Arizona Basketball: Early look ahead to the 2019-20 non-conference schedule

The Arizona Wildcat basketball 2019-20 non-conference schedule is beginning to be released. Time to look ahead to next season.

The 2018-19 Arizona Wildcat basketball season just wrapped up, but Wildcat fans can still look ahead to what expect for the 2019-20 season with an early release of the non-conference schedule. Getting wins during the Pac-12 season is key to good place during the conference tournament wins. Non-conference wins are just as important or even more so considering they play a significant role in the college basketball NET rankings.

This past non-conference did not dissapoint with the quality of opponent that the Wildcats faced, including Gonzaga during the Maui Invitational and against Montana. Both of those teams are currently in the NCAA Tournament. The Wildcats finished the non-conference schedule with an overall record of 9-4, including a first round win in the Maui Invitational over Iowa St and a win over Montana at home.

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They will though get a chance to avenge their loss to Gonzaga on Dec.14 at home. At one point, the Wildcats had a 13 point lead against early in the second half against the Bulldogs, at the time, versus the No.3 ranked Bulldogs. Unfortunately a combination of misfortunes including Chase Jeter getting a technical foul and then fouling out, the Cats would lose 91-74. In December, the Wildcats will have a deeper frontcourt and backcourt and have a real shot of winning.

Depending on how the Pac-12 conference plays out next season, winning games in November and December are huge! Especially wins against top ranked teams in quadrant one of the NET ranking system, helps in getting selected for the NCAA Tournament. For example, look at ASU. They finished with a record of 22-10, had some bad loses, but because they upset No.1 Kansas at home it helped them get into a play-in game into the NCAA Tournament (which technically doesn’t count as getting into the field of 64).

Included in the current non-conference schedule, which I would imagine will have some updates, is the Wooden Legacy Classic. This neutral site tournament  has a wide variety of playing styles from teams from different conferences and will be a good test next season.

Another highlight of the non-conference schedule is against WAC champions New Mexico St at home. Similar to last season, the Wildcats faced some top quality teams and this next season won’t be any different.

Will Arizona have better non-conference record then last year? Will they make a statement with a win over Gonzaga? How will the No.1 recruiting class handle the pressure against non-conference teams? These are all questions we will find out the answer to – in eight months! First game of the non-conference schedule officially begins on November 6th against NAU.

Even though the Wildcats season is over, you can still have some March Madness fun! Sports Illustrated Realtime Brackets is the first bracket game that lets college basketball fans switch their picks, in exchange for points, between and during live tournament games to keep their brackets alive all month long. Sign up now!

Stayed tuned here at Zona Zealots with all the updates and news regarding Arizona Basketball. We are here to provide all the exciting things happening with this program during and after the seaon. Bear Down. Arizona!