Wise Decision

Nic Wise has announced that he will return for his Senior season and Andy Katz now has the Cats finishing in the top 3 of the Pac-10.

Quoted from Katz:

But when grading schools that will dramatically benefit from players' decisions to withdraw from the draft, Arizona will be near the top of the list.

Nic Wise's decision to return to Arizona for his senior season gives new coach Sean Miller one of the top point guards in the Pac-10, a scoring threat every time he touches the ball, and the guarantee that the Wildcats won't go through any kind of Indiana-like transition period.

Miller wants to temper the enthusiasm in his new locale, as any first-year coach would. But getting Wise back to go along with role players Kyle Fogg and Jamelle Horne and impact newcomers Solomon Hill, Kevin Parrom and Kyryl Natyazhko means the Cats should be considered for a top-half finish in the Pac-10.

That would have seemed impossible a month ago, when it appeared Wise would leave with Jordan Hill and Chase Budinger and before Miller locked up three key recruits. But after Cal and Washington, the Pac-10 is wide open. Arizona has just as good a shot to finish third among a group of teams that includes UCLA, Oregon State, Oregon and Washington State.