LAS VEGAS — March has arrived and that is exciting news for college basketball fans as teams will play in conference tournaments across the country this week and look to claim automatic bids to the NCAA Tournament.
That includes Arizona State and No. 5 Arizona, who will head up to Las Vegas this week to play in the final Pac-12 men's basketball tournament before both schools move to the Big 12 this fall.
Here's when we'll see the Sun Devils and Wildcats on the court at T-Mobile Arena.
ASU will have one of the toughest roads to the Pac-12 Tournament title after getting the No. 11 seed following their 14-17 (8-12 Pac-12) season.
ASU will open up tournament play on Wednesday, March 13 at 8:30 p.m. against No. 6 seed Utah. If the Sun Devils beat Utah, they will play No. 3 seed Colorado at 8:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 14. ASU would not play Arizona unless both the Sun Devils and Wildcats made it to the Pac-12 Tournament Championship game on Saturday, March 16 at 6 p.m.
ASU has had a roller-coaster season. After finishing non-conference play 6-5, ASU started Pac-12 play 4-0 before a stretch that saw the Sun Devils lose seven of eight games. ASU won back-to-back games after that stretch before losing five of their last six games.
The good news for Sun Devil fans heading into the Pac-12 Tournament is that ASU beat Utah twice this season. The Sun Devils beat the Utes 82-70 in Tempe on Jan. 4 and 85-77 in Salt Lake City on Feb. 10.
The No. 5 Wildcats will get an extra day than their rivals to the north before playing in Las Vegas. By winning the Pac-12 regular season championship, Arizona earned the No. 1 seed in the Pac-12 Tournament and a bye through the first round.
Arizona will play either No. 8 seed Washington or No. 9 seed USC in the quarterfinals on Thursday, March 14 at noon. If Arizona wins that game, their semifinal matchup will be on Friday, March 15 at 5 p.m. and if they win that game, they will play in the Pac-12 Tournament Championship game.
Arizona has been one of the top teams in the nation all season. After being ranked No. 12 in the AP Preseason Top 25, the Wildcats responded by winning their first eight games and rising all the way up to No. 1 in the nation. However, Arizona only spent two games in the top spot before being defeated by No. 3 Purdue on Dec. 16, 2023.
Arizona then traded off wins and losses over their next four games, which included their first two conference games. Arizona ended up going 15-5 in Pac-12 play and finishing their season 24-7.
As for their possible opponents in the Pac-12 Tournament quarterfinals, the Wildcats beat Washington, 91-75, in their lone meeting this season. Arizona went 1-1 against USC this season with an 82-67 win over the Trojans on Jan. 17 and a 78-65 loss to USC in the final game of the regular season on Saturday.
The 68-team NCAA Tournament bracket will be revealed on Selection Sunday, which is on March 17.
The First Four will be played March 19-20 at UD Arena in Dayton, Ohio.
The first round will be played March 21-22 and the second round will be played March 23-24. Here's where the games will take place.
- Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York
- Spectrum Center in Charlotte, North Carolina
- Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis
- CHI Health Center in Omaha, Nebraska
- PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh
- Delta Center in Salt Lake City
- Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena in Spokane, Washington
- FedEx Forum in Memphis, Tennessee
The Sweet 16 will be played on March 28-29 and the Elite Eight will be played on March 30-31. Here's where those games will take place.
- TD Garden in Boston (East Regional)
- American Airlines Center in Dallas (South Regional)
- Little Caesars Arena in Detroit (Midwest Regional)
- Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles (West Regional)
The Final Four will be played on Saturday, April 6, and the NCAA National Championship game will be played on Monday, April 8. All three of those games will be played at State Farm Stadium in Glendale.
Arizona sports
The city of Phoenix is home to five major professional sports league teams; The NFL's Arizona Cardinals, NBA's Phoenix Suns, WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury, MLB's Arizona Diamondbacks and NHL's Arizona Coyotes.
The Cardinals have made State Farm Stadium in Glendale their home turf and the Footprint Center in downtown Phoenix is home to both the Suns and the Mercury. The Indoor Football League’s Arizona Rattlers play at Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale. The Coyotes play at Mullett Arena on ASU's Tempe campus.
Phoenix also has a soccer team with the USL's Phoenix Rising FC, who play at Phoenix Rising FC Stadium in Phoenix.
The Valley hosts multiple major sporting events on a yearly basis, including college football's Fiesta Bowl and Guaranteed Rate Bowl; the PGA Tour’s highest-attended event, the WM Phoenix Open; NASCAR events each spring and fall, including Championship Weekend in November; and Cactus League Spring Training for 15 Major League Baseball franchises.
12Sports on YouTube
Get the latest news and stories from 12Sports on the 12News YouTube channel. And don't forget to subscribe!