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UCLA Basketball: It’s time for UCLA and Arizona to play twice per year, permanently

By David Goldman

TUCSON, AZ - FEBRUARY 25: Head coach Steve Alford of the UCLA Bruins reacts during the first half of the college basketball game against the Arizona Wildcats at McKale Center on February 25, 2017 in Tucson, Arizona. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
TUCSON, AZ - FEBRUARY 25: Head coach Steve Alford of the UCLA Bruins reacts during the first half of the college basketball game against the Arizona Wildcats at McKale Center on February 25, 2017 in Tucson, Arizona. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images) /
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UCLA Basketball and Arizona will face off just once this season. This will be the third time in the last five years that the two schools have only met once. The Pac-12 needs to step up and change that.

It’s a downright travesty that the Arizona and UCLA Basketball teams will only meet once in the regular season next year. It is the best rivalry on the west coast and arguably one of the better rivalries in all of college basketball.

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How the Pac-12 can schedule two conference rivals just once in a season is mind boggling. How they can do that three times since 2012-13 is just downright disrespectful to college basketball fans across the country.

The two schools have dominated the conference since Arizona joined the Pac-12 in 1978. They have combined to win 25 of the 39 regular season conference championships in that span and 10 of the 20 total conference tournament championships.

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The Bruins and Wildcats also have the two most recent National Championships for the conference (Arizona in 1997, UCLA in 1995). It’s clear these two schools are the class of the conference and need to play two times per year.

Not to mention, the fact that these two college basketball powerhouses only play once this season in Tucson has a massive impact on the college hoops landscape next season. UCLA and Arizona figure to be two of the best teams in the Pac-12 and Arizona may well be #1 when the polls come out in the fall.

Arizona only having to play UCLA once, at home, will have a major impact on the conference title race. Not having to play in LA also means Zona will only have to play USC once as well, and the Trojans may actually be very good next year (for once). The schedule is set up for Arizona to cruise to a conference championship.

Many other college basketball fans and writers are disappointed in the Pac-12’s 2017-18 schedule as well:

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It’s time for the Pac-12 to ensure that UCLA and Zona play twice per year no matter what. Otherwise, we will continue to be deprived of needless timeouts with seconds left on the clock and sweaty Sean Miller photos.