Arizona Wildcats Talk: Big Monday Hoops

Welcome! To another edition of the Arizona Wildcats Insiders Podcast featuring your host Troy Hutchison, who will be delivering a daily podcast discussing everything happening surrounding Arizona athletics, giving you an inside look at all the programs on campus.

Hutchison has been covering Arizona for the last seven years with his coverage spanning all-across UA’s campus from football and men’s basketball to Title IX sports. Plus, with so many former Wildcats playing at the next level in their prospective sports there will be moments where he will take a deep dive into the Cats excelling outside of Tucson.

We are a long way out from the start of the 2025-26 college basketball season, which will yet again have high expectations for Arizona basketball and head coach Tommy Lloyd with a team that will more than likely be ranked inside the preseason AP Poll top 15.

Mar 27, 2025; Newark, NJ, USA; Arizona Wildcats guard Caleb Love (1) celebrates after a play during the first half against the Duke Blue Devils during an East Regional semifinal of the 2025 NCAA tournament at Prudential Center. Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images | Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

Despite losing in the Sweet Sixteen 100-93 against No. 1 seed Duke, Arizona will welcome back four key players from last year’s team and the nation’s No. 5 recruiting class that features two 5-star recruits in a class of seven prospects.

The seven player class is headlined by Koa Peat, Brayden Burries and Dwayne Aristode with all three ranking in the top 100 of 24/7 Sports’ recruiting database.

Throughout the time that Lloyd has been the head coach of Arizona, the Wildcats have gone 112-33 making the NCAA Tournament every season and have gone as far as the Sweet Sixteen three times with one first-round exit to Princeton during the 2022-23 season.

This past year, Arizona was able to finish No. 3 in the Big 12 Conference in the team’s first year after coming from the Pac-12.

The conference is loaded with elite teams and coaches with seven teams making the NCAA Tournament and all being seeded as a 9-seed, or higher.

WHen looking at the landscape of college basketball there is no question that the Big 12 sits as one of the top, if not the very top basketball conference in the country.

Over the last several years, Big Monday has become a major part of college basketball featuring massive showdowns in both the Big 12 and ACC showcasing the premier programs and putting them in the national spotlight.

Mar 8, 2025; Lawrence, Kansas, USA; Arizona Wildcats forward Tobe Awaka (30) rebounds during the second half against the Kansas Jayhawks at Allen Fieldhouse. Mandatory Credit: William Purnell-Imagn Images | William Purnell-Imagn Images

On Tuesday, Arizona and the Big 12 announced the Big Monday slate of conference games that will be featured this season. The Wildcats will play three Monday night games as the team goes up against some of the best programs in the conference.

Arizona’s Big Monday Games

Arizona at BYU (Jan. 26)

Arizona at Kansas (Feb. 9)

Arizona vs. Iowa State (March 2)

Arizona will be entering its second season in the Big 12 and will be loaded once again with high-level talent up-and-down on the roster for Lloyd and his staff. The Wildcats now know how to handle the grind of the conference season and will be looking to finish higher than their third place finish last year in the regular season.

Please share with us which Big Monday game you are looking forward to the most and why? To do so, follow us on our X account by clicking on the link.