Arizona and the College Basketball Index: What to Know
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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 respective sports, there will be moments where he will take a deep dive into the Cats' excelling outside of Tucson.
The Wildcats faced off against defending national champs No. 3 Florida in a neutral-site class of the titans. Arizona rolled out a starting lineup featuring point guard Jaden Bradley, guard Brayden Burries, guard/forward Ivan Kharchenkov, forward Koa Peat and center Motiejus Krivas.
That young lineup that featured three freshmen were able to stay stride-for-stride against the Gators even after falling behind by double-digits early in the game. Arizona managed to pull off the opening night upset 93-87 over Florida.
Now, coming into the season, you see many polls, rankings, watch lists and honors with many different outlets and media members coming up with their own lists.
One media member that played at Duke and is highly regarded in the journalism field is former Blue Devil Jay Bilas, who has had a successful career at ESPN.
With the college basketball season upon us and Arizona already having a game under its belt, Bilas put together his index for the college basketball season ranking 68 teams that will make the tournament.
Throughout the season, Bilas will release an updated index as the year progresses and teams come out of nowhere to surprise the nation.
Right now in his first index of the season, Bilas has 13 teams from the Big 12 in his field of 68 in No. 2 Houston, No. 11 Texas Tech, No. 15 Iowa State, No. 16 BYU, No. 17 Arizona, No. 18 Kansas, No. 22 Baylor, No. 29 Cincinnati, No. 54 Kansas State, No. 56 UCF, No. 58 TCU, No. 59 West Virginia and No. 66 ASU.
“Tommy Lloyd's Wildcats are surprisingly well set up for a squad that lost five players from last season, including 2024 Pac-12 Player of the Year Caleb Love, who averaged 17.2 points, 4.4 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 1.2 steals last season, said Bilas.
“Two five-star freshmen, Brayden Burries and Koa Peat, will be key contributors in Tucson, alongside a strong defensive core of returners. Peat went off in the Wildcats' opener, an upset of No. 3-ranked Florida: 30 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals. Peat won four state championships and has four gold medals with USA Basketball, and he looks ready to lead the Wildcats to another deep Big 12 and NCAA tourney run.”
With the win over Florida and if Arizona can prevent any let downs before the game against UCLA, it is safe to assume that the Wildcats will move up in Bilas’ index the next time it is released.
Please be sure to share with us your thoughts on Bilas’ first index of the college basketball season. To do so, follow us on our X account by clicking on the link.
Troy Hutchison grew up attending Arizona athletic events, which gave him a unique perspective and knowledge of the athletic department's rich history. He attended UA and began covering the Wildcats in 2018. As the Arizona Wildcats Beat Writer on SI, he is set to deliver wall-to-wall coverage to give fans an in-depth perspective.
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