Arizona Wildcats Top Pac-12 Media Poll

The Pac-12 media poll was released on Wednesday, and (surprise, surprise) Arizona Wildcats were picked to win the conference.

Here’s the poll in its entirety:

Arizona (381)
Utah (317)
Colorado (316)
UCLA (290)
Stanford (264)
Washington (189)
California (188)
Oregon (159)
Arizona State (155)
USC (106)
Washington State (84)
Oregon State (45)

Compared to the Coaches poll, which was announced on ESPN (subscription required) by Jeff Goodman, there were only a few changes:

-Colorado and UCLA were tied for third

-Oregon and California were flip-flopped

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Immediate Takeaways

The ‘Cats Are Coming

Arizona is the run-away favorite, and they should be. Arizona has been the most dominant team in the conference for the last three years at least. If Arizona plays their A-game, there’s no way any of these teams can beat the Wildcats.

T.J. McConnell is one of the best point guards in the Pac-12. Stanley Johnson could be the best freshman in the conference last season. Rondae Hollis-Jefferson and Brandon Ashley are two of the best forwards in the Pac-12.

Sean Miller is too good of a coach, and Arizona is too experienced to fall off to younger teams.

Experience Pays

As I just mentioned, Arizona is one of the most experienced teams in the conference. Only top recruit Stanley Johnson will see big minutes as a freshman for the Wildcats.

It’s not just about Arizona, though. The second and third place teams, Utah and Colorado, just happen to the two other veteran-laden teams in the Pac-12. The Utes have Delon Wright, Jordan Loveridge, and Brandon Taylor, all upperclassmen, leading the charge. The Buffaloes will ride Josh Scott, Xavier Johnson, and Askia Booker, also upperclassmen, to a top-three finish in the Pac-12.

It’s nice to see the established teams and players getting respect from the media. Sometimes the media gets caught up in the hype, i.e. Kentucky, and anoints the team champions before they take the court. That’s not the case in the Pac-12, and that’s partly because the young talent pool isn’t great this season.

California Continues To Be Underrated

I mentioned this when I broke down the Pac-12 Coaches Poll two weeks ago. I understand why no one is beating Cal’s drum yet, especially with the injury to center Kameron Rooks. The problem is David Kravish, Tyrone Wallace, Jabari Bird, and Jordan Mathews are too good to be the seventh or eighth best team in the conference.

Right now, Cal is better than Washington, probably UCLA, and maybe even Stanford. The Bears face an uphill battle in Cuonzo Martin’s first season as head coach, but they have the ability to put an enormous amount of pressure on opposing defenses. With Kravish, Wallace, Bird, and Mathews playing well together, only Utah and Colorado have the positional players to stop them. Arizona will be able to bother them, but I don’t think they could shut him down.

It all comes down whether Martin can put it all together.

There’s Not A Lot of Confidence Outside the Top 5

Arizona, Utah, Colorado, UCLA, and Stanford should be NCAA Tournament teams this season.

After that, the rest of the conference could hover around .500, although I think that’s unlikely. The media, however, has relatively no confidence for the bottom seven teams in the conference. You can tell by the 85-point drop between Stanford (fifth) and Washington (sixth).

Even though I think California is going to be a lot better than people think, the bottom of the Pac-12 is going to be really bad.

Oregon State, Washington State, and USC are terrible.

Oregon and Arizona State might not be much better after losing so many key players after last season.

Other than Nigel Williams-Goss, Washington has a ton of question marks.

It could be a very bad season for the bottom half of the Pac-12.

Next: Pac-12 Position Rankings: Top 5 Point Guards