Despite its last three games being postponed due to COVID-19 protocol, the Arizona women’s basketball team has moved up in the AP Top 25.
The Wildcats are now ranked No. 9 in the country, jumping one spot because Maryland, which was ranked No. 7, lost at home to Ohio State.
Arizona is supposed to travel to the Pacific Northwest to face Oregon State and Oregon on Friday and Monday respectively, but it is unclear if they will make the trip. We should find out by Wednesday when head coach Adia Barnes has her weekly press conference.
The Oregon game is scheduled to air on ESPN2, which is the second of three games of UA’s schedule that will be broadcast on the ESPN Family of Networks. The road game at Stanford on Feb. 22 is scheduled to air on ESPN2 as well.
The Wildcats have not played since Jan. 22 due to COVID-19 issues within their own program. They were rolling before the postponements, winning three straight, including victories over No. 12 Oregon, Oregon State and Colorado.
The Wildcats (11-2, 9-2) are tied for first place in the Pac-12 in the loss column with No. 6 Stanford and No. 5 UCLA. That means, assuming all the postponed games get made up, they control their own destiny for a Pac-12 championship.
Not only do the Wildcats have to reschedule their last three games, their Jan. 8 road game at Washington has to be made up as well. That game, unlike the three others, was postponed due to COVID-19 issues within the opponent’s program.
On the men’s side, the Wildcats (13-4, 7-4) are no longer receiving votes in the AP poll. They received four last week, but the home loss to Stanford caused them to drop out altogether.
Rated 40th in NET, Arizona heads to Utah and Colorado this week. Freshman guard Kerr Kriisa will make his debut after missing the first 17 games due to an NCAA suspension.