Arizona men’s basketball receives votes in AP poll, women remain in Top 10

The Arizona men’s basketball team is inching closer to cracking the Top 25 again, receiving four votes in the latest AP poll, making them the No. 42 team in the country.

It is the first time UA has received votes since the Jan. 4 AP poll when the Wildcats received 25 votes, the 31st-most in the country. Then they got swept at home by USC and UCLA and received none over the next two weeks.

Mathematical metrics like KenPom (27) and NET (32) rank the Wildcats more favorably than AP. Arizona has three games this week—ASU on Monday, Stanford on Thursday and Cal on Saturday. All are at home. Win all three and a Top 25 ranking could be in the cards.

On the women’s side, Arizona remains ranked No. 10 in the AP poll. The Wildcats beat Utah 66-54 on Friday before their home game vs. Colorado on Sunday was postponed due to COVID-19 issues within the UA program.

It is the second game the Wildcats have had postponed due to COVID-19 protocols, but first due to issues within their program.

As of now they are scheduled to face USC and UCLA on the road on Friday and Sunday, respectively.

UCLA (5), Stanford (6) and Oregon (11) are also ranked in the AP Top 25. Arizona is tied with Stanford and UCLA for first place in the Pac-12 with two conference losses. However, Stanford and UA both have nine wins, while UCLA only has seven wins.