Arizona moved up three spots to No. 8 in the Associated Press Top 25 poll Monday, its highest ranking since early in the 2017-18 season.
Wins over Wyoming and Illinois helped move the Wildcats into the Top 10 for the first time since Jan. 29, 2018, when they were ranked ninth after winning six straight Pac-12 games.
Then with eventual No. 1 NBA pick Deandre Ayton, Arizona was ranked as high as No. 2 earlier that season but dropped from second to unranked for two weeks after losing all three games it played at the Battle 4 Atlantis.
The computer rankings have the Wildcats rated even higher this week. Arizona is ranked No. 1 in the NCAA's NET ratings, No. 5 by Sagarin and Torvik, and No. 7 by Kenpom. The Wildcats are 3-0 in Quadrant 1 games as defined in the NET formula, having won one more Q1 game than Baylor, which was ranked No. 1 in the AP poll but No. 2 in the NET.
The Wildcats were not ranked during the 2018-19 and 2020-21 seasons, though they reached as high as No. 12 early in 2019-20 after winning the Wooden Legacy event.
Arizona will have the opportunity to move much higher over the next few weeks, with three road games against ranked teams. Tennessee (Dec. 22) was ranked No. 18, UCLA (Dec. 3) landed at No. 4 and USC (Jan. 2) was ranked No. 10.Β
The Wildcats are now 9-0, with road wins over Oregon State and Illinois, plus marquee neutral-site wins over Wichita State and Michigan. Arizona will host Northern Colorado on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at McKale Center.
FWIW, I had Arizona No. 7, UCLA No. 6, USC No. 9, and Tennessee No. 16. My full AP Top 25 ballot is here, though for some reason the No. 9 slot does not show up.
Bennedict Mathurin appears to have a good chance to pick up a second straight Pac-12 Player of the Week award, after scoring 30 points at Illinois and 24 against Wyoming. The Canadian sophomore also averaged 5.0 rebounds and 3.0 assists over UA's two wins.
Other top candidates include UCLA's Jaime Jaquez, who had 24 points and 12 rebounds in the Bruins' win at Marquette on Saturday, and USC's Isaiah Mobley, who averaged 22.0 points and 8.5 rebounds in a pair of home wins.
The Pac-12 weekly awards are typically announced early on Monday afternoons.
