Okay, Wildcat fans: if you’re feeling a weird sense of deja vu right now, that’s understandable. This is how you all felt on Jan. 1, 2000.
All the worry and agida surrounding Arizona’s first-round NCAA tournament game against Belmont felt very similar to the fear and trepidation associated with Y2K: in other words, a waste of time.
Sixth-seeded Arizona (26-7) played one of its best games of the season Thursday evening, easily beating No. 11 Belmont 81-64 at EnergySolutions Arena in Salt Lake City.
Now, instead of all that angst, Wildcat fans are suddenly feeling giddy about the prospects of a Sweet Sixteen trip after seeing Harvard upset New Mexico in the late game Thursday.
Arizona and Harvard (20-9), which had never won an NCAA tourney game before this one, will play at 3:10 p.m. Saturday in Salt Lake City.
Against Belmont (26-7), Arizona dominated in nearly every facet of the game, most notably on the boards, finishing unofficially (read: via Yahoo! box score stats) with a 42-15 rebounding edge. Combine that with the UA shooting 57 percent overall and 53 percent from three-point range, and the game wasn’t ever in doubt much.
Now, aren’t you feeling silly about how much time was spent working on your will the last few days?
Oh, and bring on the Crimson. Which, according to my Twitter pals, is the Arizona of the Northeast.
This article appears in Mar 21-27, 2013.
Funny, even the “Old Gray Lady” was on board with the threat of Belmont’s three-point prowess:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/21/sports/n…
Not quite as bad as Judith Miller’s coverage of alleged Weapons of Mass Destruction prior to the invasion of Iraq, but still way off the mark!
GO CATS!!!!