Arizona fans bummed about the Wildcats' historically bad weekend in Los Angeles can now look ahead to having three five-star recruits coming in to help next season.
Rivals moved Minnesota forward Zeke Nnaji to five stars in its updated rankings, giving the Wildcats three five-star players. Guards Nico Mannion (No. 14 per Rivals) and Josh Green (No. 12) are already consensus five-star players in the class of 2019 and were named to the McDonalds All-American Game, which is roughly a collection of the top 24 players.
Nnaji is rated No. 30 overall by Rivals, No. 33 by 247Sports and No. 47 by ESPN.
MORE: Arizona Wildcats signees Nico Mannion, Josh Green named to McDonald's All-American Game
Arizona's two losses in Los Angeles dropped it to No. 68 in the NCAA's NET ratings, 68 in Kenpom and 47 in Sagarin.ย
Under the current NET ratings, the Wildcats have only two Quadrant 1 opportunities left on their schedule: Thursday at ASU and March 1 at Oregon. The Wildcats' Feb. 7 home game with Washington may also qualify if the Huskies, now rated No. 32, can move into the Top 30.
Quadrant 1 gamesย are those at home against teams rated 1-30, at neutral sites against 1-50 and on the road against 1-75.
ASU is rated No. 61 and Oregon is 66.
CBS' updated bracket projection has Arizona as one of the first four teams out of the NCAA Tournament.
Washington's Jaylen Nowell won his third Pac-12 Player of the Week award after averaging 19.5 points and shooting 61 percent during the Huskies' sweep in Oregon. UA did not nominate anyone for the first time this season.
There still are no Pac-12 teams in the Associated Press Top 25 poll, but the Huskies picked up the 28th-most votes overall.
I moved them into the 25th spot following their sweep in Oregon. FWIW, here was my AP ballot:
1 Tennessee
2 Michigan
3 Duke
4 Virginia
5 Gonzaga
6 Kentucky
7 Michigan State
8 Nevada
9 North Carolina
10 Kansas
11 Marquette
12 Virginia Tech
13 Texas Tech
14 Villanova
15 Louisville
16 Mississippi state
17 Auburn
18 Houston
19 Buffalo
20 Cincinnati
21 NC State
22 Purdue
23 Iowa State
24 LSU
25 Washington
