20170329 MCDAAG Deandre Ayton on the wing

The 2017–18 Arizona Wildcats men's basketball team represented the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it ...

during the 2017–18 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The team was led by ninth-year head coach Sean Miller, and played their home games at McKale Center in

Tucson, Arizona Tucson (; ; ) is a city in Pima County, Arizona, United States, and its county seat. It is the second-most populous city in Arizona, behind Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix, with a population of 542,630 in the 2020 United States census. The Tucson ...

as members in the

Pac-12 Conference The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the Western United States. It participates at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I level for all sports, and its Co ...

. They finished the season 27–8, 14–4 in Pac-12 play to win the regular season championship. They defeated

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

, and

USC USC may refer to: Education United States * Universidad del Sagrado Corazón, Santurce, Puerto Rico * University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina ** University of South Carolina System, a state university system of South Carolina * ...

to win the Pac-12 tournament. As a result, they received the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament where, as a No. 4 seed, they were upset in the first round by No. 13 seed Buffalo. Due to 2017–18 NCAA Division I men's basketball corruption scandal, 18 wins from this season have been vacated. The following 9 wins against Northern Arizona, UMBC, Cal State Bakersfield, Long Beach State, UNLV,

Texas A&M Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, TA&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas, United States. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of ...

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

would count in the overall record as the player involved in the scandal did not play in these games.

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 Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

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

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. Arizona defeated Michigan State. Arizona also defeated

in the Lone Star Shootout in

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

. 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 Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

. 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

and

(avenged from 85 to 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 North Dakota ( ) is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota people, Dakota and Sioux peoples. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minneso ...

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 73–71.

Offseason

2017 recruiting class

Tempe, Arizona Tempe ( ; ''Oidbaḍ'' in O'odham language, O'odham) is a city in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, with the Census Bureau reporting a 2020 population of 180,587. The city is named after the Vale of Tempe in Greece. Tempe is located in t ...

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 Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

, Stanford and

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

. 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 ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

. He chose Arizona for an upset over

and

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

. 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 Yonkers () is the List of municipalities in New York, third-most populous city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and the most-populous City (New York), city in Westchester County, New York, Westchester County. A centrally locate ...

, was the third commitment in the Arizona class. He committed to Arizona on October 12. He chose Arizona over Syracuse,

and Wake Forest. He was a consensus top fifty player, ranked No. 42 by the four main recruiting services. Ira Lee, from

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, was the fourth commitment in the Arizona class. He committed to Arizona on October 20. He chose Arizona over

and Oregon. He was a consensus top-25 player and ranked as a four-star player by the four main recruiting services

Rivals A rivalry is the state of two people or Social group, groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each ...

Scout Scout may refer to: Youth movement *Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement ** Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom ** Scouts BSA, sect ...

, and 24/7 Sports. Emmanuel Akot from

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

, 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

. 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 Santa Ana (Spanish language, Spanish for ) is a city in and the county seat of Orange County, California, United States. Located in the Greater Los Angeles region of Southern California, the city's population was 310,227 at the 2020 census. As ...

. 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

FBI investigation

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 payments from financial advisers and others to influence student-athletes to retain their services and in turn used those payments to secure recruits. Following the news, Richardson was suspended and relieved of all duties. On January 11, 2018, UA fired assistant basketball coach Book Richardson after his appeal failed. On February 23, 2018, according to a published report by ESPN, an FBI wiretap revealed that head coach Sean Miller talked with Christian Dawkins (another key figure in the scandal) to discuss paying their top prospect, Deandre Ayton, $100,000 to commit to Arizona, with the monetary situation being dealt with directly with him. While Miller would not coach their next game that day against Oregon, Arizona allowed Ayton to play. Coach Sean Miller subsequently denied the allegation and the University of Arizona announced he will remain the coach of Arizona Wildcats men's basketball team, with Ayton also allowed to continue playing with the team for the rest of the season. However, as a consequence of the report involving Ayton, both of Arizona's remaining committed recruits from the class of 2018, Shareef O'Neal and Brandon Williams, announced they had decommitted.

Personnel

Roster

*Aug 23, 2017 – Sophomore walk-on Kory Jones will miss the 2017–18 season after tearing his left ACL. *Sept 27, 2017 – Sophomore Rawle Alkins out 8–12 weeks with a broken right foot. *Feb 22, 2018 – Junior Allonzo Trier ruled ineligible by NCAA for testing positive of a banned substance.

Depth chart

Coaching staff

Preseason

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. After freshman Brandon Randolph won the dunk contest, the Blue team, led by Deandre Ayton, knocked off the Red team, 55–37.

Preseason rankings

For the fifth time in the past six seasons, Arizona Wildcats voted 2017-18 Pac-12 preseason favorite by media poll. On October 19, Arizona was pre-season ranked 5th in USA Today coaches preseason poll. On November 1, Arizona was pre-season ranked No. 3 in AP Top 25 preseason poll. In its preseason college preview, Lindy's Sports ranked the Wildcats No. 2 in the country. The Blue Ribbon Yearbook ranked UA No. 2 in its preseason rankings. Athlon Sports ranked the Wildcats No. 1 in the country. Street & Smith ranked UA No. 1 in the country. KenPom ranked UA No. 3 in the country.

NBC Sports NBC Sports is an American programming division for NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, that is responsible for sports broadcasts on their broadcast network NBC, the Cable television, cable channels NBC owns, and on Peacock (streaming service) ...

ranked the Wildcats No. 3 in the country. CBS Sports ranked No. 2 for the Wildcats. ESPN ranked No. 2 for the Wildcats.

