WBCA/USA Today Sports poll places Arizona women’s basketball at No. 5

The coaches remain in fairly close alignment with the media as teams head into conference play. Arizona women’s basketball remained at No. 4 in the Associated Press poll released on Monday. On Tuesday, the WBCA/USA TODAY Sports coaches poll had the Wildcats at No. 5 for the second straight week.

The Wildcats have not played since Dec. 17 because of the cancellation of their game against Texas on Dec. 19 due to COVID-19 protocols within the Arizona program. They did not have games scheduled last week.

The program has not released information about the status of the players and coaches in relation to quarantine, but at least some of the players went home for Christmas, indicating they are not in quarantine. Those include at least Sam Thomas, whose column for All Sports Tucson stated that she had returned to Las Vegas for the holidays.

How Arizona figures into the next coaches poll is anyone’s guess, as the team will not be playing again this week. Both UCLA and USC have shut down their programs for at least part of the week. UCLA postponed games against both Arizona and Arizona State. So far, USC has only postponed its game against Arizona.

The Wildcats are now scheduled to start Pac-12 play against Washington State on Jan. 7. Their game against Washington on Jan. 9 may be in jeopardy after the Huskies postponed games against both Stanford and California this week.

With their game against Washington postponed, Stanford is slated to defend its new No. 3 ranking at Washington State on Jan. 2. The Cardinal fell one spot this week in the coaches' poll after losing at No. 1 South Carolina on Dec. 21.

The Wildcats and Cardinal are the only two Pac-12 teams in the WBCA poll, but Colorado, UCLA, and Oregon State are receiving votes. The Buffaloes stand two spots outside the poll with 55 points. The Bruins received three points and the Beavers garnered two, placing them at 33 and 34 in the votes, respectively.