Arizona Wildcats start No. 21 in AP preseason poll
Arizona is ranked No. 21 in the AP preseason Top 25, appearing on 43 of 65 ballots.
But UA fans might have a hard time believing who is one of the most optimistic voters.
That would be Dick Vitale, who has been a vocal critic of coach Sean Miller amid the government's investigation and prosecution of corruption in college basketball, even while the venerable ESPN analyst has given a pass to other coaches such as Bill Self of Kansas and former Louisville coach Rick Pitino.
(Kansas has received a notice of allegations from the NCAA, citing major violations in the men's basketball program; Louisville fired Pitino.)
Anyway, this is not to stir up all that talk … it's to tell you that Vitale picked the Wildcats at No. 13 on his preseason AP ballot. The other voter to do so was Scott Wolf, a veteran Pac-12 scribe from Los Angeles.
The next-highest vote from Arizona was at No. 15, that coming from Geoff Grammar, a former Tucson Citizen writer who covers the New Mexico Lobos for the Albuquerque Journal.
The state of Arizona has one voting member -- longtime beat writer Bruce Pascoe of the Arizona Daily Star. He picked Oregon first among Pac-12 teams at No. 15, with Colorado at No. 22 and Washington at No. 25.
Only Oregon -- at No. 15 -- and Arizona made the preseason Top 25, although Washington and Colorado were the next teams among others receiving votes.
As for my thoughts about the Cats at No. 21? Sounds about right. It's a team with a lot of upside but a lot to prove during the course of the season, with Miller having to blend so many new (and intriguing) pieces.