Arizona basketball isn’t just hot right now; they’re setting records while the rest of the country is still trying to figure out who they are. On Saturday, the Wildcats became the first team in college basketball HISTORY to beat five ranked opponents in their first nine games. That’s not a typo. No team’s ever done that before, and it’s not like they were beating fringe Top 25 teams either.
The list is nasty. They’ve already taken down No. 3 Florida, No. 3 UConn, No. 15 UCLA, No. 20 Auburn, and No. 12 Alabama. That’s five heavyweight wins before most teams even figure out who their go-to guy is. We’re not even out of the early-season shuffle, and Arizona’s out here treating the AP Top 25 like it’s a pickup game.
This isn’t just some scheduling fluke where ranked teams happen to stumble in. These are legit games with real stakes, and Arizona’s walked in every time and handled business. That UConn win in particular felt like a line-in-the-sand moment. UConn’s been the model of consistency, and Arizona out-toughed them in the second half. Same deal with Alabama, a team known for speed and pressure, and Arizona didn’t blink.
What makes this stretch even more wild is how balanced they’ve looked doing it. They rank near or inside the top 25 in just about every metric other than defensive points allowed, which is still a respectable 68 PPG.
You can talk about tournament resumes and metrics all you want, but five ranked wins before mid-December? That’s built for March, and more than deserving of the top overall seed. Coaches dream about stacking this kind of resume all season long. Arizona’s already done it, and they’ve still got time to tighten up before conference play.
This isn’t the kind of team that’s going to sneak up on anyone now. Everyone sees what’s going on. And honestly, that might be the best part. They’ve played like the better team every single time, and there’s no reason to think they’re slowing down.
