Arizona Basketball enters year ranked 38th in KenPom

With Arizona Basketball about a month away until beginning the 2020-21 season, the Wildcats enter ranked 38th in the KenPom rankings.

We are getting closer and closer to the return of Arizona Basketball, which to us fans means returning to a little bit of normalcy.

Already we have seen some interesting predictions regarding Arizona Basketball and rightfully so as the team replaces their entire starting line-up, and brings in a lot of fresh faces that are mostly unproven.

Arizona Wildcats

Naturally because of that, most pre-season predictions regarding the team have been a bit all over the place.

I have seen some have the Cats being a competitive team, and other predicting the Wildcats being very average. But perhaps none of those predictions being bigger than the pre-season KenPom rankings by Ken Pomeroy.

Usually pretty indicative of the upcoming season, the KenPom rankings rank every college program, and on Tuesday they were finally released just ahead of the 2020-21 basketball season.

And to our satisfaction, the Wildcats came in ranked No. 38 on his list, which is certainly a regression from last season. However, when you consider that Arizona has basically 10 new players, that is a big deal.

As you may recall, head coach Sean Miller already had said he thinks this may be his “least experienced group” at Arizona, which are pretty strong words from the head coach, however, he isn’t wrong.

Arizona will have a lot to prove this season, however, I do think they have the talent to still be a competitive group that will contend for a spot in the NCAA Tournament.

Interestingly enough, with the Wildcats entering the rankings No. 38, they trail just Oregon (No. 21), UCLA (No. 28), Stanford (No. 32) and Arizona State (No. 36).

Doesn’t seem like we may be far off, and to me this is a group that could surprise some people.

Arizona will open their season on December 2 when they take on Colorado at home, before traveling to Stanford on December 19, to take a talented Cardinal team.

At Zona Zealots, we are excited about the upcoming season, and can’t wait to see what our Wildcats can do. As always, Bear Down, Arizona!