It's not unexpected, but it is the reality. Arizona dropped out of the latest Associated Press Top 25 poll Monday as the new rankings were released. It is the first time this season the Wildcats will not be ranked to begin a week.
UA (11-5, 1-2 Pac-12) was swept on its trip to Oregon last week losing an overtime game to then-No. 9 Oregon by one point followed by a double-digit loss to Oregon State Sunday night in Corvallis that left head coach Sean Miller saying his team was "outclassed" by the Beavers.
The losses were the first of conference play for the Wildcats, but they were enough to push Arizona off the list. UA went into last week as the No. 24 team in the country a week after nearly falling out of the rankings at No. 25.
Interestingly enough, however, a few of the teams Arizona has dropped games to this season are on the rise. Of the five opponents to have knocked off the Wildcats so far three of them are ranked inside the top 25 with two of them now being the top two teams in the country.
Gonzaga continues to hold the No. 1 spot in the AP's top 25 poll while Baylor made a jump up to No. 2 in Monday's release. Meanwhile, Oregon moved up a spot to No. 8 after defeating both Arizona and Arizona State.
A team Arizona has a win over this season is Illinois and the Illini moved into the latest AP Top 25 poll with a 12-5 record as they check in at No. 24 this week after being previously unranked.
The Wildcats face Utah and Colorado this week as they make their return to Tucson and McKale Center, and one of the games will present the latest opportunity to face a ranked team as the Buffaloes moved up from No. 25 to No. 20 in the latest poll.
Miller's team is going to have an opportunity to move back into the rankings as the season moves along as UA continues to receive votes, but there will certainly be some work to do. Currently, Stanford is receiving more votes than UA and is sitting just outside the top 25.
Something positive for the Wildcats is that the NCAA Net rankings still have them high up on the list and that is something that could play a big part in how the season ends up for UA.
The rankings are one of the tools used by the NCAA to determine seeding and placement in the NCAA Tournament and Arizona has steadily remained inside the top 20 this year. Currently, the Wildcats sit at No. 18 on the list but did drop down after its two latest losses after previously moving up to No. 12 on the list.
Stanford (No. 11) and Oregon (No. 13) are the two Pac-12 programs ahead of UA on that list.
The Wildcats will be back in action this Thursday night as they host Utah (10-5, 1-2) at McKale Center with tip off set for 6:30 p.m. MST.
