Wildcats Pick Up Where They Left Off

Arizona ended last season at the top and the Wildcats will start the defense of their national championship at the same place.

With the top eight players returning from the school’s first NCAA basketball championship team, Arizona was the No. 1 team Thursday in The Associated Press’ preseason college basketball poll.

The Wildcats received 30 first-place votes and 1,708 points from the 71-member national media panel to edge Kansas, which received one less No. 1 vote and 1,684 points.

“My feeling about preseason polls is they’re the best guess people can make. Really, that’s where it is right now,” Arizona coach Lute Olson said Thursday. “It shouldn’t be a case where we would be surprised because we returned our top eight players from a year ago and so it’s nice recognition, but it’s not going to make any difference.”

The No. 1 ranking is the first for Arizona since 1988-89 when the Wildcats held it for four weeks.

Olson has told the team not to be concerned with the rankings.

“I said don’t worry whether someone has got you first or fifth or eighth or second,” he said, “just be involved with what your own team expectations are.”

Arizona is the first defending champion to be ranked No. 1 in the preseason since Arkansas in 1994-95.

Three Atlantic Coast Conference teams rounded out the top five: Duke, which had eight first-place votes, North Carolina, which was No. 1 on four ballots, and Clemson.

Cougars picked ninth in Pacific-10

Arizona was picked to win the Pacific-10 title in voting Thursday at the annual coaches’ media day in Los Angeles. UCLA was second followed by Stanford, Washington, California, USC, Oregon State, Oregon, Washington State and Arizona State.