Arizona Wildcats Matchup vs. Blue Blood Program Among Best Non-Conference Games
A lot has been made about the stiff competition the Arizona Wildcats are going to be facing off against in the Big 12.
Their inclusion in the mega-conference following realignment and the dissolving of the Pac-12 made an already deep league even deeper. There are multiple championship contenders, evidenced by the Wildcats being the No. 10 ranked team in the preseason polls, yet seeing four conference foes ahead of them.
The Kansas Jayhawks, Houston Cougars, Iowa State Cyclones and Baylor Bears all were in the top nine. A little lower in the rankings were the Cincinnati Bearcats.
Whoever survives and wins the regular season championship and conference tournament will have certainly earned it. All of the teams will be battled and tested for postseason play after a grueling regular season.
Given how many highly-rated games will be played in conference, no one would have blamed teams for taking things a little easy during out-of-conference play.
But, that isn’t the route Arizona took.
They have some big-time matchups coming up, including one against their former Pac-12 rivals, the UCLA Bruins. The Wisconsin Badgers are on the docket as well and a potential matchup against the Indiana Hoosiers or Gonzaga Bulldogs could await in the Battle 4 Atlantis Championship should things fall that way during the tournament.
However, there is one scheduled game that everyone is looking forward to. The Wildcats will be facing off against one of the Blue Blood programs, as the Duke Blue Devils are coming to Tuscon to play at the McKale Center on November 22nd.
This will be the second of a home-and-home series that began last season. Arizona went on the road to Cameron Indoor and upset the No. 2 ranked Blue Devils.
Despite major changes to their respective lineups, it is the No. 3 ranked non-conference game this season in the opinion of Kerry Miller of Bleacher Report.
“Can the Blue Devils return the favor in a matchup where both teams are adjusting to life without four of the five starters from that game? Or will the Wildcats increase what is presently a 27-game winning streak at home in nonconference play?
Arizona will probably need to shoot better than the 8-for-28 from distance that it did in the opener against Canisius, lest Duke capitalize on what will be a size advantage across the board,” Miller wrote.
This will be an incredibly fun game for college basketball fans to witness. The only games that were ranked higher than this one are the Alabama Crimson Tide's road trip to face the North Carolina Tar Heels on December 4th and North Carolina's matchup against Kansas on November 8th.
