After six consecutive wins to begin the 2025-26 season, including three over ranked teams, Arizona is projected as a number one seed by Joe Lunardi of ESPN in his Men's Bracketology for the 2026 NCAA Tournament. Lunardi projects Arizona as the number one seed in the West Region.
Lunardi projects Arizona to play 16th Wright State in the first round in San Diego. Arizona advanced out of the San Diego subregional in the 2022 NCAA Tournament. The winner of Arizona and San Diego State would play whoever emerges victorious between eighth seed Wisconsin and ninth-seeded Utah State.
The West Regional semifinals and finals will be in San Jose. Lunardi projects Tennessee as the fourth seed and North Carolina as the fifth seed as the highest-seeded potential opponents for Arizona in the West Regional semifinals. Gonzaga is Lunardi's projected two seed in the West and Illinois is third.
Arizona's Big XII rival, Texas Tech, is projected as the sixth seed in the West Region. Other Big XII teams Lunardi projects in the field are sixth-seeded Kansas and seventh-seeded Baylor in the Midwest Region, fourth-seeded Iowa State in the East, number one seed Houston and third-seeded BYU in the South.
NEW #Power37 from @TheAndyKatz! 🚨
— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) November 24, 2025
T1. Purdue/Arizona
3. Houston
4. Duke
5. UConn
6. Alabama
7. Michigan
8. Louisville
9. Michigan State
10. Florida
🗞️: https://t.co/gg0fEzIuLs pic.twitter.com/KRDmforTHd
Where Arizona's 2025-26 non-conference opponents are in Bracketology
In addition to Arizona's Big XII opponents, Lunardi has Wildcat non-conference opponents, Connecticut second and Auburn fifth in the East, Florida third and Alabama fourth in the Midwest, UCLA fifth in the South, but also in San Diego.
Arizona is currently fifth in the ESPN Basketball Power Index and seventh in KenPom. Arizona is first in the ESPN BPI strength of record and 36th in strength of schedule. Ken Pom ranks Arizona 55th in NetRating SOS. Arizona and Gonzaga are the only teams in the BPI with three quality wins this season.
Arizona tied a 36-year-old record with its win at Connecticut on Wednesday. After its win over Denver on Monday night, Arizona is off until Saturday when it hosts Norfolk State. The next big game for Arizona is on December 6 against Auburn.