Arizona picked to finish 4th in Pac-12

The Arizona Wildcats have been picked to finish fourth in the Pac-12 in the conference’s preseason media poll, it was announced Thursday.

It is Arizona’s lowest preseason conference ranking since 2009-10, Sean Miller’s first year at the UA.

Oregon, UCLA and Washington were selected to finish in the Top 3 (in that order). Arizona did receive one first-place vote, however.

Here is what the entire poll looks like:

The Wildcats have won the Pac-12 four of the past five seasons but it’s not surprising to see them ranked that low, since they lost their entire starting five and have an unproven, albeit talented, roster.

Some even thought Arizona would fail to crack the Top 4, but it has never finished worse than that in the Miller era, so it’s understandable why some media members would hesitate to rank them that low.

Preseason rankings don’t carry much weight, but they do show how different external expectations are for Arizona this season. The Wildcats were preseason favorites in five of the past six seasons.