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with a circulation of over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellen ...

ranked UA No. 1 in the country.

Schedule and results

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 Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

, Cal State Bakersfield, UConn, Long Beach State, North Dakota State, Northern Arizona and UMBC in Tucson, AZ. Arizona will travel to Phoenix to play

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 Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

, Villanova or Western Kentucky) in the Battle 4 Atlantis at Imperial Arena, to Albuquerque to play against

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

, 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. , - !colspan=12 style=, Spain Exhibition Tour , - !colspan=12 style=, Exhibition , - !colspan=12 style=, Non-conference regular season , - !colspan=12 style=, Pac-12 regular season , - !colspan=12 style=, Pac-12 Tournament , - !colspan=12 style=, NCAA tournament Schedule Source: ArizonaWildcats.com

Ranking movement

*''Number in italic indicates the number of first place votes'' ^Coaches did not release a Week 2 poll.
*AP does not release post-NCAA Tournament rankings

Player statistics

Awards and honors

Weekly awards

*Allonzo Trier **Week 1, Pac-12 Player of the Week (Nov. 13) **NBC Sports Player of the Week (Nov. 13) *Deandre Ayton ** Week 4, Pac–12 Player of the Week (Dec. 4) ** Wayman Tisdale National Freshman of the Week (Dec 10) ** Wayman Tisdale National Freshman of the Week (2) (Feb 25) **NCAA Men's Player of the Week (Jan. 1) **NBC Sports Player of the Week (Jan. 1) **Pac-12 Player of the Week (2) (Jan. 2) *Dusan Ristic **Pac-12 Player of the Week (Jan. 29)

Watchlists

*Allonzo Trier ::Jerry West Award Preseason Watch List (2018) ::Oscar Robertson Award Preseason Watch List (2018) ::Lute Olson Award Preseason Watch List (2018) ::Naismith Trophy Award Preseason Watch List (2018) ::John R. Wooden Award Preseason Watch List (2018) ::John R. Wooden Award Midseason Top 25 (2018) *Rawle Alkins ::Julius Erving Award Preseason Watch List (2018) ::Naismith Trophy Award Preseason Watch List (2018) ::John R. Wooden Award Preseason Watch List (2018) *Deandre Ayton ::Karl Malone Award Preseason Watch List (2018) ::Oscar Robertson Award Preseason Watch List (2018) ::Naismith Trophy Award Preseason Watch List (2018) ::John R. Wooden Award Preseason Watch List (2018) ::John R. Wooden Award Midseason Top 25 (2018) ::Oscar Robertson Trophy Midseason Watch List (2018) ::Karl Malone Award Finalist (2018) ::Naismith Trophy Award Finalist (2018) *Dušan Ristić ::Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Award Preseason Watch List (2018)

Pac-12 awards

*Deandre Ayton ::Pac-12 Tournament Most Outstanding Player (2018) ::Pac-12 Player of the Year (2018) ::Pac-12 Freshman Player of the Year (2018)

National district awards

*Deandre Ayton ::USBWA District IX Player of the Year (2018)

All-American and national awards

*Allonzo Trier ::AP Pac-12 First Team All-American (2018) ::AP Preseason First Team All-American (2017) ::Street & Smith Preseason Second Team All-American (2017) ::NBC Sports Preseason First Team All-American (2017) ::ESPN Preseason First Team All-American (2017) ::Sports Illustrated Preseason First Team All-American (2017) ::USA Today Preseason First Team All-American (2017) ::Blue Ribbon Preseason Second Team All-American (2017) ::Athlon Sports Preseason Second Team All-American (2017) ::Sporting News Preseason Second Team All-American (2017) ::USBWA District IX All-District Team (2018) ::NABC District 20 Second Team (2018) ::AP All-American Honorable mention (2018) *Deandre Ayton ::Karl Malone Power Forward of the Year Award (2018) ::AP Pac-12 Player of the Year (2018) ::AP Pac-12 Newcomer of the Year (2018) ::AP Pac-12 First Team All-American (2018) ::NBC Sports First Team All-American (2018) ::AP Preseason Second Team All-American (2017) ::NBC Sports Preseason Third Team All-American (2017) ::Blue Ribbon Preseason Third Team All-American (2017) ::Athlon Sports Preseason Third Team All-American (2017) ::Sporting News Preseason Third Team All-American (2017) ::Sports Illustrated Preseason Honorable Mention All-American (2017) ::USA Today Preseason Honorable Mention All-American (2017) ::USA Today First Team All-American (2018) ::Sporting News First Team All-American (2018) ::USBWA District IX All-District Team (2018) ::USBWA First Team All-American (2018) ::NABC First Team All-American (2018) ::NABC District 20 First team (2018) ::AP First Team All-American (2018)

All-Pac-12 team

*Deandre Ayton ::All Pac-12 First team (2018) ::All Pac-12 Freshman team (2018) ::All Pac-12 Defensive team (2018) *Allonzo Trier ::All Pac-12 First team (2018) *Dusan Ristic ::All Pac-12 Second team (2018) *Rawle Alkins ::All Pac-12 Honorable mention (2018)

All-Pac-12 tournament team

*Deandre Ayton ::All Pac-12 tournament team (2018) *Dusan Ristic ::All Pac-12 tournament team (2018)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arizona Wildcats men's basketball team 2017-18 2017–18 Pac-12 Conference men's basketball season 2017 in sports in Arizona 2018 in sports in Arizona 2018 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament participants 2017-18