Arizona Wildcats hold surprising spot in latest NCAA NET Rankings
It has been a disappointing start to the 2024-25 college basketball season for the Arizona Wildcats (7-5, 1-0).
Tommy Lloyd's team started the season ranked No. 10 in the country in the preseason AP Top 25 Poll. But Arizona lost four of its first seven games to tumble out of the rankings.
The schedule has been anything but kind to the Wildcats, with all five losses coming to teams who will almost assuredly be in the 2025 NCAA Tournament. Entering Saturday's slate of college basketball games, the combined record of those five opponents was 56-9.
The Wildcats have won three consecutive games, and Monday's 90-81 Big 12 win over TCU was encouraging on multiple fronts. Fifth-year shooting guard Caleb Love had his best game in almost a year — and arguably his best game in an Arizona uniform — with 33 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists.
Arizona's NCAA NET Ranking Is Surprising
Despite a 7-5 record, the Wildcats are currently ranked No. 21 in the NCAA NET Rankings, which historically translates to an at-large bid in the NCAA Tournament. The NET, which stands for the NCAA Evaluation Tool, is used as the primary sorting tool for selection and seeding for the NCAA Tournament.
So why are the Wildcats ranked so high?
The answer is relatively straightforward: strength of schedule.
The NET Rankings have a new metric this season called WAB — Wins Above Bubble. It's used to evaluate how many more wins a team has compared to what an NCAA Tournament "bubble" team would be expected to have against the same schedule, using the NET Rankings as the basis for opponent strength. Arizona is 6-1 in the WAB metric, which is one of the reasons why they are ranked in the top 25.
Michigan State A Good Comparison For Arizona
Last season Michigan State finished No. 22 in the NET Rankings with a record of 18-14 and the Spartans received a No. 9 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Arizona could find itself with a similar record playing in the loaded Big 12. With the strength of the Big 12, combined with the Wildcats' tough nonconference schedule, 18 wins should be enough to earn a berth in March Madness.
To get to 18 regular-season wins Arizona will have to go 11-8 the rest of the way — which would mean a 12-8 record in the Big 12.
