Bracketology: Friday brings big opportunities for many teams

The Arizona Wildcats hold strong as a 5-seed in today's NCAA bracket projection. But tonight lies a massive opportunity for the Wildcats as they take on the Oregon Ducks, a projected 2-seed, and the Pac-12's number one seed in the Pac-12 Tournament.

A win over the Ducks would be a much needed quality win to launch Arizona into a higher seed and, perhaps, a favorable regional draw.

That's Friday night. As for now:

LAST FOUR BYES: Texas Tech, Cincinnati, Oregon State, Butler

LAST FOUR IN: Monmouth, St. Mary's, Vanderbilt, Connecticut

FIRST FOUR OUT: St. Bonaventure, Michigan, Syracuse, Tulsa

NEXT FOUR OUT: Florida, Valparaiso, Ohio State, George Washington

The Oregon State Beavers actually further solidified their positioning with last night's loss to the California Golden Bears, showing they can hang with a team that is emerging as a high seed even without one of their best players, Tres Tinkle. Plus, the Beavers benefited from a couple teams slipping in very winnable conference tournament games.

Today is a chance for some bubble teams to separate themselves from the pack. Michigan is playing the number one seed of the Big Ten Tournament, Indiana, right now on ESPN. Cincinnati and Connecticut play today in an American Conference quarterfinal, a game that could serve as an eliminator in multiple ways. Florida is playing the number one seed of the SEC Tournament, Texas A&M.

Plenty of teams have a chance to put other March Madness participants on notice. Who will seize the moment? Will Arizona be among them? We'll find out tonight at 7:00 MT on Pac-12 Network.