NEW ORLEANS -- Arizona wasn't put off by losing to UCLA Thursday in the quarterfinals of the Pac-10 tournament.

The loss doesn't change a thing for the Wildcats' seed in the Dance. Arizona is still No. 1 in the West.

The loss, if you can believe it, actually gives the Wildcats needed rest (see: Luke Walton's nagging ankle injury), not to mention extra prep time for the NCAAs.

Marquette (UAB), Wisconsin (Ohio State), Xavier (Temple), Maryland (North Carolina), Texas (Texas Tech), Cal (USC), Stanford (USC) and Florida (LSU) must be thinking the same thing. Conference tourneys apparently mean little to these squads after being bounced earlier than expected.

	Ronald Dupree and LSU showed Friday by upsetting Florida that winning the SEC tourney is foremost on their minds.

The main objective a week before the Dance, apparently, is advancing in the NCAA Tournament -- not conference tournaments.

As for the teams who pulled the upsets? They played had more passion, either needing to win the tournament to get an automatic bid, or in the case of LSU, just needing one more quality win to feel secure about an NCAA bid.

But any perceived lack of urgency shown by NCAA-bound teams in the East, West or Midwest wasn't on display in the South. At least not in the SEC. This tournament has meaning, especially for Kentucky.

Yes, even Kentucky.

The Wildcats are assured of a No. 1 seed with the only discussion centered on what region they'll begin their journey back to the Big Easy. But the Wildcats weren't about to treat the SEC quarterfinal game against Vanderbilt as a yawner in preparation for the big party in the Superdome next month.

This wasn't about finding out if the 'Cats could "learn from a loss," or get some rest and not stress out Sunday night because they're in the a conference tourney final instead of preparing for the first two rounds of the NCAAs next Thursday or Friday.

This was about continuing a 21-game win streak and unblemished SEC mark this season. This was about the SEC tournament standing for something.

"If you have any sense that you've arrived, or that you're in, you'll let down," said Kentucky coach Tubby Smith after blitzing the Commodores. "If that's the case, then we should allow the conference champion of the regular season to get the automatic bid.

"I don't know where that (losing is good) came from. Maybe if we lose one and do well after it, I'll buy into it. But until that time, I'd like us to continue to try and perform to our potential."

Smith did use Arizona as an example of what not to do this week.

"He told us that there is no way UCLA is better than Arizona, but UCLA came to play and Arizona didn't," Kentucky guard Cliff Hawkins said.

"We probably got the No. 1 seed locked up, but we want to win this tournament and win a championship in the SEC," Kentucky forward Marquis Estill said.

Kentucky senior guard Keith Bogans said it rather bluntly, "coach is so intense that he won't let us relax coming into games.And I don't want to lose."

No one said that these teams tanked games, but something was clearly missing. LSU coach John Brady doesn't believe it, but the reality is the Tigers had more to play for than Florida. It showed in a 65-61 victory, even though the Gators fought back from a 13-point halftime deficit to within a point in the final three minutes.

"I don't buy that at all," Brady said of a team being unconcerned about losing in the conference tourney in preparation for the Dance. "I just can't believe for the life of me as a coach at this level that you're not ready to do everything you can to win the game. If we were undefeated, we would play as hard as we would challenging for the SEC tournament title as we would for the conference championship."

Apparently, there is still something about these conference tournaments that not every player gets.

"It's only normal," Florida senior guard Justin Hamilton said. "It shouldn't be, but there is something about knowing you'll be playing next week. The other teams go in having to get a win. We didn't have that sense of urgency."

"We didn't have the energy in the first half, just like UCLA came out with more energy in their first half against Arizona," Florida senior guard Brett Nelson said. "The SEC tournament is just a thing at the end of the year where teams get together. It won't matter if we had won this tournament or not at the end of the season."

Wow. Guess that pretty much clears up the Gators' mental approach to Friday.

Sure, the Gators want the NCAA title more. But, maybe at the expense of the SEC conference title.

Hamilton said a team that loses early in the conference tournament gets more rest, which could help, although the Gators lost in the SEC quarterfinals last season and still got bounced in the first round of the NCAAs by Creighton.

"It is a huge disadvantage to play on Sundays (in the SEC final) if you've got to play Thursday in the first round," Mississippi State coach Rick Stansbury said. "If you've got to travel then you've got to leave Tuesday and you don't get your tapes of the opponent until Tuesday."

Sure, that's fine for a team like the Bulldogs who were safely in the NCAAs before beating Mississippi. But some teams have to get in the Dance first, like say Auburn, which knew that meant winning at least one game in the SEC tournament.

"You guys had everybody else in but us," Auburn coach Cliff Ellis said of the ESPN analysts. "Bottom line is we were the No. 2 seed in the West, had a bye and we're one of four teams left in the SEC (after beating Tennessee Friday). Why does anyone bring up (Auburn's NCAA chances). It's crazy and ridiculous.

"We're approaching this to get the automatic bid. Everybody talks about the NCAA Tournament. But you better focus on the conference tournament. We do and we did."

Andy Katz is a senior writer at ESPN.com.