Florida and Ohio State were on the court when the ball was tossed up for the NCAA championship game last April.
They aren't even certain to be in the bracket when the NCAA tournament field is announced Sunday.
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It isn't same, old NCAA, especially in Arizona
ROBYN NORWOOD / ON COLLEGE BASKETBALL
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Tuesday, March 11, 2008 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 36 words Type of Material: Correction
College basketball: In Monday's Sports section, a list of Wednesday night's Pacific 10 tournament games at Staples Center said Washington State would play California at 6. The game is between the University of Washington and California.
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The two-time champion Gators, gutted by the NBA draft, are 21-10 but have lost seven of their last 10 and probably need a good showing in the Southeastern Conference tournament after losing to fellow bubble-dweller Kentucky on Sunday.
Ohio State, similarly hit by the draft, helped its prospects by upsetting No. 17 Michigan State on Sunday -- the 19-12 Buckeyes' second consecutive victory over a ranked team after beating No. 15 Purdue.
Here in the West -- other than the question of whether UCLA gets an almost certain bus ride to Anaheim for the first and second rounds and a likely short-hop flight to Phoenix for the regional -- the big question is the fate of Arizona, which has made the NCAA tournament 23 years in a row.
With an 18-13 record after finishing a stunning seventh in the Pacific 10 with an 8-10 record after a loss to Oregon on Saturday, the Wildcats are on unsteady ground.
No Pac-10 team has made the NCAA tournament with a 9-9 record, much less a sub-.500 record, and no team since Georgia in 2001 has earned an at-large berth with 14 losses -- as Arizona would have unless it won the Pac-10 tournament this week at Staples Center.
The Wildcats' NCAA tournament fate is almost as much in question as the situation involving Coach Lute Olson, whose leave for unspecified personal reasons this season was under the provisions of the federal Family and Medical Leave Act, the university revealed to Arizona newspapers last week.
Olson has said he plans to return next season, when he will be 74, but some believe that would be a difficult transition and no more than a short-term solution for a team that has largely moved on under interim Coach Kevin O'Neill, who has a handshake agreement to replace Olson whenever he decides to retire.
That's a lot of back story for players who need to be zeroed in on playing well in the Pac-10 tournament, where they are relegated to the opening round Wednesday against Oregon State.
At least that ought to be a win, since the Beavers just became the first team to go 0-18 in Pac-10 play. Stanford would await next.
