By Brad Young
Posted 03/20/2009 at 12:27 AM

Arizona got selected for its 25th consecutive NCAA Tournament, but the selection this season was a gift. The Pac-10 got six teams to the Big Dance even though it was a down year for the conference.  How bad was it for the Conference of Champions?  The regular-season winner Washington got the Pac-10's highest seed as a four, while UCLA and Arizona State (both seeded six) were shipped out to Philadelphia and Miami respectively.

The fact that Arizona was even in position to make the NCAA Tournament is incredible with all the turmoil this basketball program has endured the past few years.  This marks the third straight year with a different coach, the past two seasons under an interim leader.  Current head coach Russ Pennell was the team's second assistant coming into the season, but was promoted to interim head coach when Lute Olson suddenly retired due to health reasons and assistant Mike Dunlap turned down the job.  Last year, Kevin O'Neill took the reigns temporarily before being pushed back to the NBA.

The Wildcats have been part of the Big Dance since 1984, a year that saw President Ronald Regan start his second term in office.  The Olympic Games in Los Angeles were still a few months away, and a gallon of gas cost just $1.10.  It has been a great run, filled with four Final Fours and a National Championship in 1997.  That team cut down the nets as a four seed, and remains the only squad to beat three number one seeds (Kansas, North Carolina and Kentucky) in a single tournament.  That also marked Dean Smith's last game with the Tar Heels when he retired, and Rick Pitino's last on Kentucky's sidelines when he left to coach the Boston Celtics.

Arizona has been knocked out of the NCAA Tournament the past two years in the first round.  The Wildcats fell to beatable squads Purdue two years ago and West Virginia last season.  Arizona's entry this season has been a lightning rod of controversy as probably the last team selected.

Ironically, the experts who were blasting the selection of the Wildcats were picking them as their sleeper team in the tournament to make it to the Sweet 16.  Arizona even opened as a slight one-point favorite over Utah before the betting public moved the line to having the Utes as a one-point 'chalk.'  One way to end further criticism is to avoid a third straight first-round setback and upend Utah Friday in Miami.

The other interesting storyline concerning Arizona basketball is who will be the school's new basketball coach.  All signs point to the Wildcats gunning hard for current Pittsburgh head coach Jamie Dixon who has West Coast ties.  The 43-year-old grew up in Los Angeles, and followed Ben Howland as an assistant coach to Northern Arizona and Pittsburgh. 

Having Dixon coaching against Howland will kick up the Arizona-UCLA rivalry up a notch.  That move would also have a domino effect in the college coaching ranks.  Ironically should Dixon move to the desert southwest, Pitt could very well have its sights set on current Arizona State head coach Herb Sendek who was born in the Steel City. 

Sendek has done an incredible job at Arizona State, a school that has never been considered a basketball hotbed.  Even though the Sun Devils were a top-25 team most of the season, there were numerous empty seats to almost all of their games.  The cupboard will be bare next season with center Jeff Pendergraph graduating and sophomore Pac-10 Player of the Year James Harden figuring on going to the NBA.  Sendek's leverage will never be greater than after this year, going 8-22 just two years ago before leading Arizona State to a 24-9 record and a third-place finish in the Pac-10.

The biggest game this NCAA Tournament for Arizona basketball is not the Arizona-Utah game, but ultimately how far Pitt goes in the Big Dance.  Should the Panthers flame out in the Sweet 16 or Elite 8 rounds, expect Arizona Athletic Director Jim Livengood to go hard for Dixon.  Prying him away from the Steel City after a Final Four run would be incredibly hard to do.

Whoever is Arizona's next basketball coach will have quite a rebuilding project in front of him.  Juniors Chase Budinger and Jordan Hill figure to leave school early for the NBA Draft.  There are no recruits coming in for next season with potential players going elsewhere due to the coaching instability.  Top-recruit Brandon Jennings decided to play as a pro in Italy for a year than travel to Tucson, while center Jeff Whitney decided to transfer to Kansas and Abdul Gaddy is instead going to rival Washington.

So the streak of 25 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances will come to an end in 2009-2010.  Even though number 25 is already retired to the McKale Center rafters for guard Steve Kerr, the school might want to put another 25 banner in the rafters for this incredible run.