Expectations are high, but a little too high, I think. Our "point guard" has not played point guard before. He is a transfer from Xavier, where he was a shooting guard. But we don't have a true point guard until next year, when T.J. McConnel, a transfer from Duquesne will be able to play. We also have 2 true freshman starters. Yes, they came in highly rated, but they are freshmen and they will make mistakes. Our best player right now is sophomore Nick Johnson, Dennis Johnson's nephew and son of former ASU player "jumping" joey Johnson.
The PAC-12 is, once again, pretty bad overall, maybe a little better than last year. But last year only the tournament winner went to the NCAA's. This year, that could be the case again, so no team is a lock to even get to the NCAA tournament. I would like to think UA can do it, but it is too early in the season to make that kind of prediction. Heck, we haven't even played a ranked team yet. The big test will be December 15, when we play Florida, ranked 5 (AP) or 6 (ESPN) in the country.