After beating Cincinnati, San Diego State and Creighton to win the Maui Invitational last week, Arizona jumped from No. 14 to No. 4 in the Associated Press Top 25 poll.
The Wildcats were ranked behind only Houston, Texas and Virginia, while Purdue was fifth. UCLA dropped to No. 21.
It was the Wildcats' first Top 5 appearance of the season. They finished at No. 2 last season (the final AP poll is taken before the NCAA Tournament) and opened this season at No. 17, then spent the last two weeks at No. 14.
The Wildcats are scheduled to play two early Pac-12 games this week -- at Utah on Thursday and at home Sunday against Cal -- before returning to nonconference play.
FWIW, here was the ballot I sent the AP:
1 Houston
2 Texas
3 Virginia
4 Purdue
5 Arizona
6 UconnNEW
7 Baylor
8 Auburn
9 Gonzaga
10 Creighton
11 Arkansas
12 Tennessee
13 Indiana
14 Kansas
15 Alabama
16 Michigan State
17 Duke
18 North Carolina
19 Illinois
20 UCLA
21 Kentucky
22 San Diego State
23 Ohio State
24 Maryland
25 Mississippi State
Oumar Ballo could pick up the Pac-12 Player of the Week award on top of his Maui Invitational MVP, after averaging 21.0 points and 10.7 rebounds in the Wildcats' three games at Maui.
While UA nominated Ballo, Washington nominated Keion Brooks, who averaged 15.0 points, 8.0 rebounds and 2.5 blocks over two games to lead the Huskies to the Wooden Legacy title.
