No. 1 seed Arizona men’s basketball is heading to San Diego this weekend to kick off the NCAA March Madness Tournament against No. 16 seed Long Island University on Friday, March 20 at 10:35 a.m. in Viejas Arena. 

History in the tournament 

Arizona has appeared in the past five NCAA Tournaments and 40 times overall. This is Long Island’s first appearance since 2018. 

Among the 40 trips to the tournament, Arizona has won the national championship once in 1997 and has made four Final Four appearances. They appeared in the Final Four in 1988, 1994, 1997 and 2001. 

Long Island this season

The Sharks were led this season by Jamal Fuller who collected 540 points and averaged 16.4 per game. Following Fuller is Malachi Davis with 489 while averaging 14.4 per game. 

Long Island is coached by Rod Strickland who was a former NBA guard where he played on the San Antonio Spurs, Portland Trail Blazers, Washington Wizards and others. Strickland is in his fourth season as head coach.  

Arizona this season 

Arizona had a record breaking season and is coming into the NCAA Tournament after winning the Big 12 Tournament in Kansas City, Missouri last weekend. The Wildcats rely on their star freshmen Brayden Burries and floor general Jaden Bradley. Burries has led the season with 542 points while averaging 15.9 per game. Bradley is second in scoring with 452 points this season. 

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