Point Guard U

The 2014 Arizona Wildcats basketball team has been nothing short of incredible. They are currently 26-2 and both those losses come with asterisks to some extent. Within the first few minutes of the game, Brandon Ashley went down in the last-second shot loss to Cal and the flukey loss to ASU by one possession must be taken in context with the FACT that two technical fouls should have been called at the end of the game.

With wins against UCLA, Duke, Michigan, San Diego State, and beating down their entire conference...the Cats have the best resume in the game. And some of the best players:

KALEB TARCZEWSKI

This kid flashed serious potential his freshman year, but also stumbled along the way plenty of times. The jury was still out going into this year. Echoes of another big man (Kirk Walters) that showed potential and proceeded to inexplicably get worse each year were heard in my head, but that turned out to be an unfair comparison to ZEUS.

He's been a Godsend, a rare true center on a team that is known for churning out NBA-caliber guards on a regular basis. He's one of the few guys on the team that has embraced the free throw and hits them at an appropriate percentage. In many games, he's been the difference as foes have had no answer for him down below. Recently, he's shown success with longer range jump shots and if he starts hitting those at a regular clip the big man is going to be deadlier than ever.

NICK JOHNSON

The leader, the heart and soul of the team and the go-to guy in the clutch. He's hit so many big shots this year you lose count. In a team of studs, he somehow manages to separate himself as the elite scorer among them. Dude can do it all, has a nose for the basket, and doesn't seem to have a weakness.

BRANDON ASHLEY

With Zeus down low, having Bash right by him with his ridiculous wing span and skills was almost unfair. His injury hurt bad and helped other teams immensely. Hope to see him back next year.

TJ MCCONNELL

This guy is a true point guard. Last year, Mark Lyons was only masquerading as such. A pass-first, smart, effective guard like we haven't seen in AZ in some time. He's hit some giant shots and just when people were starting to question whether he could keep teams honest with the long ball, he went on a 3-point parade. Love watching him play. TJ MACKS.

RONDAE HOLLIS-JEFFERSON

He was great off the bench and has filled the shoes left by Bash nicely. At times, he goes Jordan and drives on 3 players throwing up some acrobatic craziness that doesn't work, but he's been great on the boards and has been playing smarter lately. He's had some of the nastiest dunks this season and can score at will when he's hot.

GABE YORK

One of their few bench players you felt good about that has been seeing more minutes lately and proving he deserves them. Small guy that plays way bigger. He's been pulling down boards, boxing out, covering forwards and centers and is their most deadly threat behind the arc.

AARON GORDON

Easily the most frustrating player on the team. If he could shoot Free Throws as well as me (which isn't that well), they'd be undefeated. There's a problem when the guy most likely to get fouled only shoots 43% behind the FT line. This MUST be improved, but each game it seems worse...the shots miss by more and the misses seem more brickish. It's perplexing.

The first half of the season Gordon was the best player and owned people, but the second half he's had plenty of bad games and hasn't been nearly as impressive. Everyone thought he'd be one-and-done with all the insane talent he has, but I think he needs to stay one more year. Another year with Miller would do him wonders and getting his FT percentage up would seem to be imperative to play in the NBA.

Gordon can do it all, except the easiest part of the game. Go figure.

CAN THEY WIN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT?

With Ashley playing, I'd bet money on it. With him out, they still can, but they could bow out earlier than expected. Their horrifying FT percentage will bite them down the stretch against another elite team in a close game.

They also need to stay out of foul trouble. Their bench is almost non-existent. Aside from Elliot Pitts, who has shown some improvement lately, the rest of the guys cannot be trusted. Fortunately, they have done well to avoid needing to rely on unproven players and only Gordon fouled out during regulation since Ashley went out.

BEAR DOWN!