a conference of 11-7, placing them fourth in the PAC10, and good enough to lasso a spot in the NCAA tourney.
But they got there circuitously. Look at their conference games:
They split games with Washington, Oregon, Oregon State, USC, UCLA and they swept Arizona State, Stanford and Washington State.
Those appear to be, at least the home and home games all winnable games and indeed the Wildcats lost in all those games by less than 10 points.
Their non-conference games were close as well. They beat Kansas in their season opener, when no one really understood how good Kansas was going to be, by 12, lost to UConn and Michigan State by less than 10 points per game, and then went on a seven game winning streak after losing to Houston before they lost hosting UCLA.
Why is this all relevant almost five months before mens basketball season begins?
We just want to give the sports background to a story in the link on the title about a University of Arizona professor who made inappropriate physical threats against the blogger at issue in the link, Jeff Goldstein, and lost her job because of it. <> So, maybe Arizona will have a better season in 2006-2007 after accepting her resignation.
Not that they're related issues in any way. Just looking for signs of a better season, just like a Wildcat booster might.
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