Wisconsin and Arizona meet in Elite Eight

Mar 28, 2015 - 2:31 PM Los Angeles, CA (SportsNetwork.com) - The road to the Final Four winds through Staples Center on Saturday, as the Arizona Wildcats and Wisconsin Badgers do battle in the NCAA Tournament's West Regional Final.

What makes this encounter so unusual is that it is a replay of an Elite Eight clash from last season as well, and the Wildcats are hoping that this time they can come out on top. The winner of the 1997 NCAA Tournament title, Arizona is back in a regional final for the third time in the last four tries, the two previous attempts failing to produce positive results.

This time around head coach Sean Miller, who is one of four coaches (John Calipari, Tom Izzo, and Mike Krzyzewski) to lead a team to the Sweet 16 six times since 2008, has the Wildcats riding a 14-game win streak which has helped to generate momentum. The tourney has been paved with comfortable victories over Texas Southern and Ohio State before the affair moved to California.

On Thursday night, Miller went up against his former team, Xavier, and managed to squeeze out a hard-fought 68-60 triumph in order for the region's second seed to advance.

Meanwhile the Badgers, the top seed in the West, have been adding to the school record for wins in a single season, now with 33 after setting aside fourth-seeded North Carolina two nights ago, 79-72. Into the tourney for the 17th straight year, Wisconsin is just the fifth Big Ten team ever to register at least 33 wins in a single campaign, and it doesn't figure on stopping there.

Wisconsin, which won the 1941 NCAA Championship when only three victories were needed to pull off the feat, lost to Kentucky in the Final Four in Arlington, Texas last year by a single point, 74-73.

In terms of the all-time series between the two programs, Wisconsin is out ahead by a count of 4-2, with all four of those victories coming on neutral floors. Last year, the teams went to overtime in Anaheim, California before the Badgers slipped by in a 64-63 decision in order to advance to the Final Four.

Back on Dec. 30, 1966, the teams also met up in the City of Angels where Wisconsin blew the doors off the Wildcats in a 104-77 final.

The survivor of this meeting with have their hands full in the national semifinals at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis a week from now versus the winner of the Notre Dame/Kentucky meeting for the right to compete for the championship on Monday, April 6.

Scoring all but four of his 17 points in the second half, T.J. McConnell made sure that Arizona would be moving on as he helped guide the Wildcats to an eight-point win over the Musketeers on Thursday night. McConnell, who shot just 1-of-6 behind the 3-point line, added seven rebounds and five of his team's 10 assists in the triumph. Stanley Johnson and Kaleb Tarczewski both chipped in 12 points, the latter pulling down a game-high 12 rebounds. Rondae Hollis-Jefferson was limited to only five points on 1-of-4 shooting for a team that was 40.7 percent accurate from the field, but made up for it by limiting Xavier to only 3-of-17 out on the perimeter.

Obviously the meeting with the Musketeers was a bit too close for comfort, yet the season stats for Arizona tell the story of a team that is outscoring the opposition by 17.6 ppg and holding those foes to just 32.5 percent shooting behind the 3-point line. Another glaring difference between the Wildcats and the competition has the squad beating opponents by nine rebounds per contest, clearing about 11 offensive rebounds per outing.

Johnson not only leads the team in scoring with 14.0 ppg, he is also second on the glass with 6.6 rpg, the latter placing him just fractions behind Hollis- Jefferson (11.1 ppg) with his 6.8 rpg. McConnell is clearly the floor leader for the Wildcats thanks to his 10.3 ppg but, more importantly, his 233 assists and 81 steals over 37 starts.

Not only did the Badgers come out on top against North Carolina, just as encouraging was the return of Traevon Jackson who made an immediate impression by knocking down a 3-pointer from the corner right on cue. He finished with just four points in nine minutes off the bench, but considering it was his first game back in months, the results were uplifting.

Taking over the spotlight for Wisconsin was Sam Dekker who registered a double-double consisting of a career-high 23 points and 10 rebounds, and yet he wasn't charged with a single turnover. Frank Kaminsky, a candidate for national player of the year honors, was a bit reserved as he posted 19 points and eight rebounds, converting all eight of his attempts at the free-throw line where the team outscored the Tar Heels, 20-12. Nigel Hayes added 12 points and six boards to the winning effort.

During the three games of the NCAA Tournament, Kaminsky has posted 20.7 ppg as he shoots 55.3 percent from the floor, adding 9.0 rpg and eight assists, but the play of Dekker has been just as important as he drops in 20.0 ppg on 57.1 percent accuracy from the field. Hayes (13.7 ppg) has had his issues out on the perimeter (2-of-11), but has balanced that out by hitting the glass for 11 offensive rebounds and 6.3 rpg overall.