For the seventh time in program history, the Arizona Wildcats have earned a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament field.

The Wildcats are the top seed in the South Region of the upcoming tournament. They’ll open play Friday in San Diego against the winner of Wright State and Bryant, who’ll play each other in Dayton at the First Four.

With a win, they’d play either 8-seed Seton Hall or 9-seed TCU in the second round. Illinois earned the 4-seed in the South, so Arizona could battle with the Illini in the Sweet Sixteen, or face 5-seed Houston, 12-seed UAB, or 13-seed Chattanooga.

On the bottom half of the region, Villanova (26-7) earned the No. 2 seed and Tennessee (26-7) the No. 3 seed. The rest of the teams in the South: 6-seed Colorado State (25-5), 7-seed Ohio State (19-11), 10-seed Loyola Chicago (25-7), 11-seed Michigan (17-14), 14-seed Longwood (26-6), and 15-seed Delaware (22-12).

The Wildcats earned a Pac-12 title sweep Saturday night with an 84-76 win over UCLA. That victory gave the Wildcats their 31st win of the season and ensured the first No. 1 seed for the program since 2014.

Arizona is returning to The Big Dance this year for the first time since 2018. In six previous berths as a No. 1 seed, the Wildcats have reached the Sweet Sixteen once, the Elite Eight three times, and the Final Four only once. The only time the Wildcats haven’t won at least two Tournament games as a No. 1 came in 2000, when they were bounced in the Second Round.

Given the battle-tested nature of this year’s Arizona squad, there’s plenty of reason to believe this No. 1 can go all the way.