NCAA Basketball: Baylor rises, Kentucky falls in latest 2023-24 WTE power rankings
By Joey Loose
15. Arizona
These Wildcats have really had a revival in the two years since Tommy Lloyd took over the program. Arizona has won a pair of Pac-12 titles and made the Sweet Sixteen in Lloyd’s first season. They reloaded the roster with talent last season, though the season ended in disappointment at the hands of 15-seed Princeton in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament.
More reloading has happened, with Azuolas Tubelis, Kerr Kriisa, and Courtney Ramey the most notable of the departures. The Wildcats do get a pair of impact players back for another year in Oumar Ballo and Pelle Larsson and have been busy in the Transfer Portal. A very recent splash saw Arizona land former North Carolina guard Caleb Love, who’ll become their most important piece in the backcourt. The Wildcats also added Jaden Bradley from Alabama and Keshad Johnson from San Diego State, two players with extensive postseason experience.
It’s another year where the Wildcats have lost significant talent but still have a pretty good rotation in place, especially with those additions. Arizona has been a Top 2 seed each of the last two seasons, and they certainly didn’t look like that before either season began. Could we be looking at another Pac-12 championship team, even with those big losses from last season’s success? It might depend greatly on how Love fares in the desert.