Arizona March Madness losses: Wildcats' defeat to Clemson adds to history of NCAA Tournament disappointments

Dan Treacy

Arizona March Madness losses: Wildcats' defeat to Clemson adds to history of NCAA Tournament disappointments image

Arizona appeared to put its demons in the past when it pulled away from No. 15 Long Beach State in the first round, a year after suffering a stunning loss against No. 15 Princeton. Instead, there is more work to do to secure that elusive return to the Final Four.

The Wildcats bowed out of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday, falling 77-72 at the hands of No. 6 Clemson despite entering favored by more than seven points. Arizona shot just 5-of-28 from 3-point range, often settling for questionable outside shots that yielded poor results.

The regular season has brought nothing but success for Arizona since Tommy Lloyd took over as head coach in 2021, going 84-17 outside of the NCAA Tournament. The trend of regular season success dates back to the Sean Miller era, when the Wildcats similarly couldn't take advantage of ultra-talented rosters in March.

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Here's a look at some of Arizona's recent disappointing March Madness exits.

Arizona March Madness disappointments

Arizona last reached the Final Four in 2001, coming within a win of what would have been their second national championship under coach Lute Olson. Since then, the Final Four has eluded the Wildcats despite numerous strong regular season showings. 

Year Seed Result Coach
2002 3 Lost in Sweet 16 Lute Olson
2003 1 Lost in Elite Eight Lute Olson
2004 9 Lost in first round Lute Olson
2005 3 Lost in Elite Eight Lute Olson
2006 8 Lost in second round Lute Olson
2007 8 Lost in first round Lute Olson
2008 10 Lost in first round Kevin O'Neill
2009 12 Lost in Sweet 16 Russ Pennell
2011 5 Lost in Elite Eight Sean Miller
2013 6 Lost in Sweet 16 Sean Miller
2014 1 Lost in Elite Eight Sean Miller
2015 2 Lost in Elite Eight Sean Miller
2016 6 Lost in first round Sean Miller
2017 2 Lost in Sweet 16 Sean Miller
2018 4 Lost in first round Sean Miller
2022 1 Lost in Sweet 16 Tommy Lloyd
2023 2 Lost in first round Tommy Lloyd
2024 2 Lost in Sweet 16 Tommy Lloyd

It's hard to win a national championship or even reach the Final Four. That doesn't mean Arizona's recent track record of losses is typical. The Wildcats have the most NCAA Tournament losses against teams at least four seeds lower since 2016, as pointed out by the Associated Press' Josh Dubow.

Arizona has underperformed its seed in each of its last six tournament appearances, and the Wildcats haven't overperformed their seed since 2013.

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Even some of Arizona's deepest March Madness runs over the last two decades were largely seen as disappointments. Sean Miller was widely criticized for not reaching the Final Four with talented and deep rosters in 2014 and 2015. Both of those runs ended with a narrow loss to Wisconsin.

Miller's final NCAA Tournament game at Arizona, three years before he was fired, was a 21-point loss to No. 13 Buffalo in the first round. Lloyd's 33-win season in 2021-22 inspired hope that a new era would change the pattern of underperformance in March, but the Wildcats still haven't been able to put it together in the big dance and will be under even more pressure when they enter the Big 12 in the fall.

Dan Treacy

Dan Treacy Photo

Dan Treacy is a content producer for Sporting News, joining in 2022 after graduating from Boston University. He founded @allsportsnews on Instagram in 2012 and has written for Lineups and Yardbarker.