Charlie Creme of ESPN projects Arizona with one of the last four byes and a 10-seed in his NCAA Tournament projected brackets. The projections by Creme were posted on Tuesday morning before Arizona beat UNLV 75-66 later that night at McKale Center.
Creme projects Arizona to open the NCAA Tournament versus seventh-seed Michigan State in Austin, Texas. The winner of Arizona and Michigan State would play the victor of 15th-seeded Central Arkansas and second-seeded Texas. Texas is currently ranked fourth in both national polls.
Arizona was ranked 36th overall among others receiving votes in the Associated Press Top 25 week two poll. UNLV is 38th and Michigan State 34th in the week two Coaches Poll. Michigan State is 31st in the week two AP Top 25. Vanderbilt who is 32nd in the AP Top 25 is the only team receiving votes remaining on Arizona's non-conference schedule.
Arizona has been led by 6'4 sophomore forward Breya Cunningham through its first four games. Cunningham leads Arizona averaging 13.3 points per game, 9.0 rebounds, 1.8 steals, 2.0 blocks and shooting 62.2 percent from the floor. No other Arizona player averages in double figures.
🆕 Updated ESPN WBB Bracketology seeds
— Brad Doebele (@catfan28) November 12, 2024
2) Iowa State (host)
3) K-State (host)
4) W. Virginia (host)
5) Baylor
7) TCU
8) Utah
10) Arizona
11) KU (last 4)
Oklahoma St (next 4 out)https://t.co/utkalnLYu7 pic.twitter.com/qT2SBCcMYV
Skylar Jones, Lauryn Swann and Jada Williams are all averaging over 9.0 PPG for Arizona through the first four games. Arizona opened the season with a 73-54 win over Texas-Arlington, beat Tarleton State 62-39 and won on Sunday 65-54 at California-San Diego before the Tuesday night victory over UNLV.
Arizona is at Chicago State on Saturday and Northern Arizona on November 20 before returning to McKale Center on November 23 to host Grambling. The Massey Ratings currently have Arizona 24th. Arizona purposely does not have as challenging of a non-conference schedule in 20240-25 after they barely finished above .500.
Utah, West Virginia, Kansas State, Iowa State and Baylor are all ranked ahead of Arizona in the Massey Ratings. Arizona plays its inaugural Big XII conference game on December 21 at BYU. The first Big XII home game for Arizona will be on December 31 versus former Pac-12 rival Utah.