Arizona men’s basketball picked to finish runner-up in Pac-12 preseason media poll

Arizona men’s basketball defied expectations to win the Pac-12 in Tommy Lloyd’s first season.

They’ll have to do it again this year.

The Wildcats were picked to finish runner-up behind UCLA in the Pac-12 preseason media poll, released Wednesday ahead of the conference’s men’s basketball media day.

UCLA received 26 of 32 first-place votes, with Arizona and Oregon each receiving three and Stanford getting one.

Last year Arizona was predicted to finish in a tie for fourth-place but won the league outright.

UCLA, a preseason top-10 team, is widely considered the favorite to win the Pac-12 this year behind returning guards Tyger Campbell and Jaime Jaquez Jr. and freshmen Amari Bailey and Adem Bona.

Arizona outnumbers UCLA on the All-Conference preseason teams, however, with Azuolas Tubelis on First Team and Kerr Kriisa and Pelle Larsson on Second Team.

Pac-12 men’s basketball preseason media poll

1. UCLA (26) 386
2. Arizona (3) 352
3. Oregon (3) 336
4. USC 300
5. Stanford (1) 239
6. Colorado 207
7. Arizona State 193
8. Washington State 185
9. Washington 158
10. Utah 102
11. California 69
12. Oregon State 47