Eight of 22 ESPN panelists pick Arizona Wildcats to win 2015 NCAA Championship

After an Elite Eight finish last season, the Arizona Wildcats come in to the 2014-15 campaign with possibly an even stronger roster.

Starters T.J. McConnell, Brandon Ashley and Kaleb Tarczewski are returning, as are prominent contributors Rondae Hollis-Jefferson and Gabe York. The program will also welcome highly-touted freshman forward Stanley Johnson into the fold.

The Wildcats enter the season ranked No. 2 in both the AP Top 25 and the USA Today Coaches Poll, so it’s little surprise that many are forecasting this to be a championship season for Sean Miller’s group.

ESPN recently gathered 22 hoops experts to make predictions about the upcoming season of college basketball, and the panel includes everyone from analysts like Jay Bilas and Dick Vitale to former Division I standouts like Shane Battier and Miles Simon.

Eight of the 22 panelists picked UA to win it all this season, but the program fell just short of the nine nods given to the Kentucky Wildcats. Kentucky is, after all, currently ranked No. 1. The only other schools that received votes were Wisconsin (3), Duke (1) and Gonzaga (1).

All but two experts — ESPN reporter Dana O’Neil and scout-analyst Reggie Rankin — picked Arizona to make it to the Final Four. Interestingly enough, Simon, a former Wildcat, did not pick his alma mater to win it all this season; he went with Wisconsin instead.

Each panelist also listed their choices for player of the year and coach of the year. Arizona didn’t get any love on the player front, but three panelists — Battier, ESPN reporter C.L. Brown and SEC Network analyst Dane Bradshaw — chose Miller to be the top coach.