The Arizona Wildcats have been the No. 1 ranked workforce within the nation for the previous 9 weeks. That’s virtually actually going to vary on Monday when the latest rankings come out given the week they’ve had.
The robust week continued on Saturday night time when the Wildcats had been on the shedding finish of 78-75 time beyond regulation recreation towards No. 16 Texas Tech. It’s their second loss in as many video games after opening the week with an 82-78 loss at No. 9-ranked Kansas.
How low will Arizona go within the rankings?
After back-to-back losses it isn’t essentially a query of whether or not or not the Wildcats will drop. It’s merely a matter of how far down they’ll go. No workforce can go 0-2 in per week and maintain on to its prime spot regardless of how good or proficient it’s, what the expectations for the workforce are, or who they had been enjoying.
The one factor working in Arizona’s favor that may forestall too far of a drop is the actual fact each losses got here towards ranked opponents which are within the prime 16 within the nation.
That features the loss towards Kansas, which got here on the street. There isn’t any disgrace in going into Kansas and shedding towards a ranked Jayhawks workforce. It occurs.
The more durable recreation to clarify might be Saturday’s towards Texas Tech provided that it was a house recreation.
Will Arizona nonetheless be a top-three workforce? Prime 5? Given the best way the groups instantly behind them within the rankings maintain profitable, they’re going to lose a number of spots.
Arizona can be now coming into an particularly brutal a part of its schedule that’s going to inform us lots about how good this workforce really is.
4 of its subsequent 5 video games will come towards ranked opponents, together with three video games towards top-10 groups: A rematch with Kansas, at No. 3 Houston and residential for No. 5 Iowa State.
If Arizona goes to be a nationwide title contender and a possible No. 1 seed within the match, these are the forms of groups it’ll need to beat. The Wildcats had been profitable these video games earlier within the season. They haven’t executed so this week, and it’ll push them down a number of spots within the rankings.
