Pac-12 Basketball: UCLA, Oregon atop WTE offseason rankings for 2022-23
By Joey Loose
3. Arizona
Suffice to say, Tommy Lloyd made an immediate impact on this Arizona program. In his first season, he built a fantastic and talented roster that won the Pac-12 and earned a 1-seed in the NCAA Tournament before falling in the Sweet Sixteen. The Wildcats were an impressive and high-paced offense with a steady defensive pressure, but this year will be slightly different.
Stars Bennedict Mathurin and Christian Koloko are both gone, though forward Azuolas Tubelis (13.9 ppg, 6.2 rpg last year) can handle more of that slack and pressure. Guards Kerr Kriisa and Pelle Larsson are both back and will feature more prominently in the offense, while a slew of freshmen recruits fill out much of the depth for the Wildcats, though Lloyd still has his ears in the Transfer Portal, hoping to fill one of those holes with some experience.
If Arizona can find another impact player in the portal, this is definitely a team that could win the Pac-12 and be a national contender again. However, there are some major pieces from last year’s team that are gone and don’t have an apparent replacement, and it’s hard to say that Arizona will be just as good this season. Losing Koloko and Dalen Terry in recent weeks to the Draft certainly didn’t help matters, but we’ve already learned not to count out Lloyd in throwing a team together.