Arizona not in Sports Illustrated’s early preseason Top 25

No one in the national media is expecting much from Arizona this season

The Arizona Wildcats are usually mainstays in the Top 25 — they were ranked for 100 straight weeks before losing three games in three days in the Bahamas last November — but they will likely find themselves on the outside looking in to begin the 2018-19 season.

Sports Illustrated released its preseason Top 25 on Friday (post-NBA draft decisions), and Arizona was left out.

It’s another example of the national media having low expectations for the Wildcats next season. UA was not included in Andy Katz’s preseason Power 36, and CBS predicts Arizona will miss the NCAA Tournament. ESPN has them as a No. 10 seed.

Do these projections matter? Not really. It’s too early for them to carry any weight. But it is interesting to see that nobody is expecting much from this roster.

There’s clearly upside, as there are several former highly-rated recruits on the roster, along with two graduate transfers, but the lack of proven production is probably what is scaring the pundits off.

The last time Arizona started a season unranked was 2010-11. Since then, it has been ranked no lower than 16th to begin a year. The Wildcats have started in the Top 10 in four of the last five seasons.

SI has Oregon at No. 15 and UCLA at No. 18.

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