Thursday, October 27, 2011

Arizona Loses Exhibition. That Means Nothing.

Arizona lost a game a few minutes ago to Seattle-Pacific, a Division II team. It's going to get a lot of press, because these types of losses always do. But they mean nothing.

Yes, Tennessee losing to Indianapolis last year was a sign of bad things to come, but Syracuse lost to Le Moyne two years ago and proceeded to earn a 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. And two years before that it was Michigan State losing to Grand Valley State before going 12-6 in the Big Ten and making the Sweet 16.

Exhibitions are called exhibitions because they don't count, and coaches are focused on things other than the score of the game. They want to get their young players on the court, they want to try different personnel combinations, different offensive/defensive sets. These games are coached and played differently, and simply do not matter.

I picked Arizona to win the Pac-12, although they're not heavy favorites by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, as I said just five days ago, I think there are seven different teams heading into the season believing they can win the conference.

But you know what is not impacting my opinion on who is going to win the Pac-12? The result of any exhibition games. So Arizona fans: relax. Don't get worried until they start losing games that count.

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