A full-strength Arizona Wildcats team will be difficult to beat in the Big 12, the Big 12 Tournament and the NCAA Tournament.
The Wildcats (28-2, 15-2 in Big 12) took the first step by winning the Big 12 regular season title with a commanding 73-57 win over Iowa State (24-6, 11-6) on Monday at the McKale Center.
Arizona hasn’t been to the Final Four in a quarter-century. This may be the team to change that, and the Wildcats controlled the game from the start. Iowa State shot poorly and one must consider if there are issues ahead for the Cyclones or if this is just life in the Big 12 sometimes.
Here are takeaways from the game.
Crown the ’Cats
The Wildcats already had a share of the Big 12 regular season championship before they played the Cyclones. So, a win gave them the Big 12 title outright and the No. 1 seed in the Big 12 Tournament. The takeaway here is how much the conference has changed in three seasons.
Back in 2022-23, the Kansas Jayhawks won the regular-season title by a game over the Texas Longhorns and Texas won the Big 12 Tournament. After that, the Longhorns and the Oklahoma Sooners transitioned out of the league and the new teams filtered in — four the following season and four more in 2024-25. Since then, the newbies have kind of ruled.
Houston won the regular season title in 2023-24 and fell to Iowa State in the Big 12 title game. Last season, Houston won both the regular-season and the tournament titles, with an impressive 19-1 league record. Now, Arizona marched to the regular season title and will try to pull off the double in Kansas City next week.
In a league that used to be dominated by Kanas, the fresh blood has taken over and lifted the conference’s profile in basketball in ways that couldn’t have been projected three years ago. It’s great for the league’s future, even if football is the No. 1 driver of things.
How’s Your Iowa State Concern Level?
Mine’s pretty high, even when you consider that five of their last six games have been against ranked teams. With the loss to Arizona, Iowa State finishes that stretch 3-3, with wins over Kansas, Houston and Utah, and losses to BYU, Texas Tech and Arizona.
It’s hard to win in the Big 12. But when one is a Top 10 team like Iowa State, multi-possession losses in a row are concerning. The Cyclones lost to BYU on the road by 10 points, then to Texas Tech at home on Saturday by nine points. Now, a 16-point loss to Arizona on the road.
I’ve cut Iowa State some slack because I love the make-up of the team. But performances like their last two road games at BYU and Arizona are concerning because after Saturday’s game against Arizona State everything is away from Hilton Coliseum. And, lately, this team has had difficulty with high-level opponents away from home.
The shooting is crucial for Iowa State away from home. The 29% shooting on Monday won’t work. The volume of 3-pointers taken — 30 in all — was just too much, even for a team with Milan Momcilovic. Iowa State shot much better at BYU — 43%. The Cyclones need that with that stifling defense to make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament.
Big 12 Tournament Seed Watch
So, Arizona is the No. 1 seed. Lock it in. Texas Tech and Houston are Nos. 2 and 3, while Kansas is now No. 4. No tiebreaker needed. There are plenty of games coming on Tuesday and Wednesday that can influence things.
Now, Iowa State is still No. 5 and so long as it wins this weekend the Cyclones will stay there. But they now need help to get the final double bye and I don’t think they’re going to get it. The Cyclones needed that win to help them with a tiebreaker against Kansas in the event they tie. Because the two teams split their season series, the next tiebreaker is record against the top team in the league standings. Kansas split with Arizona and now Iowa State went 0-1.
The only way Iowa State can move up is to win this weekend for Kansas to lose its final two games.
