The Arizona Wildcats dropped out of the AP Top 25 poll again Monday after losing to UCLA 65-52 on Saturday and setting a new McKale Center record for their worst shooting performance in the building.
It was the third time Arizona has dropped out of the AP rankings, also having done so on Jan. 13 after being swept in Oregon and on Jan. 27 after losing at ASU. The Wildcats received the 30th most points in voting, however, while many other teams in the 11-25 range also lost.
Arizona also slipped slightly in the computer rankings. Kenpom has them at 15 (down from 11), the NET ranks Arizona No. 10 (down from 8 before the UCLA but up from 11 on Sunday), while Sagarin has the Wildcats at 33.
However, the NET rating proved Saturday to mean little in terms of NCAA tournament seeding: The committee did not include UA among its top 16 seeds despite the No. 8 ranking and in fact may have placed the Wildcats as a No. 6.
All that means the Wildcats are now flirting with the dreaded 8-9 bracket, which feeds into a second-round game against a No. 1 seed, all four of which are pretty defined as of now (though UA did play two of them closely...)
Of the Pac-12's two ranked teams, Colorado jumped Oregon into the No. 16 spot while Oregon fell from No. 14 to No. 17.
I only dropped Oregon from 12 to 13 because nearly everyone else around the Ducks also lost, because losing at Oregon State doesn't warrant a huge demerit IMO, and because the Ducks were without two key big guys.
In any case, the Ducks and Buffs can settle their differences when they meet in the conference's game of the week on Thursday in Eugene.
FWIW, here was the ballot I sent to the AP:
1 Baylor
2 Gonzaga
3 Kansas
4 San Diego State
5 Louisville
6 Duke
7 Maryland
8 Dayton
9 Florida State
10 Auburn
11 Kentucky
12 Seton Hall
13 Oregon
14 Villanova
15 West Virginia
16 Penn State
17 Colorado
18 Houston
19 Michigan State
20 Butler
21 Iowa
22 Texas Tech
23 Creighton
24 Illinois
25 BYUย
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Washington State's CJ Elleby picked up the Pac-12's Player of the Week award after a dominant performance in the Cougars' home win over Washington. Elleby had 34 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks while hitting 6 of 9 3s in front of WSU coaching legend George Raveling.
