ESPN stated, “For Arizona, it was its road win at UConn in mid-November — after already notching wins away from home over Florida and UCLA (Auburn and Alabama would soon join that group)” that placed it in the group of National Championship contenders.
Connecticut and Michigan are the other teams in the ESPN “Tier I: National championship favorites” among the “Men’s college basketball tiers: Ranking 47 teams from contenders to Cinderellas” posted on Thursday.
Arizona won 71-67 at Connecticut in November. Connecticut was with star freshman guard Braylon Mullins and starting center and leading rebounder Tarris Reed Jr. against Arizona. The Wildcats beat the Huskies in large part because of a 39-19 rebounding advantage…