Fact are the facts ASUChris. After all the s--- talking you guys have done about 5 and 0 you would think you might be able to advance a little further then a team with an interim coach and no players beyond the first three that snuck into the tourney.
But you would be wrong if you thought that sucka. When this season is remembered later on no one will look back to ASwho going 3-0 against my beloved Cats. They will remember the Sweet 16 and possibly more.
As for ASU's season most just won't remember anything.
Reality bites Devils fans. And so does Irrelevance.
He doesn't have to, Harden has already proved he can carry a team because that's what he's been doing for most of the last two seasons. Harden is a lottery lock. End of story.
I agree, transitive properties don't apply in sports. Arizona got good matchups and it advanced. Of course so too did in Gonzaga this year and KU last year and ASU in 1995 but in the end nobody really cares except for bitter fans such as yourself.
Pretty simple really if you follow college hoops. Utah had an RPI of 9, SOS of 27, won their conference regular season and tourney, beat Gonzaga and LSU OOC. That's a 5 seed resume at worst from a numbers standpoint.
At least Arizona is still playing something. As opposed to ASU who's currently playing the "let's rip Harden so he comes back and maybe gives us a chance to be a bubble team next year" card.
Listened to talk radio all afternoon, the majority of people were ripping Harden. Even the majority of this board thinks he should stay and have been overly critical of his skills.
We're not in the league of those programs, almost everyone puts us in the second tier with Syracuse, UConn, Florida, Georgetown, etc. And this year's accomplishments didn't get us to that level, we're in that category due to the countless NBA players, 11 Pac-10 titles, four Final Four's, and the National Championship banner hanging in McKale Center. This year is special because the players and coaches polished a turd into a diamond. A season that was supposed to be an obituary for the Arizona program turned into a redemption song for several players and coaches. This squad is a much more likable team than other Arizona Sweet 16 teams who had some poor characters or underachieved. Might be my third favorite Cats squad in the last fifteen years.
Not arrogance, just many of us have a pretty good idea who the finalists are for the job opening and are therefore somewhat confident.
It's good news and bad news. There's more competition for the elite coaches willing to bolt (although how much UK can pay remains to be seen after the $6 million buyout for Gillispie) as a negative. As a positive, that just opens up more recruits to get out of their LOI's this spring to build back up the talent level.
