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.
Most losses in NCAA Tournament since 2016 with +4 seed differential or better:
— Josh Dubow (@JoshDubowAP) March 29, 2024
Arizona 6
Tennessee 4
Virginia 4
Purdue 4
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.
