Bracketology 2023: Arizona State, North Carolina and Gonzaga among biggest winners

UCLA Bruins

To set the full background, the Bruins and Arizona Wildcats are in a full battle for who gets the 2 seed out west in the NCAA Tournament. The reality is that neither has much of a hope for moving up to a 1 since multiple Big 12 teams can jump them over due to the Pac-12 not being as strong. And due to the committee not wanting conference foes to play each other until the Elite 8 if it can be done (Pac-12 will likely have 3-4 bids so can be done), one of them will likely have to go to another region.

In the reveal, Arizona got the nod over the Bruins but both were a 2 so any slip-ups by the Wildcats could give UCLA the move up. The Bruins had a Thursday game, a 78-71 road win over Utah. As for the Wildcats, they were at home against Arizona State (more on them in a bit).

The Wildcats ultimately lost that game, which is the best set of news for UCLA and its hopes for a 2 seed in the West Region. It’s not the worst loss in the world but the weakness of Arizona’s resume is the number of losses outside of Quad 1.

It ultimately doesn’t matter, even assuming the Bruins beat Colorado on the road on Sunday. Both UCLA and Arizona face off against one another next weekend, which could decide both the Pac-12 regular-season title and who gets that coveted 2 seed out west.