This cannot be phrased delicately, so we won’t bother with the attempt: Arizona has a brutally difficult path to the Final Four. Even the Sweet 16 seems daunting for the Wildcats, thanks to the presence of an old frenemy.

Their first opponent, No. 13 seed Akron, is a trendy upset pick — and for good reason: Arizona is well known for early-round flops.

In the second round, the Wildcats could face Oregon, a familiar foe with a brilliant coach (Dana Altman) who has beaten Arizona on a neutral court as recently as last March.

The likely Sweet 16 opponent, Duke, is the betting favorite to win the national championship and produce three top-10 picks in the upcoming NBA Draft.

The Elite Eight opponent … eh, never mind.

And so we ask: Should you trust Arizona in the office pool? Fortunately, the Wildcats have provided the answer, with help from their new conference.

The Big 12 tournament served as a proxy for the NCAAs in a way the Pac-12 version never could.

Consider the final three years of the conference’s existence. Arizona faced a total of eight teams in the Pac-12 tournament in Las Vegas. Half of them did not qualify for the NCAAs, and two more were No. 11 seeds. The Wildcats rarely played competition comparable to what they would encounter in the NCAA Tournament.

But the depth and quality of the Big 12 offers a different view — a more accurate view.

In the quarterfinals last week, the Wildcats faced Kansas, which just received a No. 7 seed in the NCAAs, and Texas Tech, which earned a No. 3.

The former represents a higher caliber opponent (by six seed lines) than Akron; the latter is roughly equivalent to what Arizona would face with Oregon. And the Wildcats beat both on a neutral court in Kansas City that wasn’t actually neutral, especially against the Jayhawks.

Put another way: Arizona is playing well enough to escape Seattle with two victories and move to the Sweet 16.

But that’s where the road ends. The Wildcats have played three games against No. 1 seeds this season and lost them all: They were 14 points short against Duke in November, two baskets short against Houston in February — both games were in Tucson, by the way — and a few possessions shy against the Cougars last weekend in the Big 12 championship.

Granted, the NCAAs have a different vibe. There’s more pressure, less margin for error and no way to predict how certain key players will respond to the moment.

From what we have seen over the course of 30-something games, the great flaw in Arizona’s DNA in previous seasons — the lack of physical and mental resolve — is not an issue this month.

Reams of evidence suggest the Wildcats are good enough to beat No. 3 seeds (Texas Tech and Iowa State), No. 6 seeds (Brigham Young) and No. 7 seeds (Kansas).

But when it comes to No. 1s, they seemingly lack the extra gear necessary to make winning plays in the final minutes:

— Their defense isn’t quite airtight.

According to the Pomeroy Ratings, Arizona’s adjusted defensive efficiency — that’s points allowed per 100 possessions — is 33rd nationally. That’s good enough to support a first-rate regular season but a little light for the second weekend of the NCAAs.

— Offensively, the Wildcats are substandard from 3-point range and overly reliant on guard Caleb Love.

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When Love struggles from the perimeter, especially against high-level opponents, the Wildcats lose. We know this because in the three losses to Houston and Duke, Love was 4-of-26 from 3-point range (15.4 percent).

KJ Lewis, Jaden Bradley, Carter Bryant and Henri Veesaar are good players — good enough to beat Akron and Oregon if Love’s shooting touch is MIA. But they aren’t good enough to power past a true title contender.

If they couldn’t beat Duke at home or Houston in Kansas City, is there any reason to believe the Wildcats will topple the Blue Devils in Newark, in the crucible of the tournament?

There is not.

Arizona’s record of underachievement goes back decades (hello, East Tennessee State) but is particularly glaring of late: The past six losses in the NCAAs have come against teams seeded at least four lines lower (Wichita State, Xavier, Buffalo, Houston, Princeton and Clemson).

We expect the Wildcats to flip the script this month. They won’t lose to Akron and, as we saw last week, have what it takes to fend off Oregon.

There’s no shame in losing to Duke, especially when the evidence supports no other outcome.

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