Arizona dropped four spots to No. 7 in the Associated Press Top 25 poll, while UCLA moved up to No. 3 after beating the Wildcats 75-59 on Feb. 25 at Pauley Pavilion.
That makes for a complete set of role reversals for the rematch on Thursday at McKale Center (6 p.m., ESPN): Last week UCLA was No. 7 and hosting Arizona, which was then rated third.
This week, the Wildcats are No. 3 in the NET, and No. 4 in bothΒ Kenpom and Sagarin.
FWIW, I moved UA down from No. 6 to No. 8 on my AP ballot while putting UCLA at No. 3.
CBS' updated bracket projection Monday has Arizona as a No. 4 seed in the Midwest bracket.
ESPN's bracketology, last updated Friday, has UA a No. 2 in the South.
Looks like the Pac-12 has spared the Wildcats having to play two three-game weeks in a row.Β
The conference rescheduled two other games for the week of Feb. 14 -- WSU at Oregon on Feb. 14 and CU at OSU on Feb. 15 -- meaning UA's game at USC will not be made up that week. Arizona is already playing a third game next week, because its make-up game at ASU was moved to Feb. 7.
It appears the best solution for Arizona is if the UA-USC game in L.A. were to be played on Feb. 22. That would put it before the Wildcats' Utah-Colorado trip but avoid having them play a three-game week the week before the Pac-12 Tournament, which would be the case if it was scheduled for Feb. 28 or March 1.
The last two sets of rescheduled Pac-12 games have been announced with two weeks' notice, giving enough time for teams to redo travel and arena plans but not so far ahead that other COVID issues are more likely to force other changes.Β
Former Wildcat guard Terrell Brown picked up his second Pac-12 Player of the Week award after averaging 28 points on 50% shooting for Washington in the Huskies' home wins over Colorado and Utah.
Arizona had nominated Christian Koloko, who averaged 11.5 points, 10 rebounds and 3.0 blocks over games at UCLA and at home against ASU. UCLA nominated guard Jules Bernard, who averaged 14.3 points, 7.0 rebounds and 2.3 steals in the Bruins' home wins over UA, Cal and Stanford.
Stanford's Harrison Ingram picked up his fifth Pac-12 Freshman of the Week award.
Former Wildcat guard James Akinjo was one of 10 players named to the Bob Cousy Award watch list for the nation's top college point guard.
Former UA commit Jahvon Quinerly of Alabama also made the list, as did UCLA's Tyger Campbell and Oregon's Will Richardson (though not UA's Kerr Kriisa).
