While Arizona dropped from No. 4 to No. 10 in the Associated Press Top 25 poll Monday, the Wildcats debuted at only No. 26 in the NCAA's NET rankings.
The Wildcats, who lost at Utah on Thursday and beat California at home on Sunday, are 2-1 in Quad 1 games so far, 2-0 in Quad 3 and 3-0 in Quad 4.
The NET no longer considers scoring margin but just two factors, a "team value index" and "adjusted efficiency" index, both of which incorporate strength of opponent and location of the game. Arizona has lost its only road game so far and beat three low-major opponents at home, factors that hurt the Wildcats' NET ranking.
According to Warren Nolan, Arizona's strength of schedule as determined by the NET is 65. Kenpom has UA's SOS at 85 overall and 99 in nonconference play.
In the Associated Press poll, among Arizona opponents this season, Tennessee was No. 7, Indiana was 14, UCLA 19, Creighton 21 and San Diego State 22. The Wildcats will face Indiana on Saturday in Las Vegas, and host Tennessee at McKale Center on Dec. 17.
Meanwhile, ASU picked up the 30th most points in voting while Utah (7-2) had the 31st most. The Utes also won at Washington State over the weekend while ASU (8-1) won at Colorado and beat Stanford at home.
After leading the Utes to their upset of Arizona, as well as a road win at Washington State, Utah guard Rollie Worster was named Pac-12 Player of the Week.
Worster had 12 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists against Arizona, while collecting a career-high 19 points and added seven boards and four assists in 67-65 overtime win at Washington State on Sunday.
FWIW, here was the ballot I sent to the AP this week:
1 Houston
2 Texas
3 Virginia
4 Purdue
5 Connecticut
6 Auburn
7 Arkansas
8 Tennessee
9 Kansas
10 Alabama
11 Arizona
12 Duke
13 Baylor
14 Indiana
15 Gonzaga
16 Illinois
17 UCLA
18 Kentucky
19 Maryland
20 Iowa State
21 Creighton
22 San Diego State
23 Mississippi State
24 Ohio State
25 Miami FL
