NCAA Basketball: Duke, Gonzaga, and WVU rise in latest WTE ’23-24 power rankings

13. Arizona Wildcats

What makes this NCAA Basketball offseason so wild is that at one point, Arizona looked like it could be a top-5 team for 2023-24. They’re still in good shape but missed out on a big opportunity at the point guard position. After losing Kerr Kriisa early on, they were the reported early favorite to land Creighton transfer Ryan Nembhard.

Unfortunately, they lost to Gonzaga in a head-to-head recruiting battle. At least they have Kylan Boswell, a potential breakout sophomore guard to run the offense. He and Pelle Larsson will be a good backcourt, and four-star guard LJ Lewis will join the roster as well.

The frontcourt is likely losing 1/2 of the star duo. Azuolas Tubelis leads the team with 19.8 ppg and 9.1 rpg this past season and has entered the NBA Draft process, likely gone. Breakout star Oumar Ballo (14.2 ppg and 8.6 rpg) is back at center but they’ll need Henri Veesaar to have a big year next season at the four-spot.

Not having Nembhard is a blow, despite never even being on the roster. But the remaining pieces, even without Tubelis, is still a very good team that’ll contend for a top spot in the Pac-12. Although unless both the Wildcats and UCLA Bruins make additional moves, the league overall will be in some trouble.