All the signs were there. This was going to be a bad season for the Arizona Wildcats, certainly in comparison to most other ones over the past 35 years.
But now that it’s over, following Wednesday’s 78-65 loss to USC in the first round—the first game—of the Pac-12 tournament, the actual season results seem far worse than anyone could have expected.
Sure, Arizona had to replace all five starters from last year’s team including a trio of guys who have played in the NBA. Yes, the talent level was going to be much lower than at any point in the Sean Miller era, as was the amount of incoming experience, but the dropoff from one year to the next couldn’t be that drastic, could it?