A new head coach, a mostly new roster and pending NCAA sanctions have each contributed to uncertain expectations for Arizona this season, with some national outlets predicting the Wildcats won’t finish in the top half of the Pac-12 Conference.
The league’s media, however, are a little more bullish on the UA under first-year coach Tommy Lloyd.
Arizona has been picked to finish tied with Oregon State for 4th place in the preseason poll released Wednesday. That’s slightly above last year’s 5th-place projected finish in the final season of the Sean Miller era, a prediction that proved to be spot on.
UCLA was picked to win the conference, picking up 32 of 34 first-place votes and 404 total points. Picked to finish second is Oregon (373), which got the other two first-place votes, with USC (320) in third ahead of Arizona and OSU (245 each).
Here’s what the full poll looks like:
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