ESPN’s Jay Bilas has correctly picked the NCAA Tournament winner the past three years. Can he make it four in a row with some help from the Arizona Wildcats?
In his annual NCAA Tournament prediction, Bilas has the Wildcats knocking off the Michigan State Spartans in this year’s national championship.
Bilas forsees the Wildcats cruising past No. 16 seed Long Island University on Friday and taking down No. 9 seed and Mountain West Tournament champion Utah State on Sunday to reach a third consecutive Sweet Sixteen.
Despite starting out the following weekend with a matchup against No. 4 seed and SEC Tournament champion Arkansas, the analyst sticks with Arizona to advance to the Elite Eight for the first time since 2015.
Bilas’ prediction of a mostly chalk West Region results in the Wildcats taking on No. 2 seed and Big Ten Tournament champion Purdue where they officially punch to their ticket to the program’s first Final Four in 25 years.
Once in Indianapolis, he has Arizona defeating Midwest Region No. 2 seed Iowa State in a rematch of Friday’s electric Big 12 Tournament semifinal before winning the national championship against East Regional No. 3 seed Michigan State.
Sunday’s NCAA Selection Show placed Arizona (32-2, 16-2) as the No. 2 overall seed and the top seed in the West Region after winning the Big 12 Tournament on Saturday.
Bilas’ road to the Wildcats’ second national title and first since 1997 includes three conference tournament champions and four consecutive top four seeds. Furthermore, this path would force Arizona to take on five teams currently ranked inside the top 30 of KenPom out of the six featured in the West Region.
Arizona taking home the national title would cap off a spectacular season that saw senior guard Jaden Bradley win Big 12 Player of the Year, head coach Tommy Lloyd win Big 12 Coach of the Year and the program win its first Big 12 regular season and tournament championship since joining the conference in 2024.
However, the quest to winning six games in 16 days starts with the Wildcats’ first-round game against LIU at 10:35 a.m. MST on Friday in San Diego.
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