Last night, the Buffalo Bulls did it to the very Arizona Wildcats I talked about just a few weeks ago (Arizona's Miller the First Titan To (Apparently) Fall Amongst FBI Probe). The 89-68 win was more surprising considering that the MAC champions only had a two point lead at the half.
The Wildcats, the Pac 12 champion, could never get that extra step when needed. At this moment, both teams have identical 27-8 records. The biggest difference is that Buffalo is moving on to play Kentucky in the second round, and the face of the Arizona program may have changed as we know it with the loss.
The controversy surrounding Arizona head coach Sean Miller, and his apparent FBI wiretap violation of getting forward DeAndre Ayton was put to bed by the midway point of the second half. Buffalo was still shooting threes with just over a minute left in the game, and up by 25 points.
This was not just a statement that Nate Oats’ Bulls were trying to send by crashing brackets throughout the country. This was Buffalo kicking Arizona while they were down, and quickly turning their attention to the other Wildcats who we all wish would one day get caught with their hands in the cookie jar. Against the much larger Arizona team, Buffalo was 15 of 30 from beyond the arc, yet only got to the foul line seven times.
Arizona looked less like they were gassed, and more like they just did not want to be in Boise. Ayton declared for the NBA Draft within hours of the defeat, and Arizona has to look long and hard about Miller’s future, now that the FBI can turn up the heat on their investigation.
Why is Buffalo’s victory considered that much of a shock. The Bulls have been MAC champions three of the last four years. This is a game I picked correctly when I filled out the first round of my bracket. (I went 13-2-1 on opening day, with the only losses being the 2-point San Diego State loss, and the Loyola buzzer-beater, paired with Oklahoma and Rhode Island going to overtime.)
The Pac 12 as a conference has already lost three schools in the field of 68, with UCLA and Arizona State both losing play-in games earlier this week. The Bulls ran circles around Arizona all night long, and it was a beautiful sight for all 40 minutes. Whether this Wildcat season is eventually vacated in the aftermath of the FBI probe remains to be seen. For now, this is one of the lowest points in program history. Arizona was picked by many to have a serious look at getting to the Final Four, in only having Cincinnati and Virginia as their primary obstacles in the South Region.
Instead, we get a 13 seed in the second round for the first time since 2016, when Hawaii toppled Cal. Kentucky is arguably as quick as Buffalo, and I don’t really see Wes Clark and Jeremy Harris both putting up 20+ points on John Calipari’s Wildcats tomorrow, like they did last night. If Kentucky struggled with lightning-fast Davidson in the first round, what do you think Oats has up his sleeve for Calipari?
Regardless of who wins the whole thing, I may just have a custom license plate frame made declaring the Buffalo Bulls as the 2018 NCAA National Champions if they can knock off my two most hated college basketball programs within three days.
-JC24