Arizona Wildcats ranked 16th in initial coaches poll
Oct 20, 2011, 4:51 PM | Updated: 5:54 pm
The first ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll has been released,
and the Arizona Wildcats find themselves ranked 16th.
Arizona, which made it to the Elite 8 last season before
losing to eventual champion UConn, returns much of the
same squad minus two starters — one of whom went to the
NBA.
The loss of leading scorer and rebounder Derrick Williams
will not be easy to overcome, but that they’re ranked so
high to begin the season shows how much respect Sean
Miller and his team have across the country.
Besides, the team returns Solomon Hill, Kyle Fogg and
Jesse Perry, all of whom started last season, and are
hoping to have junior Kevin Parrom back at some point
after he recovers from a gunshot wound suffered in
September.
Add those veterans to highly-touted freshmen Josiah
Turner, Nick Johnson, Sidiki Johnson and Angelo Chol and
the Wildcats are, at the very least, an intriguing group.
That must be why the coaches ranked Arizona 16th, but the
games haven’t even started yet and there is still plenty
of season left.
And as Hill, tweeted, “ESPN got us at 16
preseason. still got a lot of work to do.”
