Arizona Wildcats just outside AP preseason men’s basketball poll
Oct 18, 2021, 9:53 AM | Updated: Oct 19, 2021, 9:37 am
Bennedict Mathurin #0 of the Arizona Wildcats high fives Azuolas Tubelis #10 after a three-point shot against the Arizona State Sun Devils during the second half of the NCAAB game at Desert Financial Arena on January 21, 2021 in Tempe, Arizona. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
(Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
The Arizona Wildcats garnered 26 points in the preseason Associated Press men’s basketball poll before the 2021-22 season tips off.
First-year coach Tommy Lloyd’s squad comes in ranked 29th. The poll is led off by his former team, the Gonzaga Bulldogs.
Gonzaga carried a No. 1 ranking all last season before falling a win short of becoming college basketball’s first unbeaten national champion in 45 years. Head coach Mark Few’s team earned 55 of 63 first-place votes to easily outdistance No. 2 UCLA, which earned the other eight.
Kansas, Villanova and Texas rounded out the top five, while reigning national champion Baylor checked in at No. 8.
The Zags have accomplished just about every milestone possible in 23 years under Few other than cutting down the nets on the final Monday night of the season. They came close to completing the first unbeaten run since 1976 last year with a wire-to-wire No. 1 team, only to fall to the Bears in a one-sided final in Indianapolis.
Looking at the Pac-12, only UCLA at No. 2 and Oregon at No. 13 are ranked. USC earned 30 points in the poll to come in 28th and just ahead of Arizona. Colorado (four points) was the only other team in the conference to earn votes.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
2021-22 AP Top 25 preseason men’s basketball poll
| 1 |
(55)
|
0-0 | 1562 | |
| 2 |
(8)
|
0-0 | 1459 |
–
|
| 3 |
|
0-0 | 1427 |
–
|
| 4 |
|
0-0 | 1332 |
–
|
| 5 |
|
0-0 | 1315 |
–
|
| 6 |
|
0-0 | 1255 |
–
|
| 7 |
|
0-0 | 1213 |
–
|
| 8 |
|
0-0 | 992 |
–
|
| 9 |
|
0-0 | 963 |
–
|
| 10 |
|
0-0 | 894 |
–
|
| 11 |
|
0-0 | 861 |
–
|
| 12 |
|
0-0 | 831 |
–
|
| 13 |
|
0-0 | 775 |
–
|
| 14 |
|
0-0 | 713 |
–
|
| 15 |
|
0-0 | 694 |
–
|
| 16 |
|
0-0 | 673 |
–
|
| 17 |
|
0-0 | 581 |
–
|
| 18 |
|
0-0 | 563 |
–
|
| 19 |
|
0-0 | 547 |
–
|
| 20 |
|
0-0 | 381 |
–
|
| 21 |
|
0-0 | 294 |
–
|
| 22 |
|
0-0 | 267 |
–
|
| 23 |
|
0-0 | 238 |
–
|
| 24 |
|
0-0 | 161 |
–
|
| 25 |
|
0-0 | 125 |
–
|
Others receiving votes: Michigan State 87, Indiana 41, USC 30, Arizona 26, Virginia Tech 25, Oklahoma State 25, Xavier 22, Texas Tech 17, Richmond 13, Rutgers 11, Colorado State 11, Belmont 7, LSU 7, St. John’s 5, Mississippi State 5, Syracuse 5, San Diego State 5, Drake 4, Colorado 4, BYU 3, Louisville 3, Notre Dame 3
