GAME: No. 9 Arizona (20-9) vs. No. 8 Seton Hall (20-9)
REGIONAL: Atlanta, First round.
TIME: Thursday, 9:40 p.m. EST.
SITE: RBC Center; Raleigh, N.C.
A little more hustle and intensity on defense might have been able to help Arizona live up to its billing as the No. 4 team in the preseason rankings.
The Wildcats may not have embraced that style of play, but it's what they will have to contend with against Seton Hall when they open NCAA tournament play.
Arizona certainly has had no trouble scoring, leading the nation with 87.5 points per game. A porous defense is what has held the Wildcats back, as they have allowed 78.4 points per game.
Seton Hall, meanwhile, prides itself on giving up just 64.1 points per game.
"It's a matter of us basically trying to assert our will opposed to their will on the game," Pirates coach Louis Orr said. "I think that dictates who wins."
Arizona, after opening the season with high expectations, finished third in the Pac-10 and No. 21 in the AP poll.
Coach Lute Olson has appeared in 20 straight NCAA tournaments, but his Wildcats are in an unfamiliar position this year as an underdog. They have not been seeded this low in 17 years.
"We will have a good shot at making a run," Olson said. "There have been a lot of comparisons to the '97 team. What they were able to do was make the big shots when they needed to be made."
The Wildcats, who opened 10-1, have stumbled down the stretch, going 10-8 since Jan. 10.
"We have to make our run now," said Arizona forward Hassan Adams, who leads the team with 17.3 points per game. "We have seen we have made our mistakes throughout the season. We have seen and felt what losing was about. Do you want to lose and have your season be over, or do you want to win? It is on us."
A year after suffering the anguish of being left out of the NCAA tournament, Seton Hall got a bid Sunday and chance to celebrate.
The Pirates didn't get a bid in 2003 despite winning 10 conference games and finishing with wins in nine of 11.
Seton Hall, making its first NCAA tournament appearance since 2000, faces a tough road. If the Pirates can get past the Wildcats, they'll likely play top-seeded Duke (27-5) in the Blue Devils' back yard on Saturday.
"We don't care, we'll take it," Seton Hall forward Marcus Toney-El said after joining fellow starting senior Andre Barrett in getting his first trip to the NCAA tournament. "The better teams we play, the more competitive the game will be. It's the atmosphere that we want to be in the first time."
The Pirates rely on a strong defense and the play of Barrett, one of the best point guards in the nation. The 5-foot-10 Barrett averages 17.6 points, 5.9 assists, four rebounds and 1.5 steals per game.
"There is not going to be a quicker guard in the country than Andre Barrett," Orr said. "Our thing is tempo and will, we have to understand who we are. We don't want to be in an 87-point game. But, we have to get out and run and get easy baskets too, we don't just want it to be a half-court game."
Seton Hall won four of five before losing 61-60 to Villanova on Wednesday in the opening round of the Big East tournament.
The teams have met just twice, each time in the NCAA tournament. Arizona beat Seton Hall 84-55 in the second round on March 20, 1988, while the Pirates won a regional semifinals matchup 81-77 on March 21, 1991.
The winner faces Duke or Alabama State in the second round on Saturday.
PROBABLE STARTERS: Arizona - F Adams (17.3 ppg, 7.4 rpg), F Andre Iguodala (12.7, 8.6 rpg), C Channing Frye (16 ppg, 7.2 rpg), G Mustafa Shakur (9.2 ppg, 4.6 apg), G Salim Stoudamire (16.5 ppg, 2.9 apg). Seton Hall - F Andre Sweet (10.3 ppg, 6.3 rpg), F Toney-El (6.8 ppg, 5.2 rpg), C Kelly Whitney (13.1 ppg, 6.7 rpg), G John Allen (12.2 ppg, 4.8 rpg), G Barrett (17.6 ppg, 5.9 apg).
HOW THEY GOT HERE: Arizona - At-large berth. Seton Hall - At-large berth.
ALL-TIME TOURNAMENT RECORD: Arizona - 35-21, 23 years. Seton Hall - 14-7, 8 year.
