Arizona basketball: Wildcats finalizing home-and-home series with Alabama, per report

Arizona will reportedly host Alabama in 2017-18 then travel to Tuscaloosa in 2018-19

The Arizona Wildcats are close to finalizing a home-and-home series with the Alabama Crimson Tide, reports Cecil Hurt of the Tuscaloosa News.

Hurt reports Arizona will host Alabama in the upcoming 2017-18 season and then Alabama will host Arizona in Tuscaloosa in the 2018-19 season.

The Wildcats have Dec. 9-10 open on their 2017-18 schedule, which is presumably when this series will begin.

Alabama, coached by former NBA player Avery Johnson, went 19-15 this past season, and returns nearly all of its key contributors plus adds the No. 6 recruiting class in the country, including five-star point guard Collin Sexton and four-star guard John Petty, who is the No. 30 player in the 2017 class.

Sporting News ranked Alabama 21st in its original “way-too-early” Preseason Top 25, so there’s a chance the Crimson Tide could be ranked arriving in Tucson. Arizona is Sporting News’ preseason No. 1.

Of course, this series also means former Arizona athletic director/current Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne may be returning to Tucson fairly soon.

Here’s the rest of Arizona’s non-conference schedule for the 2017-18 season:

Nov. 10 — vs. Northern Arizona

Nov. 12 — vs. UMBC

Nov. 22 — Battle for Atlantis

Nov. 23 — Battle for Atlantis

Nov. 24 — Battle for Atlantis

Nov. 29 — vs. Long Beach State

Dec. 2 — at UNLV

Dec. 5 — vs. Texas A&M (in Phoenix)

Dec. 9 or 10 — vs. Alabama

Dec. 16 — at New Mexico

Dec. 18 — vs. North Dakota State

Dec. 21 — vs. Connecticut

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