The start of college basketball season is just over a week away and Tuesday the Pac-12 released its preseason predictions from both the media and coaches across the conference. No. 7 Arizona was picked to finish second behind No. 2 Stanford in both polls with the Cardinal edging out UA by just 23 points in the media poll and 17 points in the coaches poll.
Adia Barnes' squad received one first-place vote in the media poll while the team picked up two first-place votes from the coaches.
The second-place prediction is the best for the Wildcats in a preseason conference poll since 2004.
The Wildcats are coming off their most successful season in recent history and return plenty of talent led by All-American guard Aari McDonald who was named the league's defensive player of the year last season.
UA's quick ascent to the top of the conference and women's college basketball over the last two years has helped the program gain plenty of confidence heading into the upcoming season.
"I would love to see my team win a Pac-12 title, the Pac-12 Tournament," McDonald said Tuesday. "Obviously, get back to the NCAA Tournament."
Arizona has three players selected to Pac-12's all-conference team
In addition to both the media and coaches polls being released Tuesday, the all-conference teams were also announced and once again the Wildcats are represented with three players including McDonald. She's joined by forwards Cate Reese and Sam Thomas on the list. All three players were named all-conference selections last season after the Wildcats finished up the year 24-7.
It has been a busy couple weeks for McDonald, who was named as UA's first ever Associated Press preseason All-American last week. She has also been named to the watch lists for the Ann Meyers Drysdale Award (top shooting guard), Wade Trophy (best player) and Naismith Trophy (top overall player).
Reese was also named to the Naismith Trophy watch list that is made up of the top 50 players in the country. The junior forward was also named to the Katrina McClain Award watch list last week as one of the top power forwards in women's college basketball.
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