Sonoran Hot Reads: Arizona the toughest college basketball team to forecast

Who really knows what we’re going to see this year?

We are now on the eve of the 2016-17 college basketball season commencing. Of course, the Arizona Wildcats are in Hawai’i to take on the Michigan State Spartans in the Armed Forces Classic. Here’s the thing though....we don’t really know what to expect from either team. In fact, Matt Norlander thinks these are the two toughest teams to forecast in the entire sport. Here’s part of what Norlander says about the Cats:

Arizona's averaged 27 wins in Sean Miller's time with the program. It doesn't seem likely this team will hit that mark in 2016-17, but on the whole, the Wildcats are so hard to peg right now. Freshman Lauri Markkanen, I think, will be a top-five freshman in the country. His newbie teammate, Rawle Alkins, should also shine. Kadeem Allen will be one of the most underrated players in the Pac-12, I'm sure. It could all come together and Trier could be eligible and this team could still figure into the Final Four conversation. But the variance for Arizona's season is fairly wide right now

- But this uncertainty didn’t stop our Matt Sheeley from making 50 predictions about this season

@comanche2414 @KeanuPinder28 demonstrating navy tactics http://pic.twitter.com/8FqllThulX

— Joe Pasternack (@Joe_Pasternack) November 10, 2016

- Nick Richards will be choosing between Arizona, Kentucky, and Syracuse on Thursday. He breaks down each of the schools with MADEHoops

- I respect Steve Kerr for not being afraid to voice his thoughts on social issues. Here he is taking two minutes to talk about the Presidential Election:

Steve Kerr -- "this is my rant" -- for 2+ minutes on the presidential election: "Maybe we should've seen this coming" http://pic.twitter.com/MJOcSdXxHH

— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) November 10, 2016

Football

- This probably won’t surprise those who watched the game, but a couple of Washington State offensive linemen graded out among the best by Pro Football Focus

- Nick Foles and Brooks Reed led the way in our weekly look at how former Cats did in the NFL

- Our reader Pac-12 Power Rankings ended up having a clear division between the top five teams in the conference and the other seven

- Arizona will wear the chrome red helmets this week

- Rich Rodriguez’s relationship with his son’s coach at Catalina Foothills is an interesting one, but one that doesn’t involve a lot of football

Baseball

- Jay Johnson will formally introduce his 2017 recruiting class Thursday at noon, but for now, the Wildcats’ class is ranked 24th by Perfect Game

- Scott Kingery was 0-for-2 with a couple of walks leading off for Tim Tebow’s Scottsdale Scorpions.

Other sports

- It’s the early signing period for most sports, so here is info on the recruiting classes for: Women’s basketball, Gymnastics, Volleyball, and Women’s tennis,

Tucson news

- There’s a meteor shower coming next Friday. Here are the details on how to get the most out of it

- A prescribed fire is going on around Mt. Lemmon this week, so don’t freak out

- PACC is putting a temporary halt to voluntary pet surrenders due to shelter illnesses

- This tortoise rescued at Speedway and 7th Ave. has apparently become some sort of joke for KVOA

Big horn sheep are a few of the residents at @desertmuseum in @VisitTucsonAZ @SmartMeetings http://pic.twitter.com/cF4rpXfzuE

— Holly Woolard (@SmartMtgsHolly) November 9, 2016

from Arizona Desert Swarm - All Posts http://www.azdesertswarm.com/2016/11/10/13581504/sonoran-hot-reads-arizona-wildcats-toughest-college-basketball-team-to-forecast-michigan-state
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