The 2017-18 Arizona Wildcats men's basketball team will represent the University of Arizona during the 2017-18 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The team is led by ninth-year head coach Sean Miller, and will play their home games at McKale Center in Tucson, Arizona as members in the Pac-12 Conference.
On September 26, federal prosecutors in New York announced charges of fraud and corruption against 10 people involved in college basketball, including Arizona assistant coach Emmanuel "Book" Richardson. The charges allege that Richardson and others allegedly received benefits from financial advisers and others to influence student-athletes to retain their services.
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Previous season
Entering the 2016-17 season, Arizona had been ranked in 78 consecutive AP polls and 81-straight Coaches polls. The Wildcats were ranked every week extending their streak to 97 weeks for the AP and 100 weeks for the Coaches poll. The 97 consecutive weeks in the AP poll is currently the second-longest streak in the nation behind Kansas at 161 weeks. Arizona won its first 10 conference games, the best start since the 1997-98 season when they started 16-0. During the season, Arizona was invited and participated in the Armed Forces Classic in Honolulu. Arizona defeated Michigan State. Arizona also defeated Texas A&M in the Lone Star Shootout in Houston. Arizona also defeated Sacred Heart, Northern Colorado and Santa Clara but lost to Butler in the championship game of the Las Vegas Invitational in Paradise, NV.
They finished the season 32-5, 16-2 in Pac-12 play to finish in a first place tie with Oregon. The championship marked the school's 15th Pac-12 regular season championship title. As the No. 2 seed in the Pac-12 Tournament, Arizona defeated Colorado, UCLA and Oregon (avenged from 85-58 loss on February 4 in Eugene, OR) to win the sixth Pac-12 tournament championship title since 2002. As a result, the Wildcats received the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament for the fifth consecutive year (32nd NCAA tournament appearances). As a No. 2 seed in the West region, they defeated North Dakota 100-82 and Saint Mary's 69-60 to advance to the Sweet Sixteen. However, in the Sweet Sixteen, they lost to No. 11 seed Xavier 71-73.
Wildcats Schedule Basketball Video
Offseason
2017 recruiting class
Tempe, Arizona product Alex Barcello was the first commitment in the Arizona class. He committed to Arizona on August 26 at a press conference at his high school. He chose Arizona over Butler, Indiana, Stanford and Virginia. He was a consensus four star prospect, and was ranked the consensus No. 93 overall player by the four main recruiting services.
DeAndre Ayton, a Bahamian attending school in Phoenix, was the second commitment in the Arizona class. He committed to Arizona on September 6 live on ESPN. He chose Arizona for an upset over Kansas and Kentucky. He was a consensus five star prospect, and was ranked the consensus No. 2 overall player by the four main recruiting services.
Brandon Randolph, originally from Yonkers, New York, was the third commitment in the Arizona class. He committed to Arizona on October 12. He chose Arizona over Syracuse, Oregon and Wake Forest. He was a consensus top fifty player, ranked No. 42 by the four main recruiting services.
Ira Lee, from Los Angeles, was the fourth commitment in the Arizona class. He committed to Arizona on October 20. He chose Arizona over California and Oregon. He was a consensus top-25 player and ranked as a four-star player by the four main recruiting services Rivals, ESPN, Scout, and 24/7 Sports.
Emmanuel Akot from Winnipeg, CA, was the first commitment in the 2018 Arizona class, but he will reclassified to 2017 class (fifth and final commitment). He committed to Arizona on March 9 at a press conference at his high school. He chose Arizona over Louisville, Oregon and Utah. He was a consensus five star prospect, and was ranked the consensus No. 21 overall player by the four main recruiting services.
Arizona also added Preferred Walk-on Matt Weyand from Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana, California.
School Offers by Recruit
ESPN 100
- Alex Barcello: Arizona, Butler, Indiana, Stanford and Virginia
- Brandon Randolph: Arizona Syracuse, Oregon and Wake Forest
- Ira Lee: Arizona, California and Oregon
- DeAndre Ayton: Arizona, Kansas and Kentucky
- Emmanuel Akot: Arizona, Louisville, Oregon and Utah
2018 recruiting class
Shareef O'Neal, son of Hall of Famer Shaquille O'Neal, from Santa Monica, CA was the first commitment in the Arizona class. He committed to Arizona on April 19. He chose Arizona over Baylor, California, Georgetown, Kansas State, LSU, UCLA and USC. He was a consensus five star prospect, and was ranked the consensus No. 19 overall player by the four main recruiting services.
Brandon Williams, originally from Panorama City, CA was the second commitment in the Arizona class. He committed to Arizona on June 6. He chose Arizona over Gonzaga, Kansas, UCLA and USC. He was a consensus four star prospect, and ranked the consensus No. 20 overall player by the four main recruiting services.
Jahvon Quinerly, a Hacksack, NJ native attending to Hudson Catholic Regional High School in Jersey City, NJ, was the third commitment in the Arizona class. He committed to Arizona on August 8 live on ESPNU. He chose Arizona over Villanova. He was a consensus five star prospect, and was ranked the consensus No. 16 overall player by the four main recruiting services.
Personnel
Roster
- Aug 23, 2017 - Sophomore walk-on Kory Jones will miss the 2017-18 season after tearing his left ACL.
