TUCSON – Arizona coach Sean Miller wants his team to know it’s not so much about the opponent any more, but themselves.
It’s not that he isn’t concerned with Southern California or UCLA this weekend in Arizona’s final regular-season home games, or Arizona State in next week's regular-season finale.
But the bottom line is that if Arizona does what it needs to do to take care of its own business, everything else, such as its NCAA Tournament hopes, will take care of itself.
Is Arizona in? Is it out? Heck, the Wildcats know the drill, having been in the in-or-out debate three of the last four years.
They squeaked into the 2008 and '09 tournament under Kevin O'Neill and Russ Pennell -- losing in the first round in '08 and making a Sweet 16 run in '09.
They were out in 2010 -- Miller's first season. Last year, with a Pac-10 regular season championship, there was no debate. This year, there’s plenty, even with UA at 19-9 overall.
Miller continues to take the pragmatic approach, saying the wildcats have to keep it simple so they can play well this weekend. Miller admitted, however, that maintaining that focus becomes more difficult as March gets closer.
"There’s so much talk about the tournament and who is in and who is out,’’ he said. “Everyone is into the predicting, and you can really get caught up in that. Hopefully we are one of those teams that doesn’t get caught up in that because I know that’s our only chance.’’
Winning five or six consecutive games would help – three in regular season and two or more in the Pac-12 Conference tournament. Arizona has an RPI of 67 heading into Thursday's game with USC, and its remaining regular-season opponents are far below the Wildcats, so the chance of making up significant ground on that front are remote.
Mayes haze
It’s still unclear if sophomore guard Jordin Mayes will play this weekend, but Miller said Mayes “is almost pain free.’’ Mayes suffered a stress reaction in his left foot five games ago, and Miller has employed primarily a seven-man rotation since then.
Miller said he’s optimistic about Mayes playing next week. “He’s continuing to experience positive results,’’ he said.
Mayes, a reserve guard, is averaging 5.5 points per game.
“He does want to play, but he’s doing what we ask of him,’’ Miller said. “And that’s to work as hard as he can and to be very honest when he experiences pain, because the nightmare for all of us would be to get him back and to have another setback.’’
Senior Day
Arizona will celebrate Senior Day on Saturday against UCLA as it pays tribune to five seniors: Brendon Lavender, Alex Jacobson, Kyle Fogg, Jesse Perry and Dondre Wise.
The Wildcats will mark the occasion by wearing specially made gray uniforms. Nike picked nine former NCAA championship teams to wear the jerseys for one game each.
“It’s a great tribute to Coach (Lute) Olson and a tribute to our past,’’ Miller said of being chosen to wear the uniforms. “They are not given those uniforms because I’m sitting here. They’re given those uniforms because of a 25- to 30-year period, including the '97 championship. It’s an honor to wear those uniforms, and the way we can honor them is by playing really well.’’
