Arizona basketball: Wildcats jump up to 5th in AP Poll

Back in the top five

The Arizona Wildcats jumped up four spots in this week’s AP Poll from 9th to 5th after a couple of close home wins against the Bay Area schools.

Here’s a look at the entire Top 25:

Arizona moves up thanks to several teams in front of them dropping games. The Oregon Ducks were taken down by the UCLA Bruins, Wisconsin lost to Northwestern, Louisville lost to Virginia, and UNC lost to Duke.

This goes counter to what the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee released on Saturday morning, where they had Arizona behind Oregon, even after the Ducks’ loss in Westwood. Both teams won close games on Saturday night after the seedings were announced.

The Gonzaga Bulldogs remain No. 1, and got through their toughest remaining regular season test on Saturday when they traveled to St. Mary’s and won by ten. Gonzaga’s likely to finish the regular season undefeated, and have the WCC Tournament to get through as well. If Gonzaga were to enter the tourney without a loss, there’s no reason to think they wouldn’t be the 1-seed in the West.

It should be noted that the top four teams in this week’s AP Poll were the four 1-seeds released by the committee on Saturday, just not in the same order.

Arizona returns to action on Thursday night when they take on Washington State in Pullman. That game is scheduled to start at 7 PM MT, and will be broadcast on Fox Sports 1.

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