With the countdown to tip-off underway, many fans say they think this year's Arizona Wildcats team has what it takes to make a serious run for the national title.
"DeAndre Ayton, he's a beast," UA student and basketball fan Dylan Kent said. "I think he's a stud and he's going to take us all the way this year."
Fellow student Mike Palmer agrees, and thinks the team's depth is what makes them such a contender.
"We have a great starting five," Palmer said. "Our bench has been playing solid for the whole year, so I think that we have a good shot."
The Wildcats draw put them in the NCAA Tournament's South Region, and they'll play the first two rounds in Boise, ID (if they win their first game). Some fans were hoping they'd draw San Diego, which is a much easier and cheaper trip to make from Tucson.
"Oh I want to, but the tickets are a little steep," Palmer said. "Boise is just a little far from Arizona."
That being said, Kent still thinks that many fans will fill the Taco Bell Arena in Boise with Wildcat red and blue.
"I have no doubt that our fans will travel very well," he said.
UA guard Rawlie Alkins is on the same page.
"I think that we have great fans," he said. "So they're probably going to travel wherever we go, so we have the best fans in the country."
While Kent nor Palmer will make it to Boise, they believe the atmosphere on and near campus will be electric once it's game time.
"The atmosphere is crazy, nothing else is like it in the country," Kent said. "It's just amazing being able to see everybody when something happens, like Rawlie dunking, it's crazy, it's amazing. I can't wait to go see them at the bar and watch the games, it's going to be crazy."
Tip-off is at 6:40 p.m. at the Taco Bell Arena in Boise on Thursday night.
