…and then there were none.
All the No. 7 Arizona Wildcats men’s basketball team (15-1) had to do was sweep the Oregons last week and they could have had that No.1 next to their name.
Instead with the 70-66 loss to Oregon, the Wildcats joined the rest of the remaining four unbeaten to fall last week.
Although Arizona’s almost pulled off another spectacular comeback, the flurry proved to be too little too late last Thursday.
The Wildcats would bounce back 48 hours later and beat the Beavers of Oregon State by a score of 80-70.
With the top three teams going down the power-grab has begun.
At least three teams in each poll received first place votes for the first time since week Nov. 12.
However, even with the shakeup, both polls have the same top eight.
AP Poll: No. 7 (No. 4 LW)
The AP led the first place vote giveaway with a total of five teams received top spot votes…none of which were named Arizona.
Kansas and Michigan joined Indiana and Duke just below Louisville.
The Cardinals pulled the most first place votes in both polls.
Duke received one more first place vote in each poll than No. 2 Indiana, despite being ranked a spot less than the Hoosiers.
With the win last week, Oregon managed to crack the AP’s top 25 at No. 21 joining No. 24 UCLA and the Wildcats, giving the pac-12 three teams in the rankings for the first time all season.
USA Today Coaches Poll: No. 7 (No. 3 LW)
With a matching top eight…see above.
RPI: No. 2 (No. 4 LW)
Despite the loss, Arizona received a bump in the RPI thanks to Oregon’s strong play.
The Ducks followed up their win over the Wildcats by handing ASU only their third loss of the season.
This week…
1/19 @Arizona State (14-3)
The Wildcats stay on the road this week as they travel up I-10 to take on the Sun Devils in Tempe (Happening now on FSN).
Despite ASU’s joke of a nonconference schedule, as Pac-12 travel partners, the two schools have played all the same teams and come away with very similar outcomes to begin conference play.
Just like Arizona, the Sun Devils have close wins at home against Colorado and Utah…and beat Oregon State but lost to Oregon on the road.
ASU has been getting it done with a mix of young and old, big and small.
The Sun Devils are led in scoring by 5’10” freshman point guard Jahii Carson (17.1) and senior wing Carrick Felix (15.1).
Felix also leads the team in rebounds at 8.1 per game.
ASU may not have as many serviceable big men as the Wildcats patrolling the post, but they have a bigger…and possibly better one in 7’2” Jordan Bachynski.
Not only is the junior center averaging a 10 and seven, he’s also ranks third nationally in blocks with 4.5 a contest.
Arizona as a team only averages four per game.
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