There were a lot of things that could have been held against Arizona women’s basketball when it came time to decide the top 16 seeds in the NCAA Tournament. The losses against ASU, Washington State, and UCLA were chief among them. The team had dropped to No. 18 in NET at the end of the Pac-12 Tournament after spending most of the season in or just outside the top 10.
One positive played in their favor, though. The return of Cate Reese from a dislocated shoulder suffered in the fourth quarter of the Feb. 20 game in Pullman might have been the deciding factor that kept the Wildcats at home.