Arizona Basketball: Wildcats land at No.16 and No.2 in preseason rankings

The Arizona Basketball team landed at the No.16 spot nationally and No.2 in the Pac-12 in Lindy’s Sports College Basketball 2018-19 preseason rankings.

It’s that time of the year when preseason rankings start coming out, giving fans an insight into where the Arizona Wildcats are projected nationally and in the Pac-12 for the upcoming season. After losing the entire starting line up this past season, many aren’t sure what to expect for the 2018-19 season. With a combination of returners, transfers and highly talented incoming freshman, the Wildcats can be of the surprise teams this year.

The latest issue of Lindy’s Sports College Basketball has the Wildcats at No.16 nationally and No.2 in the Pac-12 behind Oregon. After everything this program has been through, that’s not bad at all. The Pac-12 has two other teams listed within the Top 25, Oregon and UCLA.

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Oregon is at No.13 and have two five-star players on their team Bol Bol and Louis King. UCLA, is at No.22 and have Shareef O’Neal (who decommitted from Arizona), five-star Moses Brown, and four-stars Jules Bernard, David Singleton and Tyger Campbell on their squad along with returners Jaylen Hands, Kris Wilkes and Jalen Hill finally gets to play. The Wildcats will be facing both of these teams and are games not to be missed!

There are other publications, such as Athlon, that don’t even have the Wildcats listed in their Top 25 preseason rankings. That isn’t surprising as many feel that the Wildcats, without having any incoming five-star freshman on their roster is a real threat (even though they have one of the top point guards in the country, Brandon Williams). Along with Williams, Arizona adds freshmen Devonaire Doutrive (Calif.) and Omar Thielemans (Belgium), and grad transfers Justin Coleman (Samford) and Ryan Luther (Pittsburgh).

Arizona brings back an experienced squad in that they understand Sean Millers requirements on defense and have put a full tumultuous season under their belt. Returning are Chase Jeter (Duke transfer). Ira Lee, Brandon Randolph, Dylan Smith, Emmanuel Akot, Alex Barcello, Kory Jones who is hopefully recovered from a season-ending injury, Jake Desjardins, The team will only have two seniors, and those seniors will have to learn the Wildcats scheme quickly.

Maybe not having such high expectations, as has been the case in previous seasons, will be a good thing for the team this season. Playing as an “underdog” can be a really dangerous thing for their opponents because they will have to face a team that has nothing to lose and a lot to gain. That’s what I feel the Wildcats season will be, a “we will prove you wrong” season.

What’s even better about this team is that it’s very likely they will all stay, not leave for the NBA, and will acquire more talent for next year becoming that much stronger as a cohesive unit. Similar to back-to-back National Champions Villanova Wildcats. Look what happened to that team, without any one-and-dones, the cohesive, experienced team went on to do remarkable things. The Wildcats are on that same path to success.

Up next for the Wildcats is the Red and Blue Game on October 14. Seats are still available so make sure to grab some while they last!

As we get closer and closer to start of the 2018-19 season, these preseason rankings may change a few more times along the way. No matter what the Wildcats are ranked, at the end of the day, all that matters is having more points than the other team at the end of the game. At Zona Zealots, we can not wait to bring you all the action. Stay tuned and Bear Down Arizona!