NCAA Basketball: Preseason top 25 power rankings for 2022-23 season

The Pac-12 Player of the Year (Bennedict Mathurin) and the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year (Christian Koloko) are both gone but the Wildcats roster still has plenty of potential. It starts with  Azuolas Tubelis, a returning forward that averaged 13.9 ppg and 6.2 rpg last season. He had seven games of at least 20 points, including a career-high 32 points versus Utah. Tubelis is capable of being the focal point of the entire offense and has a more than decent supporting cast to work with.

That includes starting point guard Kerr Kriisa, who in his first full year averaged 9.7 ppg and 4.7 apg. He had several big performances, such as the 21-point triple-double against Utah, while also having just as many awful shooting nights. Kriisa shot 35% overall from the field and that number needs to be much higher since he’ll have to be a bigger part of the offense.

There’s plenty of depth in the backcourt next to Kriisa, including returning all-around guard Pelle Larsson and Texas combo transfer Courtney Ramey. He’s a career double-digit scorer and solid defender. Top-40 incoming freshman Kylan Boswell is a true point guard but likely won’t be able to play until December after suffering an injury. And on the wing is Campbell transfer Cedric Henderson, who averaged 14.0 ppg and shot 38% from three-point range.

The key will be whether Oumar Ballo can somewhat replace Koloko’s defensive ability at the center position. The former Gonzaga big man had a solid season off the bench for Arizona and was also a good defender. But can he do it in extended minutes? If not, look for four-star freshman  Dylan Anderson to make it a combo approach at center.

The development of Kriisa will ultimately determine how good the Wildcats are this season but if his consistency improves, they could easily be nearly as good as they were last year.