Arizona jumps back into the national polls
Arizona has re-entered the national rankings after sweeping the Washington schools over the weekend. In doing so, the Wildcats (15-6, 5-3 Pac-12) became the first Pac-12 team to produce a road sweep in conference this season.
The team is now ranked No. 23 in both the AP and Coaches Polls. More importantly, Arizona remained at No. 8 in the NCAA NET rankings following its victories at Washington and Washington State.
Arizona hosts USC (17-5, 6-3 Pac-12) this Thursday at McKale Center. The Trojans are an explosive team with some quality wins and some eye-catching losses. USC split its home stand last week, first defeating Utah 56-52 and then getting crushed by Colorado 78-57.
Entering this week, five Pac-12 teams have three conference losses. No. 14 Oregon sits atop the standings with a 7-3 record, while Colorado and USC are 6-3 in league. Stanford and Arizona are each 5-3.
Due to an awkward schedule that had Arizona playing its rival Arizona State twice in the first eight conference games, the Wildcats still have 10 regular season games remaining. Six of those contests will be at home against USC and UCLA, Oregon State and Oregon, and Washington State and Washington to conclude conference play. Arizona will travel to the Bay Area next week to face California and Stanford. Following its home stand against the Oregon schools, Arizona will be in Southern California to play USC and UCLA.