SB Nation • 6 min read

Big 12 coaches project worst conference finish in 8 years for Arizona women’s basketball

In its first year in the Big 12, Arizona women’s basketball finished in the top half of the conference. The coaches don’t expect the Wildcats to get close to that in its second year according to the preseason

poll released on Thursday morning. The program was also shut out of preseason all-conference selections.

The coaches projected a 14th-place finish for the Wildcats in the 16-team league. If the voters are correct, it would be the first time Arizona finished in the bottom quarter of its league since the 2017-18 season when it was the No. 11 seed in the Pac-12 Tournament. That was the year before Aari McDonald and Cate Reese suited up for the Wildcats. Arizona won just six games that year and went 2-16 in conference play.

The projection is a precipitous drop for UA. The voters placed them seventh in last year’s preseason poll. That was fairly accurate, as the Wildcats finished eighth.

The coaches do not expect any of the Wildcats’ players to be among the league’s standouts. Arizona was without a preseason all-conference selection for the second straight year.

TCU was picked to win the league for the first time in program history. Iowa State’s Audi Crooks was selected preseason player of the year.

The coaches obviously have doubts about the ability of the remade Arizona roster to compete in the Big 12. That’s an understandable position.

In her first year at the helm, head coach Becky Burke doesn’t have any healthy players who have started a Power 4 game. Her only returner from last year’s roster is Montaya Dew, who will be rehabbing the second knee injury of her career for at least the nonconference portion of the schedule. Besides Dew, only Achol Magot has appeared in a Power 4 game, and she has less than 35 minutes of experience in two seasons.

The Wildcats will work to disprove the doubters. At local media day, Burke said she believed the team would be more competitive than people expect.

“I think it’s going to be a year that everyone’s pleasantly surprised,” Burke said. “I think we’re going to be a lot more competitive than people think. And then I think it’s going to give them something super, super exciting to look forward to in the coming years.”

The league will also have a preseason media poll. That poll will be released the week of Oct. 27.