Arizona men’s basketball will head to Portland, Ore. as a No. 2 seed on Thursday for the NCAA tournament.
The Wildcats (31-3) were selected for their 32nd NCAA tournament on Sunday and placed in the West Region. Arizona will face No. 15 seed Texas Southern (22-12) in the second round.
If the Wildcats win, they would face the winner of seventh seeded VCU (26-9) and No. 10 seed Ohio State (23-10) in the third round. OSU knocked Arizona out of the tournament in 2013.
Wisconsin (31-3) got the top seed in the West. Last year the Badgers beat Arizona in the Elite Eight in Southern California.
Baylor (24-9) is the region’s three seed and Xavier (21-13) is the six seed. Arizona coach Sean Miller led Xavier before coming to the UA.
No. 4 seed North Carolina (24-11) is the West’s other protected seed. No. 8 seed Oregon is also in the Wildcats’ region.
The winner of the West will face the winner of the Midwest in the Final Four. No. 1 overall Kentucky (34-0) is the top seed in the Midwest.
Bracket notes
-The West’s regionals will be held in Los Angeles
-Four Pac-12 teams made it in, UCLA and Utah did as well
-Former UA assistant coach and Sean Miller’s brother Archie Miller will coach Dayton in Dayton, Ohio in a First Four game
-Six Arizona opponents made the field
-The Wildcats are 11-0 against the NCAA tournament field
______________
Follow James Kelley on Twitter.