Arizona Basketball: 2015-2016 Schedule and Latest News
By Ryan Reyes
The Arizona Wildcat basketball season is quickly approaching with high fans expectations. Is this the year Sean Miller breaks through into the NCAA Final Four?
Last week’s publishing of the Arizona Wildcats 2015-2016 schedule gives me a sense of relief. The basketball season will be upon us shortly. The Friday night home opener on November 13th at the Mckale Center is against the West Coast Conference Pacific Tigers.
More from Wildcats Baseball
- From Arizona Wildcat to New York Yankee, Austin Wells gets called up
- Arizona Baseball: Kiko Romero Earns All-America Recognition
- Arizona Baseball pitching coach Dave Lawn departs from team
- Arizona Baseball prepares for TCU to open Regional play
- Arizona Baseball falls to Grand Canyon in Extra Innings
The Wildcats play 13 non-conference teams. The revelation in the schedule is that the Wildcats will open up their PAC-12 schedule on the road against the in-state rival, Arizona State.
This year the Good news for Wildcats fans living in Los Angeles, the Wildcats will play Pac-12 teams in Los Angeles twice! Once at UCLA and once at USC. The Wildcats will also be playing in Orange County for the DirecTV John Wooden Legacy tournament during the Thanksgiving weekend. Students who come home for Thanksgiving Weekend in and around Southern California will still be able to go cheer on their Cats.
The non-conference schedule includes a trip up to Spokane, Washington for a rematch against the Gonzaga Bulldogs. A revenge matchup against the UNLV Rebels, which gave last year’s squad their first loss. It’s probably highly unlikely the Wildcats will be going into the NCAA tournament undefeated. The PAC-12, since 2009, is getting more competitive year after year.
“You look at all the coaching changes and the intensity around recruiting. The Pac-12 is exceptionally competitive right now,” said former Arizona guard and current Pac-12 Networks analyst Matt Muehlebach, according to Today’s U. He also expressed that the arrival of Coach Sean Miller in 2009 brought the rise of competition in the PAC-12.
Arizona Wildcats
Blue Robbin Yearbook ranked the Wildcats No. 7, the highest among publications, according to the Arizona Daily Star. ESPN ranks the Wildcats No. 15 behind No. 12 Cal and No. 13 Utah. The ranking is most likely based what they think of UA’s 2015 recruiting class and newbie transfers Ryan Anderson (Boston College), Mark Tollefsen (University of San Francisco) and Kadeem Allen (Hutchinson Community College) as opposed to Cal’s recruiting class and Utah’s returners.
Miles Simon, a member of the 1997 National Championship, shared expectations for this years class during an interview with News 4 Tucson.
“This year’s team is going to be a new mix with Tollefson coming in and Ryan Anderson the (Boston College) transfer,” Simon said. “Parker Jackson-Cartwright has big shoes to fill for T.J. McConnell. Gabe York and Allonzo Trier and Ray Smith along the wings will fill in for Rondae Hollis-Jefferson and Stanley Johnson. It’s going to be an exciting and interesting team. I think they will be an exciting team to watch, a team with a lot of promise. But we’ll see how they mold together, and the chemistry comes together in the next five or six months,” according to News 4 Tucson.
Under Coach Sean Miller, the Wildcats have not been able to break Elite Eight ceiling with their last two trips to make it to the Final Four. I hope that the fresh faces and experienced players will mold together under Coach Miller. Maybe this newly molded team will make another deep run in the NCAA Tournament.