Arizona has landed in the top spot in two of three major preseason basketball annuals that have hit the stands this month.
Both Athlon and Street & Smithβs rank the Wildcats No. 1 while Lindyβs has them No. 2 behind Michigan State. (Blue Ribbon Yearbook has yet to announce its picks.)
Athlon also noted that βSean Millerβs Loaded Arizona Wildcatsβ were the No. 1 βthing to watchβ this season while putting Allonzo Trier and DeAndre Ayton on its second all-American team.
Street & Smithβs, a longtime annual publication that went under the Sporting News banner in recent years, had Trier as a second-team all-American but Ayton didnβt make second or third team.
Lindyβs doesnβt pick traditional all-American teams but instead ranks the 25 top players at each position. It had Rawle Alkins as the No. 4 shooting guard, Trier as the No. 4 small forward, Ayton as a "freshman of note" power forward β but did not list Dusan Ristic under the Top 25 centers nor Parker Jackson-Cartwright among the Top 25 point guards.
All three publications picked the same top five in the Pac-12: 1. Arizona, 2. USC, 3. UCLA, 4. Oregon and 5. Stanford.
(Disclosure: I did Pac-12 previews and picks for Street & Smith's but did not rank teams or players nationally.)
Hereβs how the Top 10 looked in each publication:
ATHLON
1. Arizona
2. Michigan State
3. Kansas
4. Duke
5. Louisville
6. Kentucky
7. USC
8. Villanova
9. Wichita State
10. West Virginia
(No other Pac-12 teams)
LINDYβS
1. Michigan State
2. Arizona
3. Wichita State
4. Duke
5. Kansas
6. Kentucky
7. Villanova
8. Cincinnati
9. Louisville
10. Texas A&M
Other Pac-12 teams: USC (11), UCLA (24)
STREET & SMITH'S
1. Arizona
2. Duke
3. Michigan State
4. Kansas
5. Louisville
6. Kentucky
7. Wichita State
8. Villanova
9. North Carolina
10. Florida
Other Pac-12 teams: USC (11) and UCLA (16)
ESPN ranked Arizona's offense the best in college basketball, noting that the Wildcats' two-point accuracy is bound to rise with Ayton.
Sean Miller made an in-home visit with Orlando forward Nassir Little, one of UA's top remaining 2018 targets. Little is scheduled to take an official campus visit to Arizona for the Red-Blue Game on Oct. 20.
Bol Bol has scheduled an official visit to Arizona for the weekend of Oct. 27.Β
Fellow Seattle native Allonzo Trier was among those wishing Jason Terry a happy 40th birthday on Friday. Terry may play yet another NBA season, with both Milwaukee and Minnesota expressing interest.
