Arizona Wildcats Men’s Basketball Team Receives Lofty Preseason Rank

The Arizona Wildcats have found a lot of success under head coach Tommy Lloyd in his first three seasons as head coach.

After the Sean Miller era ended on such a low note, the program has quickly bounced back under Lloyd’s guidance. The team has won at least 27 games in all three campaigns, earning at least a top-two seed in the NCAA Tournament.

They have advanced to the Sweet 16 twice, but have yet to get past that point. The Wildcats are certainly hoping for a deeper run in the 2025 NCAA Tournament, as they are one of the best teams in the nation.

On Monday, the preseason top 25 poll was released and Arizona came in at No. 10. In their first season as a member of the Big 12 Conference, they are going to face some incredibly stiff competition.

Out of the nine teams ranked ahead of them, four of them are new conference foes; No. 1 ranked Kansas Jayhawks, No. 4 Houston Cougars, No. 5 Iowa State Cyclones and No. 9 Baylor Bears. A little further down the list at No. 20 is the Cincinnati Bearcats, giving the Big 12 six teams in the preseason top 25 ranks.

That is second to only the SEC, which has eight schools ranked in the top 25. The highest among them is the Alabama Crimson Tide, landing the No. 2 spot. The Ole Miss Rebels round out that conference at No. 24, as John Calipari’s new team, the Arkansas Razorbacks, come in at No. 16 with his previous school, the Kentucky Wildcats, being No. 23.

There are a lot of incredibly talented teams in college basketball this season as the transfer portal and NIL has created a form of free agency in the sport, resulting in players changing programs constantly.

Arizona was on both sides of the coin, as they lost center Oumar Bello and guard Ky Boswell to the Indiana Hoosiers and Illinois Fighting Illini respectively, but added Trey Townsend of the Oakland Golden Grizzlies, Tobe Awaka from the Tennessee Volunteers and Anthony Dell’Orso from the Campbell Fighting Camels.