Out front in the Pac-12 on its own now, can we start believing in Arizona again?

One of the most underachieving teams in non-conference play is subtly slipping back into the national equation seven games into the conference season. 

Arizona, the preseason No. 5 team in the Coaches Poll and a hot early pick for the Final Four, got off to a disastrous start in November — losing three consecutive games in Battle 4 Atlantis to N.C. State, SMU and Purdue. The Wildcats casually got better and took care of business the rest of its non-conference slate (beating Texas A&M, Alabama and UNLV among others), but by then the idea of this team having national title potential had completely disintegrated. 

Fast forward to January and the Wildcats just scrapped their way past Stanford on the road Saturday to vault to the top of the Pac-12 standings. Even when Arizona was struggling, the Pac-12 had to be taken from the defending champs, and only a team that has underachieved worse than the Wildcats — Southern California — has arguably more talent to stop them. 

Résumé-wise, the losses to Purdue (arguably the best team in the country right now), SMU (which just beat No. 4 Wichita State) and N.C. State (which just beat No. 5 Duke) don't look so bad. If Arizona can avoid any more slip-ups similar to its loss to Colorado — its only Pac-12 setback  — a No. 1 seed in the NCAAs is not totally out of play. 

More than anything, Arizona is playing the defense coach Sean Miller demands from all his great teams, and developing strong chemistry with its veteran talent and new talent. And as bad as the team looked in November, its two star players — junior preseason All-American Allonzo Trier (19.7 ppg) and freshman standout DeAndre Ayton (20.2 ppg, 11.3 rpg) — give this team weaponry very few in the country can handle. Two future NBAers give them something teams such as Purdue and Virginia simply do not. 

Granted, Arizona is definitely not there yet, and this is one of the worst three-point shooting teams in the country (219th nationally in made triples). But the point is the Wildcats have turned the corner. 

Is Arizona good enough to reach the Final Four? That's surely too strong of a statement right now. But the team's gradual turnaround and development — amid the clouds of controversy from the FBI's recruiting probe — deserves attention.

Last season's Arizona squad faltered by losing to Xavier in the Sweet 16, bowing out much earlier than expected. That team failed to meet expectations on the sports' biggest stage. But perhaps now that this 2017-18 version has already been hit by its bricks of adversity, the story line could be much different. Will Sean Miller reach his first Final Four? It might be bold, but it's also not crazy to start asking that question again. 

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