NCAA basketball rivalries: Ranking the top 25 college basketball rivalries

NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 10: A fan of the North Carolina Tar Heels (L) and the Duke Blue Devils pose for a photo while holding a sign referring to the Duke/UNC rivalry during the semifinals of the ACC Basketball Tournament at Barclays Center on March 10, 2017 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. (Photo by Lance King/Getty Images) /

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(Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images) /

No. 10 – UCLA Bruins vs. Arizona Wildcats

All-Time Series: UCLA leads 60-43

These two programs have rich histories and are perhaps the most successful programs in the history of the Pac-12 conference. UCLA’s history needs no explanation with the legacy of John Wooden, Lew Alcindor, Bill Walton, and national championships galore. College basketball was dominated by the Bruins in the 1960s and 1970s up until Wooden’s retirement in 1975.

Meanwhile, Arizona’s program is full of its own rich legacy, first under Lute Olsen, hired as Arizona head coach in 1983, rattling off twenty-three consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances, and winning the 1997 national championship with Mike Bibby, Miles Simon, Jason Terry. More recently helmed by Sean Miller, Arizona has won conference championships and maintained national prominence consistently in the top-25 picture.

The rivalry wasn’t much of a rivalry until Olson was hired at Arizona, as the Wildcats managed only one victory over the Bruins prior to Olson taking over the program. However, fortunes have changed in this rivalry of the Pac-12’s elite programs, and since 1983 the programs have evenly split the 82 games played, each winning 41 apiece.

Game of Note: February 25, 2017 – No. 5 UCLA def No. 4 Arizona 77-72

It feels like it’s been a long time since UCLA has had sustained success, but only a few short years ago each of these teams were ranked in the top-five and matching up in the McKale Center in a showdown for Pac-12 and national supremacy. This was the second of three meetings in the 2016-17 season between the teams as UCLA went into Tucson and came out with a 77-72 victory over the Wildcats, what would prove to be its lone win of the three meetings, avenging the earlier home loss to Arizona, but preceding Arizona’s victory over UCLA in the Pac-12 semifinals. Arizona would win the Pac-12 tournament championship, and each team would survive into the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament with both falling in the Sweet 16.