Busting Brackets
Fansided

Pac-12 Basketball Power Rankings: Arizona State, Oregon lead early season list

By Brian Rauf

DAYTON, OH - MARCH 14: Head coach Bobby Hurley of the Arizona State Sun Devils reacts against the Syracuse Orange during the First Four of the 2018 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at UD Arena on March 14, 2018 in Dayton, Ohio. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
DAYTON, OH - MARCH 14: Head coach Bobby Hurley of the Arizona State Sun Devils reacts against the Syracuse Orange during the First Four of the 2018 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament at UD Arena on March 14, 2018 in Dayton, Ohio. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
11 of 13
Next
LAHAINA, HI – NOVEMBER 19: Justin Coleman #12 of the Arizona Wildcats reacts up after scoring during the second half of the game against the Iowa State Cyclones at Lahaina Civic Center on November 19, 2018 in Lahaina, Hawaii. (Photo by Darryl Oumi/Getty Images)
LAHAINA, HI – NOVEMBER 19: Justin Coleman #12 of the Arizona Wildcats reacts up after scoring during the second half of the game against the Iowa State Cyclones at Lahaina Civic Center on November 19, 2018 in Lahaina, Hawaii. (Photo by Darryl Oumi/Getty Images) /

3) Arizona Wildcats

So much for all that talk about Arizona being bad this year, huh?

The Wildcats had to replace all five starters from last year’s team, and head coach Sean Miller tried to re-stock with some late recruiting commitments and some grad transfers. One of those grad transfers, point guard Justin Coleman, might be the best player in the Pac-12 right now.

Originally at Alabama, Coleman spent last season with Samford before joining the Wildcats. He has been their star to this point, going for 18 points in a comeback win over Iowa State before exploding for 28 in Arizona’s narrow loss to Gonzaga.

Despite having that loss to the Zags, the Wildcats have shown a lot more than a lot of other teams in the conference. They’re playing hard and have proven they can actually compete with some of the top teams in the country, which is good enough for them to get up to No. 3 in these rankings.

Is this sustainable? We’ll see. Sean Miller is an excellent coach and the Wildcats are back to playing extremely tough defense. Maintaining this level of offensive production – and Coleman’s insane production – remains the biggest question moving forward.

Home/Pac-12