Arizona's road sweep at USC and UCLA over the weekend helped earn the Wildcats a jump from No. 14 to No. 7 in the Associated Press Top 25.
The No. 7 ranking is UA's highest of the season and the first time it has been in the Top 10 since the week before it lost to Butler on Nov. 25. UA was ranked No. 10 in the preseason and rose to No. 8 after wins over Michigan State, Cal State Bakersfield and Sacred Heart, then fell to No. 16 after losing to Butler and to No. 20 after losing to Gonzaga.
The Zags, however, are still undefeated and now ranked No. 3. Butler is ranked No. 11.
UCLA fell to No. 8 and Oregon rose to No. 10, giving the Pac-12 three teams in the Top 10 for the first time since Feb. 9, 1999.
I had Arizona at No. 8, UCLA at No. 10 and Oregon at No. 13 on my ballot.
Of the analytic measures, the Wildcats remained at No. 8 in theย NCAA's RPI, No. 14 inย Sagarin, and No. 11 inย Kenpom.ย
Hard to put too much stock into pre-February NCAA tournament projections, but ESPN's Joe Lunardi has UA a No. 2 seed headed to Salt Lake City and playing in the Midwest region. CBS' Jerry Palm has UA in the same city and same place but as part of the West region.
Those in the West will filter into Sweet 16 and Elite Eight games at San Jose while those assigned to the Midwest will do so for Kansas City. Most likely, the Pac-12 champ will stay in the West.
Lauri Markkanen was UA's nominee for the Pac-12 player of the week award, and he likely has a good chance to win it, after averaging 20.5 points and 7.5 rebounds with his usual efficient shooting in the Wildcats' road sweep.ย
UA has not had a player win the award all season, possibly due in part to a balanced attack and slower pace that don't foster big individual numbers.
The award is usually announced around midday on Monday.
