Basketball Brunch: Arizona finds national title form

THE FIRST WORD: What does it take to be No. 1?

This season it would take Kentucky underachieving and very steady improvement from someone else. Arizona has done the latter and while there are several teams ranked ahead of the Wildcats, it's fair to say this team is hitting its stride and rising to title-contending status here in late January.

Last season around this time, the Wildcats were dealt their first loss, knocking them off their then-No. 1 perch. Arizona had peaked early, before the season-ending injury to Brandon Ashley derailed the momentum.

Teams want to be peaking in February and March, and Arizona is well on its way to doing so. And the Wildcats are peaking later than they did last season before staging an Elite Eight run that left them one possession away from the Final Four. Every team hits adversity — we saw it with Kentucky in two near-losses and with Duke in back-to-back losses. Arizona has two losses, at UNLV on Dec. 23 and at Oregon State on Jan. 11. But following a demolition of its top challenger Utah on Jan. 17 and road victories at Stanford and California, it's about time we start throwing title contender in front of Arizona. Isn't it?

Arizona lost two players to the NBA (Nick Johnson and Aaron Gordon), but the Wildcats look at least as good if not better than last year's team. Stanley Johnson (15 ppg, 7 rpg) might be the best freshman in the country not named Jahlil Okafor. Athletic forwards Brandon Ashley and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson give Arizona versatility few teams can match. And T.J. McConnell (9.0 ppg, 5.9 apg, 4.0 rpg) might be nation's best point guard.

"We want to put ourselves in the best position to be a No. 1 seed in the tournament," Johnson said after Arizona's 73-50 win at Cal. "I don't think we can drop any more games on the road or at home. So we're going to try to do our best. I think we're getting better every day, every shootaround. We're going to try and run it out."

Arizona is positioned to join Kentucky and Virginia as No. 1 seeds in the NCAA tournament. The Wildcats have beaten No. 3 Gonzaga and have better a résumé than Wisconsin, Duke and Villanova.

QUOTE TO NOTE: "You almost feel like you are watching them grow up right in front of you," Kansas coach Bill Self said about his team's evolution following a pivotal 75-62 road victory at Texas, which catapulted the 10-time defending champion Jayhawks to the top of standings in the deep Big 12.

TWEET THAT SPEAKS VOLUMES: In the biggest upset Saturday, basement team Texas Tech stunned Iowa State 78-73. Meanwhile, Baylor beat Oklahoma 69-58 in a top 25 Big 12 clash, West Virginia escaped TCU 86-85 in a wild overtime game and Kansas State upended Oklahoma State 63-53. Just another crazy outcome in the loaded Big 12.

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BIGGEST SURPRISE: Wisconsin clipped Michigan 69-65 in overtime on Saturday, an unexpected result considering the Badgers' strength as the top team in the Big Ten and the fact that the Wolverines are without top player Caris LeVert, who suffered a season-ending injury last week. Derrick Walton Jr. provided the heroics to force overtime in this thriller, making a game-tying three-pointer with 1.3 seconds left.

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NUMBER: 36. How many games Gonzaga has won in a row at home. The Bulldogs' 91-60 victory against Pacific is just another sign of how potent and loaded this team is this season. Of course, the life of a mid-major is not an easy one. It will be nearly impossible for us to gauge the 'Zags' ceiling until March with the lack of competition in the West Coast Conference. That's always been the case, but perhaps it's more intriguing this year with many sharing the belief that this is coach Mark Few's best team, which is saying something considering the incredible squads of years' past.

CONFERENCE RACE SPOTLIGHT: Following Saturday's wild night (Arkansas defeated Missouri 61-60, LSU beat Vanderbilt 79-75 in OT, Alabama edged Auburn 57-55 and Texas A&M got past Tennessee 67-61), there are five teams (Arkansas, LSU, Georgia, Texas A&M and Tennessee) with 4-2 records in second place in the SEC. Alabama, Ole Miss and Florida are 3-3. The league has an obvious projected champion in Kentucky (which rolled 58-43 on Saturday against South Carolina), but the race for second will be a doozy.

CONFERENCE RACE SPOTLIGHT, TAKE 2: Colorado State's 79-73 win against San Diego State (fueled by J.J. Avila's 29 points) on Saturday just made the Mountain West Conference race a whole lot more cloudy. The Aztecs, Rams and Fresno State are all 5-2, while challengers Wyoming, New Mexico are still close behind. Not sure parity will benefit this league in the NCAA tournament selection committee's eyes, but it will be a fun race to watch.

STAR WATCH: Nebraska's Terran Petteway wasn't picked as the Big Ten preseason player of the year for nothing. His 32 points Saturday helped lifted the Cornhuskers to a much-needed 79-77 victory against Michigan State, which keeps Nebraska (12-7, 4-3) in the discussion for NCAA tourney-worthy teams.

THE HIGHLIGHT REEL: Wyoming edged out New Mexico 63-62 in overtime in a down-to-the-wire affair. Larry Nancy Jr. was again the star of the show.

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THE HIGHLIGHT REEL, TAKE 2: Georgetown went on to beat Marquette 95-85 in overtime in a thriller. Matt Carlino forced OT with this clutch bucket.

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BIGGEST RÉSUMÉ STAINS: Saturday's losses that hurt the most.

• Florida: Lost 72-71 to Ole Miss. The Gators (10-9, 3-3) are reeling big time with three consecutive losses and really needed a bounce-back win Saturday to reverse course. If it wasn't already, now it's time to hit the panic button. They look far from an NCAA tournament team, let alone an NIT team at this point.
• Syracuse: Lost 66-62 to Miami (Fla.). The Orange (14-6, 5-2) have now lost two of three in ACC play and are starting to flatten after starting 4-0 in league play. Keep in mind, Syracuse started off with lower-level ACC opponents and still has two games against Duke, and matchups against North Carolina and Virginia on deck. The team's portfolio isn't necessarily in jeopardy yet, but beating Miami would have provided breathing room for the rest of a loaded schedule.

ON DECK: Duke Mike Krzyzewski will attempt to accumulate 1,000 career victories Sunday in a non-conference game against St. John's. Nicole Auerbach profiled Coach K's success based on flexibility over the years.