With 10 newcomers, including six from other countries, Arizona may be the most difficult team in the Pac-12 to figure out this season.
In an podcast interview with NCAA.com's Andy Katz, Pac-12 Networks analyst Don MacLean didn't dispute that notion. But he also gave the Wildcats a strong vote of confidence.
"The team that I just don't know about," Katz told MacLean, "and maybe you'll convince me otherwise, because they've got so many newcomers and lost so much -- but it's hard to push them too far down -- is Arizona. That's sort of where I come in that next grouping."
MacLean chuckled as he gave his response.
"Yeah, I don't think Sean Miller recruits players who aren't good. He's been doing it since he's been there. There's some foreign guys in there that we don't know about, that we haven't seen, and not the plethora of McDonald's all Americans that Arizona usually has, but I just have a feeling that those guys are going to be better than we all think."
MacLean answered similarly when Katz asked him who will be the consistent replacement for Nico Mannion.
(Miller has said the Wildcats will use multiple point guards, with James Akinjo, Kerr Kriisa, Jemarl Baker and Terrell Brown all likely to be handling the ball at times.)
"There's so many unknowns with Arizona in how they're gonna play, who's playing on the ball who's playing off but Sean will figure that out," MacLean said. "I haven't talked to any of those guys yet -- I will in the next couple of weeks to hear and find out what's going on -- but there's just there's so much turnover there and so many new faces, it's hard to predict what they're gonna do and who's playing where."
Katz and MacLean appeared to agree with the general consensus that UCLA, Oregon, ASU and Stanford are the league's top four teams, with Arizona joining USC, Colorado and Utah in a second tier.
They also agreed on the five top players: ASU's Remy Martin, UCLA's Chris Smith, Colorado's McKinley Wright, Utah's Timmy Allen and Stanford's Oscar da Silva.
Meanwhile, ESPN's Jeff Borzello ranked four Arizona players among his top 100 newcomers: Akinjo (24), Jordan Brown (33), Azuolas Tubelis (47), Terrell Brown (61). He also had Kriisa in his "next 10" outside the 100.
