9. North Carolina Tarheels

10. Baylor Bears

11. Tennessee Volunteers

12. Auburn Tigers

13. Purdue Boilermakers

14. Arkansas Razorbacks

15. Creighton Bluejays

16. Texas A&M Aggies

17. Cincinnati Bearcats

18. Illinois Fighting Illini

19. Indiana Hoosiers

20. Texas Tech Red Raiders

21. Kentucky Wildcats

22. Texas Longhorns

23. Marquette Golden Eagles

24. Kansas State Wildcats

25. Miami Hurricanes

26. Ohio State Buckeyes

27. Xavier Musketeers

28. BYU Cougars

29. Maryland Terps

30. St. John’s Red Storm

31. UCLA Bruins

32. Oregon Ducks

33. Wake Forest Demon Deacons

34. Florida Gators

35. Ole Miss

36. USC Trojans

37. Grand Canyon Lopes

38. Providence Friars

39. Mississippi State Bulldogs

40. Rutgers Scarlet Knights

41. Memphis Tigers

42. McNeese Cowboys

43. Michigan State Spartans

44. Michigan Wolverines

45. VCU Rams

46. Dayton Flyers

47. St Mary’s Gaels

48. Washington Huskies

49. UCF Knights

50. Louisville Cardinals

51. Boise State Broncos

52. Clemson Tigers

53. New Mexico Lobos

54. Arizona State Sun Devils

55. Utah State Aggies

56. Colorado State Rams

57. Seton Hall Pirates

58. SMU Mustangs

59. South Carolina Gamecocks

60. Nevada Wolfpack

61. TCU Horned Frogs

62. Villanova Wildcats

63. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

64. Saint Louis Billikens

65. Syracuse Orange

66. Nebraska Cornhuskers

67. Pittsburgh Panthers

68. Iowa Hawkeyes

69. NC State Wolfpack

70. Butler Bulldogs

71. Princeton Tigers

72. Virginia Cavaliers

73. Saint Joseph’s Hawks

74. Oklahoma Sooners

75. West Virginia Mountaineers

76. Georgia Bulldogs

77. UAB Blazers

78: Wisconsin Badgers

79. San Diego State Aztecs

80. Missouri Tigers

81. Northwestern Wildcats

82. Loyola Chicago Ramblers

Here’s where our TCH analysts have the Wildcats ranked:

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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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