Despite hot start, Butts' Cats have tough task ahead
Niya Butts’ Arizona’s women’s basketball team is 7-1 as it prepares for a three-game tournament in Puerto Rico that begins Friday. The competition is so weak — SMU, Florida Gulf Coast and Gardner-Webb — that the Wildcats are likely to be 11-1 when they open Pac-12 play against mighty Stanford on Jan. 2. The UA’s seven victories are against teams with a cumulative 24-33 record, and only one, a bad Kansas team, is from a Power 5 conference. The Pac-12 will be daunting for Butts’ club: No. 7 Oregon State, Oregon and USC are undefeated; Stanford, Cal and ASU are in the top 25.
