The Arizona Wildcats will finish their current spin through the state of Kansas on Sunday when they face the Jayhawks in Lawrence. They will return to the general area in about six weeks for the Phillips 66 Big 12 Women’s Basketball Championship in Kansas City, Mo. The conference announced times and TV designations on Friday.
The tournament will be held at the T-Mobile Center between Wednesday, Mar. 5 and either Sunday, Mar. 9 or Monday, Mar. 10. If BYU advances to the final, the championship game will be held on Monday. If the Cougars are not involved, it will be held on Sunday at 3 p.m. MST on ESPN.
The top four teams in the league’s standings will receive a double-bye into the quarterfinals on Friday, Mar. 7. The four teams that finish fifth through eighth will get a bye to the second round on Thursday, Mar. 6. The bottom eight teams will open play on Wednesday.
First-round games will begin at 10 a.m. MST on Mar. 5 with a matchup of the No. 12 and No. 13 seeds. That will be followed by the 9-16 game at 12:30 p.m. MST. The evening games will start at 4:30 p.m. MST between the 10 and 15 seeds. The day’s final game, which features No. 11 and No. 14, is slated to start at 7 p.m. All four games will air on ESPN+.
Second-round games start at 10 a.m. MST on Mar. 6 with the 12/13 winner facing the No. 5 seed in Game 5. The 9/16 winner goes up against the No. 8 seed in Game 6. That starts at 12:30 p.m. MST. Four hours later, Game 7 will have the 10/15 winner play the No. 7 seed. Game 8 will feature the sixth seed taking on the winner of the 11/14 game at 7 p.m. MST. The games will again air on ESPN+.
The quarterfinals will finally get some linear TV exposure on Mar. 7. The winner of Game 5 will play the No. 4 seed in Game 9 at 10 a.m. MST on ESPNU. Game 10 will also air on ESPNU with the top seed taking on the winner of Game 6 at 12:30 p.m. MST. Things switch back to ESPN+ at 4:30 p.m. MST when the No. 2 seed goes up against the winner of Game 7 in Game 11. Game 12 will tip off at 7 p.m. MST on ESPN+. The third seed will face the winner of Game 8.
The semifinals stay on ESPN+. The winners of Game 9 and Game 10 tip off at 2 p.m. on Mar. 8. That is followed by the winners of Game 11 and Game 12 trying to advance starting at 4:30 p.m. MST.
Things wrap up on Sunday, Mar. 9 as long as BYU does not advance to the title game.
Arizona is currently 2-4 in league play. The Wildcats share the 8th-best record with Kansas and ASU, making their game at KU especially important. After that, they will face 2-3 Cincinnati and 4-2 West Virginia at home. The Mountaineers are ranked No. 20 in the current AP Top 25.