Arizona will open the 2023-24 college basketball season as the Pac-12’s highest-ranked team.

The Wildcats debuted at No. 12 in the preseason AP Top 25 poll released on Monday. Fresh off a 28-win season and a conference tournament title, Tommy Lloyd reloaded in the offseason and has the Wildcats positioned to make another run at the Pac-12 regular-season crown in Year 3.

USC is the only other team from the league ranked in the initial poll. UCLA, last year’s regular-season champion, received 47 votes in the preseason poll (what would be No. 28).

Last season, Arizona lost 59-55 to 15-seed Princeton in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament.

Four of that team’s top six scorers are all gone.

Oumar Ballo, Kylan Boswell, and Pelle Larsson return for the 2023-24 season. They’ll be joined by transfers Caleb Love (North Carolina), Jaden Bradley (Alabama), and Keshad Johnson (San Diego State). KJ Lewis headlines a four-man freshman class.

Arizona begins its season at home on Nov. 6 against Morgan State.

The rest of the preseason AP poll can be seen below:

  1. Kansas
  2. Duke
  3. Purdue
  4. Michigan State
  5. Marquette
  6. UConn
  7. Houston
  8. Creighton
  9. Tennessee
  10. FAU
  11. Gonzaga
  12. Arizona
  13. Miami (FL)
  14. Arkansas
  15. Texas A&M
  16. Kentucky
  17. San Diego State
  18. Texas
  19. North Carolina
  20. Baylor
  21. USC
  22. Villanova
  23. Saint Mary’s
  24. Alabama
  25. Illinois

Receiving votes: Wisconsin 53, Colorado 49, UCLA 47, St. John’s 47, Maryland 34, Virginia 27, Auburn 27, TCU 24, Mississippi St. 20, Kansas St 13, Xavier 8, Memphis 7, Missouri 6, Boise St. 4, Indiana 3, Florida 2, Coll of Charleston 2, New Mexico 1, Drake 1