The national ranking rollercoaster continues for Arizona.
The Wildcats are back in the Associated Press Top 25 after their impressive run to the Big 12 Tournament final, coming in at No. 21 in the penultimate poll. The final rankings will come out after the NCAA tourney ends in a few weeks.
It is the third different stint in the Top 25 for Arizona (22-12) this season and 10th week overall in the poll. It was in the preseason rankings at No. 10 and climbed as high as 9th before eventually falling out in late November and staying unranked until February.
The Wildcats dropped out again last week after losing their regular season finale at Kansas but then avenged that loss in the Big 12 quarterfinals and then beat Texas Tech (which is ranked No. 9) before losing to top-seeded Houston (No. 2 in the latest poll) in the conference title game.
Arizona, Houston and Texas Tech are three of five Big 12 teams in the poll, along with No. 15 Iowa State and No. 17 BYU.
The Wildcats earned the No. 4 seed in the NCAA Tournament’s East Region, opening play Friday in Seattle against No. 13 Akron. The East Region features seven ranked teams including to the UA and BYU, which is the No. 6 seed: top-seeded Duke is No. 1 in the final regular season poll, No. 2 seed Alabama is 7th, No. 3 seed Wisconsin is 13th, No. 5 seed Oregon is 25th and No. 7 seed Saint Mary’s is 20th.