10. Baylor Bears
12. Auburn Tigers
16. Texas A&M Aggies
19. Indiana Hoosiers
22. Texas Longhorns
25. Miami Hurricanes
28. BYU Cougars
29. Maryland Terps
31. UCLA Bruins
32. Oregon Ducks
34. Florida Gators
35. Ole Miss
36. USC Trojans
39. Mississippi State Bulldogs
41. Memphis Tigers
42. McNeese Cowboys
45. VCU Rams
46. Dayton Flyers
47. St Mary’s Gaels
49. UCF Knights
52. Clemson Tigers
53. New Mexico Lobos
58. SMU Mustangs
60. Nevada Wolfpack
61. TCU Horned Frogs
63. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
65. Syracuse Orange
68. Iowa Hawkeyes
70. Butler Bulldogs
71. Princeton Tigers
74. Oklahoma Sooners
75. West Virginia Mountaineers
76. Georgia Bulldogs
77. UAB Blazers
80. Missouri Tigers
Here’s where our TCH analysts have the Wildcats ranked:
| Steven | Maxwell | Kam | Cody |
| 7 | 10 | 3 | 8 |
If you like a college basketball team with a perfect combination of NBA draft prospects and college basketball veterans, look no further than the Arizona Wildcats. For the aforementioned veterans, there’s 2023-24 All-American Third Teamer, Caleb Love. Love, a player known for being inefficient, shot a career high from the field last year while averaging 18 points per game. Starting alongside Bradley in the backcourt is Jaden Bradley. Bradley started 22 games for Alabama in the 2022-23 season but came off the bench last year behind Love and Kylan Boswell. Boswell is now at Illinois. There’s also Trey Townsend, the reigning Horizon League Player of the Year from Oakland. Townsend’s Oakland team infamously beat Kentucky in March Madness last season, which essentially sent John Calipari packing his bags to Arkansas.
Alongside Love, Bradley, and Townsend, there’s KJ Lewis. Lewis is a sophomore who was a bench piece for the Wildcats last season and is also a projected NBA draft prospect. The man in the middle for Arizona is Motiejus Krivas. Krivas played in all 36 games for the Wildcats last year as a backup center. Krivas is expected to play such a large role for the Wildcats, it caused All-Pac 12 center, Oumar Ballo, to transfer to Indiana and leave the Arizona program. Off the bench, there’s Carter Bryant, a 4 star recruit freshman. Bryant, along with Tennessee transfer, Tobe Awaka, will be the first two forwards off the bench. Additionally, there’s wing Anthony Dell’Orso, a transfer from Campbell. Dell’Orso was Second Team All-CAA last year for Campbell while winning Big South Freshman of the Year in 2022-23.
With players like Dell’Orso, Awake, Bryant, and 4 star freshman Emmanuel Stephen, depth is this team’s strong suit. Given the difficulty of playing in the Big 12, this depth will be important. Arizona has to play at Kansas, Baylor twice, Iowa State twice, a home matchup against Houston, and even a non-conference game against Duke. The Wildcats will need Love to play at a consistently high level, hope mid-major guys like Townsend and Dell’Orso can handle playing in the Big 12, and hope that Krivas takes the leap that is expected. While all these things are expected to happen, there is still a little uncertainty surrounding this team, which is why we have them ranked behind big 12 foes Kansas, Houston, and Iowa State.
Since taking over as head coach, Tommy Lloyd has ranked 7th, 10th, and 11th in the country in offense, per KenPom. On defense, they rank 21st, 39th, and 10th. They have been nothing short of elite. They’re also played with one of the faster paces in the country every single since Lloyd has taken over. Expect all of these trends to continue and expect the Wildcats to be an elite team once again on both ends of the floor.
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