The annual "Way Too Early" top-25 picks for the next season are just that, especially considering how things can change between April and June with pro departures out and grad transfers in.
That may be especially true for Arizona, which has to find seven players and two assistant coaches before next season begins.
But the Sporting News' Top 25 2018-19 projectionΒ isΒ also a reminder of how much work the Wildcats have to do in the offseason β because they aren't on the list at all. In the wake of the federal investigation and ESPN report, UA has lost all its three recruits in the class of 2018 so far while a number of other top targets have dropped the Wildcats.
(And the last to decommit, Brandon Williams, is even going to check out ASUΒ and is getting an in-home visit from Gonzaga.)
Sporting News ranked Kansas first and put two Pac-12 teams on its list: Oregon at No. 7 and UCLA at No. 18.
Add Albany guard Joe Cremo to the list of grad transfers the Wildcats are pursuing.
Maybe the seasons that the Battle 4 Atlantis teams had can provide some consolation for the Wildcats.
Not only did Villanova win the national championship, but five of the eight participating teams made the NCAA Tournament, and Western Kentucky reached the semifinals of the NIT before losing to Utah.
Of the teams Arizona lost to in the Bahamas, North Carolina State went 21-12 and lost to Seton Hall in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, SMU went 17-16 and lost to UConn in the AAC Tournament, while Purdue went 30-7 and lost to Texas Tech in the Sweet 16.
Deandre Ayton says he could see himself playing for the Suns. There's a strong possibility of that happening if Phoenix gets the No. 1 pick, of course.
Rawle Alkins is doing some marketing.
Brandon Randolph's mom says she's had enough of the spring snow in New York.
Leave it to the Economist to quantify how college applications rise when a school's team does well in the NCAA tournament. Already, Arizona's 1997 national championship has been figured into an earlier study.
The NCAA is not acknowledging that Las Vegas has become an epicenter of the college basketball postseason.
Rob Dauster has an interesting look at how Jay Wright has created a system of nearly positionless basketball at Villanova.
