Arizona basketball may be staring at another draft night with major red, blue and white representation.
The latest consensus 2027 NBA mock draft from No Ceilings has three Wildcats landing in the top 15, with Caleb Holt leading the way at No. 3. That kind of projection says plenty about Arizona’s talent level and why the buzz in Tucson has been loud since last year’s Final Four run.
Holt’s appeal starts with the stuff that translates. At 6-foot-5, he brings strong defensive chops, real athleticism and the kind of positional size NBA teams love.
The bigger swing skill is on offense. No Ceilings points to the question of how his decision-making develops - whether he can get downhill, finish at the rim or get to the free throw line, rather than drifting into long, contested jumpers, which has been a theme in Lithuania and the Red-Blue Showcase.
Even with that in mind, he remains a projected top-five pick in June.
Arizona’s other big mover is Ivan Kharchenkov, who quietly became the glue piece of a loaded lineup last season. The 6-foot-7 German did a little bit of everything: defended multiple spots, finished well in transition and at the rim, and grew into a more connected passer as the year went on.
He put up 12.6 points, 5.4 rebounds and 2.1 assists while shooting 42.1% from three in the Big 12 and NCAA Tournament. Now the expectation is that he takes on a larger offensive role at small forward, and at 19, he has a real shot to push into the lottery and maybe even the top ten.
Then there’s Motiejus Krivas, the kind of big man NBA teams still chase. At 7-foot-2 and 21 years old, he brings good footwork, soft touch around the rim and improved shot blocking that turned heads last season. No Ceilings has him as a serious candidate for Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year, and he could also enter the All-American conversation as Arizona’s primary scoring threat inside in his fourth season with the program.
The top of the draft board is expected to feature a familiar trio of names in some order: Kansas freshman Tyran Stokes, Arkansas freshman Jordan Smith Jr, and Holt. No Ceilings has Stokes at No.
2, Bruce Branch III of BYU at No. 5, Houston center Arafan Diane at No. 16 and Baylor guard Dylan Mingo at No. 21, with West Virginia freshman guard Miles Sadler at No. 40 in the second round.
Other names from the conference in the draft mix include Baylor guard Kayden Mingo, TCU wings Micah Robinson and Xavier Edmonds, Kansas guard Tay Kinney, Iowa State guard Killyan Toure and Arizona State forward and former Arizona Wildcat Paulius Murauskas.
The conference is loaded again, but Arizona’s share of that talent is the eye-opener. If these projections hold, the Wildcats could be sending three players into the first round, with all three coming off the board in the top 15.
Arizona will get its first exhibition test on Tuesday, Oct. 13, against San Francisco. Tipoff is set for 7:00 PM MST, and the game will be shown on ESPN+.
In Other News...
Tommy Lloyd Is Making Another Staff Move Arizona Fans Will Notice
Tommy Lloyd appears poised to make another noticeable change on his Arizona staff, this time reaching into the familiar Gonzaga pipeline for help. Kevin Pangos, the former Bulldogs standout who recently wrapped up a 10-year professional playing career, is reportedly set to join the Wildcats as an assistant coach, a move that would add a fresh name with deep basketball experience to the bench.
The opening comes after Ken Nakagawa departed for a coaching job with the Salt Lake Stars, leaving Lloyd with a vacancy to fill. Arizona has not officially announced the hire, and Pangos has not publicly confirmed it either, but the reported move would mark his first coaching role after retiring from the game and give the Wildcats another assistant with a strong background in high-level basketball. [Read more 🡒]
Arizona Faces A Tough Road Test With Noah Fifita Rolling
A trip to Morgantown has the feel of a measuring-stick game for Arizona, which rolls into Week 6 having put its early stumble behind it with three straight wins. West Virginia, meanwhile, is trying to steady itself after opening 3-0 and dropping its last two, making this a tricky road spot for a Wildcats team that has started to find its rhythm behind Noah Fifita.
The senior quarterback has been at the center of that surge, stacking up one of the better passing seasons in the country and giving Arizona a clear identity on offense. The Wildcats will need that efficiency again against a Mountaineers team that has shown it can start fast, because a road test like this usually turns on who handles momentum better once the crowd gets involved. [Read more 🡒]
Arizona Faces A Telling Test Of How Far Brent Brennan Has Them
Arizona has spent the years since Rich Rodriguez left trying to find some real footing again, with the program sliding to a 42-54 mark in the seasons that followed and running through more disappointment than momentum. Brent Brennan has started to change the feel of things, and the recent win over Cincinnati was the kind of result that suggested the Wildcats might be capable of more than just hanging around in games.
Now comes a revealing stretch against West Virginia, Rodriguezs current team, that offers a sharper measure of where Arizona really stands under Brennan. It is the sort of matchup that can show whether the improvement is sustainable or still just a promising early chapter, especially with the Wildcats needing to prove they can keep their level against a program with its own expectations and edge. [Read more 🡒]