Although Arizona was the runaway choice at Pac-12 Media Day to win the conference championship — the Wildcats received 31 of 32 first-place votes in the preseason poll — head coach Sean Miller offered a more wide-open view of the race earlier this week.
“You look at who’s going to win the conference championship (and) you probably have four or five teams that you can make the argument are in the mix to do it,” Miller said.
At 12-1 overall and a No. 7 national ranking, though, Arizona remains the front-runner as conference play opens this week. However, Utah (10-2) has moved into the top 10 for the first time since 1999 and leads the teams expected to contend for the crown. The Utes were picked second in the preseason media poll.
“I’ll put our name in the hat as I would a lot of teams in the league,” said Utah coach Larry Krystkowiak. “Anybody can get on a run and take care of their home court and win enough games on the road to put yourself in that discussion.”
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