Arizona Basketball: 3 thoughts on Wildcats’ 2018-19 non-conference schedule
3. The snoozers
The rest of the non-conference slate is as uninspiring as they come.
They open their regular season at home on November 11 against Cal Poly. The Mustangs didn’t cross the double-digit win threshold last year. Arizona follows that up with another home contest against UTEP, who played under two coaches last year and will have a new one this year; they won 11 games last season.
After Maui, Texas Southern comes to Tuscon. They made the NCAA Tournament last year (despite a losing record) and hired Johnny Jones as head coach this summer, so break out the upset alert GIFs now.
The final non-conference games outside of the big schools are against Utah Valley (good last year, but lost a handful of seniors), Montana (who’s had just one winning season in the last decade), and UC Davis (who made the NIT last year and brings back TJ Shorts II, the Big West Player of the Year).
That last game could be a little trickier than how it seems on paper.
Nevertheless, that’s not a particularly inspiring slate of games. None of those opponents are from the Mountain West, Missouri Valley, or Atlantic 10, which would provide more mid-major appeal.
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If Arizona exits non-conference play with more than a couple of losses, they’d be demonstrating the same play that led to a first round exit in last year’s NCAA Tournament.