It's never too early
to talk basketball in Tucson.
The Sporting News gave
college basketball fans an early start on the holiday weekend Friday by
releasing its
pre-pre-preseason top 25, as determined by national
writer Mike DeCourcy, and there's a bit of an old-timey feel to it.
Coming in at the top? The resurgent Indiana Hoosiers, followed by the
UCLA Bruins at No. 2.
Defending national champion
Kentucky comes in at No. 5, and ... oh yeah, there's another group of
Wildcats making an appearance in the top 10. Coming off a
tournament-less season that ended with a first-round loss in the NIT,
Arizona is given an early ranking of No.
10.
DeCourcy, given only a paragraph to explain his
judgment, gives most of the credit to the return of forward Solomon
Hill, who was second on the team (to graduated senior Kyle Fogg) in
scoring with 12.9 points per game, first in rebounding with 7.7 per game
and first in assists with 2.6 per game as a
junior.
"Small forward Solomon Hill played more up
front last season, but the
arrival of several gifted freshman big men returns him to the perimeter,
which is where he’ll play after college. Can Hill be as productive with
smaller defenders crowding him? Will the Wildcats take advantage of
mismatches by having him post-up defenders?"
While DeCourcy only briefly touches on the
arrival of "several" talented freshmen, UA's consensus top-five
recruiting class obviously had some level of effect on turning what was a
non-tournament team into a preseason top-10
squad.
Sean Miller is bringing in three (yes, three)
five-star big men -- Kaleb Tarczewski, Grant Jerrett and Brandon Ashley
-- along with highly touted shooting guard Gabe York, who will
presumably battle for minutes with sophomore Nick Johnson. Here's a link
to Scout's
breakdown of the recruiting class. Combine that
group with Perry and incoming point guard Mark Lyons, a transfer from
Xavier who averaged 15.5 points last year and will be eligible to play
immediately, and there's obviously sufficient on-paper talent to produce
some lofty expectations.
It's always meeting the
expectations that's the hard part, as the Wildcats found out last year
through some on- and off-court struggles. Freshmen are predictably
unpredictable, so expecting a step up in production from what Fogg and
Jesse Perry were providing might not be fair, and depth is still a
concern both at point guard and in the
frontcourt.
That said, having the talent to be
considered for the top 10 and a coach with the track record of getting
teams there is a lot better than not having those
things.
By the way, after Arizona, there are no other
Pac-12 teams in the top 25. The remaining top-10 teams (beyond those
previously mentioned) are Louisville at No. 3, Ohio State at No. 4,
Michigan at No. 6, NC State at No. 7, Duke at No. 8 and Syracuse at No.
9.