Depth chart
Coaching staff
Preseason
Roster
On March 30, 2017, Lauri Markkanen announced that he was leaving the program to enter the 2017 NBA Draft, and would forgo his remaining eligibility. On April 5, 2017, Kobi Simmons, in a release to the fanbase, stated that he intended to enter the NBA draft and sign with an agent, thus ending his remaining eligibility with the program. On May 5, 2017, Chance Comanche, stated that he intended to sign with an agent, thus ending his remaining eligibility with the program. On May 22, 2017, Rawle Alkins, who entered the 2017 NBA draft without hiring an agent, announced that he would return to Arizona to play in 2017-18 season.
Events
On June 8, Arizona released the non-conference schedule is highlighted by marquee match-ups at McKale Center and across the country. Arizona will also host Alabama, Cal State Bakersfield, Connecticut, Long Beach State, North Dakota State, Northern Arizona and UMBC in Tucson, AZ. Arizona will travel to Phoenix to play Texas A&M at Talking Stick Resort Arena in the annual Valley of the Sun Shootout, to Nassau, Bahamas to play three of the following teams: (NC State, Northern Iowa, Purdue, SMU, Tennessee, Villanova or Western Kentucky) in the Battle 4 Atlantis at Imperial Arena, to Alburquerque to play against New Mexico, and finally face UNLV in Paradise, NV.
The 2018 Pac-12 Tournament will begin March 7 in Las Vegas and conclude on March 10. Selection Sunday occurs the following day.
In the unbalanced 18-game Pac-12 schedule, Arizona will not play the Washington teams (Washington/Washington State) at home and Los Angeles teams (UCLA/USC) on the road. Times and networks will be announced at a later date and the conference schedule will be announced in the fall.
Summer Exhibition Tour
Practices began earlier than otherwise allowed by the NCAA in preparation for a three-game foreign tour to Spain in August. (NCAA rules allow teams to conduct 10 practices in preparation for a foreign tour.) NCAA rules allow for foreign tours once every four years and the Spain tour was Arizona's first since 2012. It was the eighth in program history. The University of Arizona basketball program will travel to Spain in August for a foreign tour, including a trio of exhibition games. The Wildcats will spend time in Barcelona and Valencia Aug. 11 through Aug. 19.
UA will take on Combinado Valenciano on Saturday, Aug. 13 at 7 p.m. local at the Pabellon Municipal Fuente de San Luis in Valencia.
The trip's second exhibition features Arizona and the Mataro All-Stars on Wednesday, August 16 at 7:10 p.m. in Barcelona inside the Pavello Municipal Teresa Maria Roca prior to the final exhibition two days later against Mataro Parc Boet in the same arena.
All three of the exhibitions will be streamed online by FloHoops.com with a subscription required.
Red and Blue game
The annual Red-Blue game will take place at McKale Center on October 20, 2017.
Schedule and results
Schedule Source: ArizonaWildcats.com
Season summary
August
You had to figure the 10 full practices Arizona held before going to Spain were going to be more competitive than the games themselves. But this? The Wildcats destroyed an assembled group of players known as "Combinado Valenciano" 113-44 on Sunday in what was their biggest recorded foreign exhibition win ever, bigger even then that 136-76 win over the "Real Deal Shockers" during their 2012 Bahamas exhibition trip. Freshman guard Brandon Randolph led the Wildcats in scoring with 21 points, while Dusan Ristic had 14 rebounds and Allonzo Trier added 16. In addition, Dylan Smith had 14 points, while both Rawle Alkins and DeAndre Ayton had 10 points each.
Just in case the Arizona Wildcats didn't realize enough over the previous two seasons that depth can be swept away in a hurry, they received another reminder Wednesday in a 99-74 exhibition win over the Mataro All-Stars. Sophomore forward Rawle Alkins did not play because of a strained left shoulder, while freshman Emmanuel Akot sat out the second half with what UA later said was a minor knee strain. Then, just after walk-on guard Kory Jones was inserted late in the game, he was caught in a collision and suffered an apparent left knee or leg injury. Jones had to be helped off the court and a UA spokesman said after the game that he was still under evaluation. No other information was available.
Arizona says its traveling party is safe after a terrorist attack struck a crowded area five blocks from their hotel in Barcelona, Spain, and the Wildcats have chosen to cancel their final exhibition game on Friday. UA was scheduled to play Mataro Parc Boet in Mataro, about 25 minutes up the coast from Barcelona on Friday evening (10:10 a.m. Arizona time). "The entire Arizona Basketball travel party on the Spain trip has been accounted for and is safe following the situation in Barcelona today," a UA statement said. "Our thoughts are with those affected by today's events. "We have decided to cancel our third and final exhibition of the tour and are currently working on travel plans to return home."
November
December
January
February
March
Pac-12 Tournament
Ranking movement
*AP does not release post-NCAA tournament rankings
Player statistics
Awards and honors
Watch lists
Weekly awards
Pac-12 awards
National district awards
All-American and national awards
- Allonzo Trier
- NBC Sports Preseason First Team All-American (2017)
- DeAndre Ayton
- NBC Sports Preseason All-American Honorable Mention (2017)
All-Pac-12 team
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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