The Big West Conference Tournament Champion, the 15-seed Long Beach State Beach, will face the regular season champions out of the Pac-12 Conference, the 2-seed Arizona Wildcats, in the 1^st round of the 2024 NCAA Tournament in the West Region in Salt Lake City, Utah at the Delta Center with tip-off scheduled for 2:00 PM ET on Thursday afternoon and will air on TBS.

For the first time in NCAA Tournament history a team will have a coach that has already been fired by the team as Dan Monson was notified before the conference tournament started that he would be fired at the end of the season, however, the Long Beach State went on to win the conference tournament in the Big West Conference by defeating the UC Riverside Highlanders in the Quarterfinals by a score of 86-67, the UC Irvine Anteaters in the Semifinals by a score of 83-79, and the UC Davis Aggies in the Championship by a score of 74-70 which led to the Beach earning the automatic qualifying bid in the Big West and Monson becoming the first walking duck coach to coach a team in the NCAA Tournament. This will be the 10^th appearance for the Long Beach State Beach State and the first since the 2012 NCAA Tournament. Long Beach State has a record of 2-9 in the NCAA Tournament and has lost seven straight in the NCAA Tournament including a 72-93 loss against the BYU Cougars in their last appearance in the NCAA Tournament. 

The Long Beach State Beach will look to end their losing streak in the tournament when they face the 2-seed Arizona Wildcats in the 2024 NCAA Tournament.

The Arizona Wildcats have been one of the best teams in college basketball this season and enter the NCAA Tournament ranked 9^th in the AP Poll and 9^th in the Coaches Poll with an overall record of 25-8 and were the regular season champions in the Pac-12 Conference, however, the Wildcats were eliminated in the Semifinals of the Pac-12 Conference Tournament against the Oregon Ducks by a score of 59-67 after beating the USC Trojans in the Quarterfinals by a score of 70-49 which was also their 2^nd loss in their last three games. 

Arizona remains one of the highest-scoring teams in college basketball this season and ranks 3^rd nationally in scoring with an average of 87.94 points per game. Arizona has been in the National Championship picture for the majority of the season this year, however, many are questioning whether the Wildcats have the depth to make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament after losing two of their last three games. 

The Wildcats will look to end doubts when they face the Long Beach State Beach in the 1^st round of the 2024 NCAA Tournament on Thursday afternoon.

BetOnline has the Arizona Wildcats listed as 20.5-point favorites against the Long Beach State Beach in the 1^st round of the 2024 NCAA Tournament on Thursday afternoon. Arizona has won the five games all-time against Long Beach State and has covered the spread in four of the five meetings all-time in the series.

Arizona has been one of the best teams in college basketball this season but lost in the Semifinals of the Pac-12 Conference Tournament while Long Beach State has a lame-duck coach. The Wildcats have won the five meetings all-time in the series and have covered the spread in four of the five contests. As a result, I am buying the .5 point and laying the points with the Arizona Wildcats in the 1^st round of the 2024 NCAA Tournament on Thursday afternoon.