Arizona Basketball Makes Preseason Poll

Arizona basketball will have high expectations once again with the regular season 48 days away.

Mar 13, 2025; Kansas City, MO, USA; Arizona Wildcats guard Jaden Bradley (0) shoots the ball during the first half against the Kansas Jayhawks at T-Mobile Center. Mandatory Credit: William Purnell-Imagn Images | William Purnell-Imagn Images

Since taking over Arizona, head coach Tommy Lloyd has been one of the most successful up-and-coming coaches in college basketball going 112-33 over the course of the last four seasons making the NCAA Tournament each season and leading the program to three Sweet Sixteen appearances.

This past season, Lloyd and his program entered a new era of Arizona basketball with the Wildcats leaving the Pac-12 and joining the Big 12 Conference. In UA’s first season in a new conference, the team went 24-13 while finishing third in the conference standings.

In the Big 12 Tournament, the Wildcats made it to the conference title game and fell 72-64 to Houston, which would go on to play for the National Title.

Mar 26, 2025; Newark, NJ, USA; Arizona Wildcats head coach Tommy Lloyd during a practice session in preparation for an East Regional semifinal game against the Duke Blue Devils at Prudential Center. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images | Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

Following the end to the season, Arizona lost star guard Caleb Love to graduation and forward Carter Bryant to the NBA Draft where he went No. 14 overall to the San Antonio Spurs.

Plus, Arizona saw two key players in KJ Lewis and Henri Veesaar leave the program and transfer to Power 4 programs.

Despite that, Arizona will be fully loaded again with four key returners in Jaden Badley, Tobe Awaka, Anthony Dell’Orso and Motiejus Krivas. Plus, Lloyd and his staff signed the No. 2 recruiting class according to 24/7 Sports.

We are inching closer to the start of the college basketball season with Arizona tipping off its schedule against defending national champions in the Florida Gators in Las Vegas 48 days from now.

As we get closer to the start of the year, we will see multiple rankings released, watch lists for players heading into the season and experts give their preseason predictions as to who will be dancing in March.

NEW: College Basketball Preseason Top 25 via @TheFieldOf68🏀

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— On3 (@On3sports) September 15, 2025

One poll that has been released is the Top 25 rankings from Field of 68, which has the Wildcats at No. 17 to begin the year.

The Big 12 is regarded as one of the top conferences in college hoops and the latest rankings show that with six teams from the conference making the rankings.

Right now, the rankings have the six teams ranked as No. 2 Houston, No. 9 Texas Tech, No. 11 BYU, No. 16 Kansas, No. 17 Arizona and No. 18 Iowa State rounding out the list.

Arizona and Lloyd have set up one of the toughest non-conference slate of games in the country with the Wildcats facing No. 3 Florida, No. 4 UConn, No. 13 UCLA, No. 14 Alabama and No. 15 Auburn all finding a spot in the Field of 68 rankings.

Please be sure to share with us your thoughts on the Field of 68 rankings and how you feel about the Wildcats sitting at No. 17. To do so, follow us on our X account by clicking on the link.