NCAA Basketball: 3 teams who saved their flailing seasons

Arizona Wildcats

There’s no need to recap Arizona’s shocking start to the season. But just in case it’s been forgotten, the Wildcats began the year with NCAA championship expectations while simultaneously being trapped under the cloud of the FBI probe.

They won their first three games of the season before collapsing during the Battle 4 Atlantis, finishing last in the tournament. Those losses look better in retrospect, with Purdue proving to be one of the top teams in the country. Still, it was enough to knock the Wildcats from a top-three ranking to the outskirts of the AP Top 25.

Arizona has shaped up well since then. They’ve only lost one game, a road game against Colorado. They currently sit atop the Pac-12, one game ahead of the USC Trojans.

The Wildcats still have a way to go before they restore their glory from the beginning of the year, even though they’re back in the AP top-10. They need to improve defensively and find difference makers outside of their starting lineup.

In our latest bracketology, they were up to a No. 4 seed.

Next: 4 teams in danger of missing NCAA Tournament

These teams managed to rise from the ashes like a phoenix, reminding college basketball fans why they were a contender to begin with this season. Whether they can stay that way, however, remains to be seen.