Arizona Wildcats Are Pac-12’s Most Disappointing Team

The Pac-12 is in a very down year and that is made obvious by only two Pac-12 teams in the NCAA tournament. One of those made it in as an auto bid and the other, Cal, had the best RPI. There were four Pac-12 teams that made the NIT tournament. Overall, the Pac-12 was very disappointing this year in Men’s Basketball.

There could and maybe should be an award for the most disappointing team of the bunch. Not the worst team, that one is pretty obvious, USC. This is the most disappointing team.

The finalists include:

UCLA- The Pac-12 was full of turmoil and UCLA led the charge. They had Reeves Nelson on the team, off the team, back on the team, and finally removed permanently. A Sports Illustrated article outed the program as being full of lazy athletes that spend more time partying than trying to win. The Bruins were one of about four teams that was picked pre-season to win the Pac-12. They were far from it at 6th in the conference at 11-7 and an overall record of 19-14. The Bruins were a very disappointing team this year in the Pac-12.

Washington- A team that is loaded with talent. The Huskies have two players that can leave this year for the NBA draft, Terrence Ross and Tony Wroten. They have CJ Wilcox who also shows NBA potential. It may be one of Lorenzo Romar’s most talented teams. However, he also has seven freshman to work with and teach his system. The Huskies put together a terrible set of non-conference games, their best win being against UC Santa Barbara but they were able to win the regular season in Pac-12 conference. That being said, they ended up being regulated to the NIT and not the NCAA tournament.

Cal- The Golden Bears were the most picked team to win the Pac-12 conference in the preseason. They had a shot at it, all they had to do was beat Stanford at the end of season, they did not. They then were the only team in the Pac-12 to get an at large bid to the NCAA tournament and were completely destroyed by USF in the 12 seed play-in game. They had 13 points at the half. However, they shouldn’t win this most disappointing award simply because they made the NCAA tournament.

Arizona- The Wildcats were also picked by many to win the Pac-12 season and why shouldn’t they have picked the Wildcats. A team that may have lost one of the best players in the country in Derrick Williams was reloading with a top 5 recruiting class in the nation. They were bringing in four players that could start and play on any team in the country. Or at least that was their billing on these recruits. They had a shot a couple times in the non-conference to improve their RPI and maybe allow the Pac-12 to look better. They had a shot to beat San Diego State, they took Florida to over-time. However, both times they couldn’t finish down the stretch. They followed that up by mediocre basketball in the Pac-12 going 12-6 in conference and 23-12 overall. They were awarded a number 1 seed in the NIT and had to play in the first round, Bucknell, a team they should easily handle. They lost by 11.

The award, in my book, goes to Arizona. UCLA was close but a lot of their issues were turmoil related, they had to play their home games away from home. They had a lot against them and it wasn’t just disappointing basketball play. Arizona had a couple freshman issues but they mostly just played disappointing basketball.

Who do you think was the most disappointing team in the Pac-12 this season?