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2024-25 Arizona Wildcats Basketball Predictions and Odds to Win the National Championship

by Ryan Cobbett - 10/28/2024

Arizona Wildcats basketball predictions Caleb Love

The Arizona Wildcats did not lose consecutive games last season, as they dominated their way to a 24-7 regular season record and a 15-5 conference record. They opened up the season winning eight straight games, including wins over #2 Duke (on the road) and wins over #21 Michigan State and #23 Wisconsin. Then in conference play, they had two extended winnings streaks of four games or more on their way to completely dominating the Pac-12. However, that domination would disappear as they lost to Oregon in the conference semifinals. Despite the early conference tournament loss, the Wildcats still managed to grab a 2-Seed in March Madness. They would breeze through their first two rounds, beating 15-Seed Long Beach State and 7-Seed Dayton by double-digit points each. However, Arizona would spoil a lot of brackets as they were upset in the Sweet 16, losing to 6-Seed Clemson by five.

The Wildcats were one of the best offensive teams in the country last year, as they ranked third in the nation in PPG, averaging 87.1 PPG. They also dominated the boards last season, as they ranked second in the country, averaging 42.6 RPG as well as over 13 offensive RPG. If that wasn’t enough dominance, they also ranked fourth in APG, as they were one of seven teams to average 18 or more APG. Caleb Love ranked fourth in the PAC-12 in scoring, as he averaged 18 PPG. Love shot 83.9% from the charity stripe and was second on the team with 1.2 SPG. Oumar Ballo was second on the team averaging 12.9 PPG while also averaging 10.1 RPG. He was one of the most consistent scorers as well, as he shot 65.8% from the floor. Pelle Larsson was right behind Ballo, averaging 12.8 PPG and was their best three-point shooter as he shot 42.6% from deep. Keshad Johnson was the fourth Wildcat to average double-digit points, with 11.5 PPG while also averaging 5.9 RPG.

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Arizona Wildcats Basketball Key Additions/Losses

Despite seeing Love return to the team, the Wildcats lost a lot of key players from last year’s squad. Their most consistent scorer and leading rebounder in Ballo has transferred to Indiana to join a new and improved Hoosiers squad. In addition to Ballo, Larsson and Johnson are in the NBA, and guard Kylan Boswell (9.6 PPG) transferred to Illinois. Arizona lost four of their top five scorers from last season and has a lot of key minutes to fill.

They did just that by adding two prolific scorers to join Love and the Wildcats. Arizona brought in guard Anthony Dell’Orso from Campbell, and he averaged 19.5 PPG, 6.5 RPG, and shot 38% from beyond the arc. In addition to Dell’Orso, they brought in another mid-major scorer in Trey Townsend from Oakland. Townsend averaged 17.3 PPG, 8.1 RPG and carries a career FG% of 50%. Finally, to round out the group of transfers, the Wildcats also brought in Tobe Awaka. Awaka was a role player for the Tennessee Volunteers last season, averaging 5.1 PPG and 4.6 RPG in 13.1 minutes. In addition to the trio of transfers, the Wildcats also signed two four-star high school recruits. Guard Carter Bryant (28th nationally) and center Emmanuel Stephen (114th nationally) will join the Wildcats as key depth pieces.

Arizona Wildcats Basketball X-Factors

Post Play- Motiejus Krivas is going to fill the hole left by Ballo. Krivas backed up Ballo in a limited capacity, where he averaged just 12.1 MPG. At 7-foot-2, he should have the same rebound capabilities as Ballo while also being an efficient scorer, as Krivas shot 55.4% from the floor last season. In addition to Krivas, new transfer Townsend will be slotted in at the power forward position. Townsend is a great scorer who is always finding a way to impact the game. He also has active hands on the defensive end, as he has averaged 1.3 SPG in his career. Krivas and Townsend will be tasked with replacing the production lost by Ballo and Johnson in the post.

Arizona Wildcats Basketball Notable Games

Home- #7 Duke, #8 Baylor, #5 Iowa State, #4 Houston

Away/Neutral- #22 UCLA, #20 Cincinnati, #8 Baylor, #5 Iowa State, #1 Kansas

Arizona Wildcats Basketball Key Odds:

NCAA Champion: +2500

Final Four: +500

Conference Winner: +850

Wooden Award: Caleb Love- +1600

Wooden Award: Jaden Bradley- +18000

AP Top 25- 10th

Andy Katz’s Power 37- 17th

KenPom- 8th

Arizona Wildcats Basketball Predictions

It helps having a guy like Love returning to the team, but the Wildcats lost a lot of talent from last year’s squad. Townsend should be slated as the starting power forward, but the other two transfers in Dell’Orso and Awaka will be coming off the bench. The ceiling of this team hangs around the performance of Krivas and guard Jaden Bradley, who will both see a significant increase in minutes. However, this is their first year playing in the gauntlet that is the Big 12 conference, and therefore it is hard to gauge how well they will fare, especially in league play, where there are really no breaks. Their nonconference schedule is light, so they should be in the thick of things when conference play starts. From there, we will see how well they can handle the tough Big 12 environments. Love will have this team in the Big Dance and has great value at +1600 to be the Wooden Award as the Wildcats offense will run through him.

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