Big 12 coaches pick ASU basketball to finish last, Arizona pegged for top 4
Big 12 coaches picked ASU to finish last in the conference, while they predicted a fourth-place finish for the Arizona Wildcats.
Head coaches Tommy Lloyd (R) of the Arizona Wildcats and Bobby Hurley of the Arizona State Sun Devils shake hands following the NCAAB game at McKale Center on March 04, 2025 in Tucson, Arizona. The Wildcats defeated the Sun Devils 113-100. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
(Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
The Big 12 men’s basketball preseason coaches poll for the 2025-26 season dropped on Thursday, and expectations are not high for the Arizona State Sun Devils.
The coaches picked ASU to finish last in the conference, while they predicted a fourth-place finish for the revamped Arizona Wildcats.
The Sun Devils finished the 2024-25 season 15th out 16 Big 12 teams with a 4-16 conference record. Bobby Hurley’s program has gone through another offseason of roster turnover with Trevor Best the lone returning player.
Jayden Quaintance is with the Kentucky Wildcats, Adam Miller plays for Gonzaga and Joson Sanon transferred to St. John’s.
Hurley enters his final season under contract and faces long odds to make it back to the NCAA Tournament after missing out the past two seasons.
Arizona basketball picked for top-4 finish in Big 12 coaches poll
The Wildcats enter the season as the No. 13 team in the country on the Associated Press Top 25 poll. Tommy Lloyd’s squad has brought in the second-best recruiting class ranked by 247Sports to reinforce the roster after Carter Bryant and Caleb Love departed for the pros.
Five-star recruits Koa Peat and Brayden Burries, four-star Dwayne Aristode and three-star Bryce James (son of LeBron James) all joined the program after Arizona’s third-place finish in the conference at 14-6 last season.
The Wildcats reached the Sweet 16 as a four-seed last year, defeating Akron and Oregon before falling to Duke in the Big Dance.
The top three Big 12 teams on the coaches poll are Houston, BYU and Texas Tech. Houston is No. 2 on the AP’s Top 25 poll.
No members of the Sun Devils or Wildcats made the preseason All-Big 12 Team.
The preseason player of the year is Texas Tech’s JT Toppin.
Arizona’s regular season begins on Nov. 3 against No. 3 Florida in Las Vegas. ASU begins the nonconference slate at home against Southern Utah on Nov. 4.
Big 12 preseason men’s basketball coaches poll for 2025-26
1. Houston (14) – 224
2. BYU (1) – 204
3.Texas Tech – 200
4. Arizona (1) – 179
5. Iowa State – 170
6. Kansas – 163
7. Baylor – 137
8. Cincinnati – 120
9. K-State – 117
10. TCU – 90
11. West Virginia – 79
12. Oklahoma State – 77
13. Utah – 50
14. UCF – 39
15. Colorado – 37
16. Arizona State – 34
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Comments
20 Comments
Watch Bobby do what he always does: Starts the season on fire, upsets some ranked team, and then fades away during the conference run . . . Only to make it to Dayton, and the play-in game. U of A fans don't want Hurley leaving, as they love packing McKale North once a year. The pressure on Tommy to get the Cats out of the Sweet 16 is huge, and their schedule is brutal-which should prep them for the NCAA Tournament.
Easy fix.
Step 1. Fire Bobby
Step 2. Hire Richard Pitino
Exactly.