Arizona finishes 27th in Directors’ Cup standings

While Arizona Wildcats men’s basketball and football struggled in the 2020-21 academic year, the athletic department as a whole had a strong showing.

The UA finished 27th in the Directors’ Cup standings, its best finish since 2016 when it finished 25th. The rankings are tabulated based on postseason performance.

Here’s how Arizona’s programs fared from a national perspective:

• Women’s basketball — 2nd
• Women’s golf — 3rd
• Baseball — 7th
• Softball — 7th
• Men’s tennis — 9th
• Men’s swimming — 12th
• Women’s gymnastics — 17th
• Women’s indoor track and field — 20th
• Men’s indoor track and field — 20th
• Women’s swimming — 25th
• Women’s track and field — 30th
• Men’s track and field — 30th
• Men’s golf — 49th

Arizona did not place in men’s basketball, football, soccer, women’s tennis or volleyball because those programs missed the postseason. It’s worth noting that although Arizona men’s golf finished 49th in the country, it won a Pac-12 championship for the first time since 2004. And soccer and volleyball likely would have reached the NCAA Tournament if the postseason field wasn’t condensed from 64 teams to 48 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The Pac-12 finished as the second-best conference in college sports, only behind the SEC. Stanford did not win the Directors’ Cup for the first time since 1994. The Cardinal finished as the runner-up to Texas.

Arizona finished top 10 in the Directors’ Cup every year from 1994 to 2001, but hasn’t finished that high since. In 2018-19, the Wildcats placed 41st in the Directors’ Cup after finishing 51st in 2017-18. That was the worst finish in school history. The 2019-20 standings were never finalized because of the pandemic.

You can find the full 2020-21 standings here. Arizona finished sixth in the Pac-12 behind Stanford, USC, UCLA, Arizona State and Oregon. (Only 19 programs can be scored for the final standings, four of which must be men’s and women’s basketball, baseball and women’s volleyball.)