The Arizona Wildcats once again look like they will be among the best teams in college basketball during the 2024-25 season.
They brought back some elite talent on the perimeter in KJ Lewis and Caleb Love and landed some talented players in the transfer portal to compensate for losses. Trey Townsend from the Oakland Golden Grizzlies, Tobe Awaka from the Tennessee Volunteers and Anthony Dell’Orso from the Campbell Fighting Camels will all contribute.
Focus will be on winning as much as they can during the campaign, but there are players on the roster who have their eyes on bigger goals beyond college, such as making the NBA.
Heading into the campaign, they are one of the teams professional scouts will be following around during the campaign. In a piece at ESPN, the Wildcats came in at No. 3 when ranking programs based on talent who can make it to the next level.
The only teams ahead of them are the Duke Blue Devils, who have presumed No. 1 overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft Cooper Flagg and the Rutgers Scarlet Knights. The emerging Big 10 contenders have star freshman Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper leading the charge.
While Arizona may not have prospects as highly rated as Duke and Rutgers, they have several players who are going to be on the radar of people running things in the NBA.
Right now, freshman Carter Bryant and sophomores Motiejus Krivas and Lewis are all top 50 ranked prospects over at ESPN. They are ranked Nos. 13, 17 and 34 respectively, and could play their way into first-round consideration.
Other players who scouts are keeping an eye on are Jaden Bradley, Love, Awaka and Dell’Orso. They also made a splash in the 2025 class, landing Dwayne Aristode as their first recruit.
“The players who step up to become consistent factors around Love will determine the Wildcats’ ceiling — as well as how many 2025 draft picks they produce,” wrote Jeff Borzello of ESPN.
Since Tommy Lloyd has taken over as head coach, Arizona has consistently performed, earning a No. 1 seed and No. 2 seed twice in the NCAA Tournament. He has also sent several players to the NBA, as the program remains among the elite in men’s college basketball.
It is why Lloyd and his staff have found success on the transfer portal and continue landing highly-touted high school players such as Bryant and Aristode.
