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Arizona was assigned a tentative No. 3 seed in the East region, where Duke was placed as the No. 1 seed, meaning the two could conceivably meet in an East Region final “Elite Eight� game in Newark, N.J. — though the Wildcats could potentially first have to get past No. 2 seed Tennessee in the Sweet 16.

All that is pure speculation, of course, and the seeds themselves are subject to change before Selection Sunday on March 12. But under coach Tommy Lloyd, the Wildcats received exactly the seed they were given in the early reveal for 2022 (No. 1) and 2023 (No. 2) while they dropped only from a projected No. 1 to a No. 2 last season.

The Wildcats’ No. 3 seed also signaled that the committee might be discounting Arizona’s 6-5 nonconference record. Arizona was 11-2 in the Big 12 when the selection committee made their early seeds.

North Carolina AD Bubba Cunningham, the chairman of this season’s men’s basketball committee, announced the committee’s top-ranked 16 teams on CBS Saturday morning. Auburn received the No. 1 overall seed and was put into the South, while Alabama (Midwest) was second overall, followed by Duke (East) and Florida (West).

Houston, which beat Arizona 62-58 on Saturday, was assigned the last No. 2 seed and placed in the West. Among other UA opponents this season, Iowa State was given the Midwest’s No. 3 seed, Wisconsin was given the South’s No. 3 seed and Texas Tech was made the No. 4 seed in the South.

Tennessee, Texas A&M and Purdue joined Houston as No. 2 seeds, while Kentucky was given a 3 seed along with UA, Iowa State and Wisconsin. Michigan, Kansas and St. John’s joined Texas Tech No. 4 seeds.

Walton memorial

During Arizona’s Pac-12 era, a big Saturday afternoon ESPN game in February often meant Dave Pasch and Bill Walton would be sitting courtside giving the call. And that Pasch, of course, would have to rope Walton in from his sometimes zany, sometimes erudite tangents.

On Saturday, ESPN sent another of its top analysts, Fran Fraschilla, to work the game with Pasch, and the two gave a tribute by sitting next to the yellow high chair UA used to provide for Walton when he worked McKale games.

Pasch asked UA for the chair because he was working his last game at McKale this season, while Fraschilla posted a photo of them posing with it on X.

“Big Bill is not with Dave Pasch and me in Tucson … but his chair is here so Bill Walton is here in spirit,� Fraschilla said. “One of a kind.�

After working games most of the way through the last basketball season, Walton died May 27 at age 71.

NBA Arizonans return home

Former Wildcats and Arizona natives Dalen Terry and Matt Brase took advantage of the NBA’s All-Star break to return home and take in Saturday’s game at McKale.

Terry, a standout wing on Lloyd’s first Arizona team in 2021-22 from Phoenix, is playing a reserve role for the Chicago Bulls in his third season as a pro.

Brase, a former UA player and assistant coach who attended Catalina Foothills High School, is an assistant coach of the Philadelphia 76ers. Coincidentally, he was on the UA staff in 2008-09, when Houston last visited McKale — and the Wildcats came back to beat the Cougars in overtime after standout UA wing Chase Budinger’s face was stepped on by Houston’s Aubrey Coleman.

Zona Zoo commemorated

Free T-shirts were draped over seats in Arizona’s student section commemorating the birth of the Zona Zoo.

“Red and Blue since 2002,� the white T-shirts read around a Wildcat logo in the middle.

According to Star columnist Greg Hansen, the Zona Zoo was inspired by then-UA-student senator Peter Wand, when he attended UA’s game at Wisconsin and saw roughly 15,000 students who “perfected a rowdy synchronized rowing routine� among other zealousness.

“I remember thinking ‘If we could ever get something like that at Arizona Stadium, it would change the culture of game day,’� Wand told Hansen in 2007. “But even when the concept was approved … we didn’t know if enough students would show up.�

At McKale, the Zona Zoo is filled to over 2,000 seats for most UA games when school is in session.

Tennis tosses

Arizona celebrated its men’s tennis Pac-12 title last spring by bringing players out on the court during a first-half timeout.

Like the UA baseball team did in a similar introduction earlier this season, they tossed red T-shirts into the crowd afterward.

Quotable

“We’re really good at staying in the moment when everybody else is somewhere else. I talk to these kids, and it’s not just about basketball lessons, but life lessons. If you focus well, if you focus on what’s in front of you and not what’s ahead of you, you usually make better decisions.� — Houston coach Kelvin Sampson

The big number

50: Percentage of Houston field goals the Cougars made in the second half Saturday.