Arizona Wildcats Rich Basketball History enters the Big 12

The Arizona Wildcats have a long history of successful College Basketball. Many even call the Arizona Wildcats a rich basketball history. Regardless of the terminology of it, the Wildcats are entering the Big 12. The Wildcats have high expectations once again heading into the 2024-2025 season.  Let’s take a look at how rich that basketball history is before they play their first Big 12 game in school history:

Arizona Wildcats Rich Basketball History enters the Big 12

Look Back at Wildcats

The Arizona Wildcats were not one of the original members of the Pac-12.  Arizona joined alongside Arizona State back in 1978. At that point, the league had California, Oregon, Oregon State, Washington, Washington State, Stanford, USC, and UCLA. When the Wildcats and Sun Devils joined, it was the Pac-12. Then, in 2011 the Utah Utes and Colorado Buffaloes joined.  Before the Pac-10 and Pac-12, the Wildcats were in the WAC, where they went 98-98.

One of the best notes on the Arizona Basketball program is the fact that they reached the NCAA Tournament for 25 straight seasons from 1985 through 2009. As they enter the Big 12, the Wildcats are 18th all-time in wins with 1,889 and 8th in win percentage of nearly 66%. The Wildcats have been at the top of the AP poll in basketball 39 times, which is the 9th most in College Basketball.

One Title for Wildcats

While the Arizona Wildcats’ rich basketball history runs way back, they have just one national title and one runner-up finish. The Wildcats won the title back in 1997. Four seasons later, in 2001, they were runners-up. Arizona has not been to a Final Four since 2001. That was their fourth overall. The Wildcats have 11 trips to the Elite 8. Their most recent came back in 2015. It was their third in five seasons. Arizona has reached the NCAA Tournament 37 times since 1976. The Wildcats have been a top seed in the NCAA Tournament seven times since 1998. Arizona’s last top seed was the 2022 team.

In the Pac-12, the Wildcats have been the standard. The first time they won the league was in 1986. That started a string of five titles in six seasons. Since 1986, the Wildcats have won the league 18 times. The Pac-12 Conference tournament re-started during the 2001-2022 season. The Wildcats won that title after Oregon won the regular season. It was the first tournament, but they did not win it again until 2014-2015. That season they won both outright. Recently, Arizona has dominated the league tournament with four titles in seven seasons. The 2016-2017, 2017-2018, and 2021-2022 seasons all saw the Wildcats win the regular season and conference tournament title. There was a small window between 1986-1990 when they had the Pac-12 tournament, and Arizona won three out of four versions of it.

National Title Wildcats

The 1997 national title-winning team beat Kentucky in the title game. Before that, they picked up wins over South Alabama and the College of Charleston. In the Sweet 16, they beat Kansas and then scored 96 points to beat Providence. In the final four game, the Arizona Wildcats took down North Carolina in Dean Smith’s final game as the head coach. The 2001 season where Arizona finished as a runner-up saw them lose to the Duke Blue Devils in the title game. Before that, they beat Eastern Illinois, Butler, Ole Miss, Illinois, and Michigan State. The 2001 team featured four future NBA players including Richard Jefferson and Gilbert Arenas. Due to this post-season success, this era of Wildcat teams is remembered as the best in program history. 

Lute Years

Lute Olson was the head coach for Arizona between 1983-2007. Olson won nearly 600 games and won 76% of his Pac-12 games. There was a pair of failed coaches following Olson.  Kevin O’Neill and Russ Pennell both tried, but between them combined to be 40-29 and 17-19 in Pac-12 play. Then came in Sean Miller. Miller won 73% of his games in the regular season and won 73% of his postseason games. Miller, of course, was not fired for his wins and losses. He was eliminated from his job in 2021 for level 1 violations against the basketball program. 

Lyold Time

Tommy Lyold has gotten off to a strong start as the head coach of the Wildcats. He is 88-20 in his career so far, and 47-13 in conference play. In his first season, the Wildcats lost in the Sweet 16 to Houston. He was still named the Associated Press Coach of the Year. In his second season, Arizona was upset, despite being a 2 seed. The Princeton Tigers took them down. Last season, the Wildcats smashed Long Beach State and beat up on Dayton, but then lost to the Clemson Tigers in the Sweet 16. It was the 50th and final season for Arizona as a member of the Pac-12.

Loss of Rivals

Obviously, the rich history of Arizona basketball saw the biggest rivalry lost due to leaving the Pac-12 with the California Bears and UCLA Bruins. Good news for Arizona. The Wildcats will still play the Arizona State Sun Devils, as they are also moving to the Big 12. Arizona got the best of the Sun Devils more than not. The 90 wins over Arizona State is more than any other program. In terms of success, Arizona beat up on Washington State, beating them 62 out of 92 times.

The lone team that Arizona has struggled with over the years is UCLA. UCLA won 48 out of the 109 games. The Bruins are now members of the Big Ten. Utah is also joining the Big 12. Arizona is 40-32 lifetime against the Utes. Now joining the Big 12 means a renewed rivalry against Brigham Young for one. They have played 39 times, and Arizona is 20-19. Kansas is another, where they have played just 12 times in school history. Kansas is 8-4 all-time against the Wildcats.

Best of the Best

Arizona has a boatload of professional players and coaches. Several guys in the NBA are from Arizona. Those include Steve Kerr, Jason Terry, and Luke Walton. Damon Stoudamire is the head basketball coach at Georgia Tech. Heading into the 2024 NBA Finals, 33 NBA Championships have been won by 15 different Arizona Wildcats. Andre Iguodala and Steve Kerr both have five. Richard Jefferson, Jason Terry, DeAndre Ayton, Mike Bibby, and Sean Elliott are some of the others. 

The Wildcats have retired 6 numbers in their program history. First up was Steve Kerr from his days in 1983-1988. Next was Sean Elliott, from 1985-1989. Third on the list was Miles Simon from 1994-1998. Next was Mike Bibby, who finished at Arizona in 1998. The final two are Jason Terry and Jason Gardner. Elliott is the all-time leader in points scored at Arizona. He scored nearly 2,600 points.  Arizona has had 46 players drafted in the NBA Draft. The most recent was Christian Koloko, who went to the Toronto Raptors.

Start of Big 12 Action

With Arizona starting in the Big 12 this season, they will get 20 conference games. Their opponents have not been announced. With the 20-team schedule, teams are expecting to play each conference team once and will have five of their opponents twice. The Big 12 will have 16 teams when the season gets underway.