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“I think I'm going to bring a lot of experience,� Kharchenkov said. “I think that'll be my biggest advantage over other players.�

Three days later, Kharchenkov turned 19 years old. A freshman, one who has never played basketball in college, or basketball of any sort on American soil before his arrival last summer.

But, like many of the freshmen the Wildcats will be forced to rely on this season, Kharchenkov does have high-level experience, in his case coming from playing with and against older players in Germany’s top-shelf Bundesliga as a member of Bayern Munich.

He’s already been a pro, having actually signed a three-year deal with Bayern that was supposed to take him through 2026-27 before his contract was bought out.

And of Kharchenkov's new Arizona teammates, forward Koa Peat is a four-time FIBA gold medalist and potential NBA first-round pick, guard Brayden Burries is a well-accomplished 20-year-old who is also an NBA prospect while forward Dwayne Aristode has played with the Netherlands senior national team.

They’ll have to survive in a college game that has gotten older, with the NCAA approving extra eligibility for many reasons and NIL cash giving all but guaranteed NBA first-rounders incentive to stick around as long as possible.

But they're mostly used to dealing with competition beyond their age group.

“We have a number of freshmen that are ready to play,� UA coach Tommy Lloyd says. “We have a great freshman group that I'm really excited about, and I think they got a real maturity about them. Physically, they’re also ready.�

Lloyd says his staff will play the best players they have, regardless of their year in school, but the truth of it is that he doesn’t have much of a choice.

This is what’s different for the Wildcats this season.

Over his previous four seasons at Arizona, Lloyd has mostly brought along freshmen carefully: Kylan Boswell and Henri Veesaar in 2022-23, KJ Lewis and Motiejus Krivas in 2023-24 and, most notably, Carter Bryant last season before he became an NBA lottery pick in June.

Sometimes they would emerge in midseason (Boswell, Bryant) or sometimes in future seasons (Veesaar), but Lloyd always had the option to bring them along slowly, usually off the bench, with minimal pressure for them to produce big results right away.

He doesn’t have that option now. The Wildcats have a strong core of four veteran returners — point guard Jaden Bradley, wing Anthony Dell’Orso and big men Tobe Awaka and Krivas — while they also brought in 24-year-old Harvard grad transfer Evan Nelson.

But that still means the Wildcats will need at least three or four freshmen to fill out a regular rotation. That, basically, the Wildcats need Peat, Burries, Kharchenkov and probably Aristode to play like veterans.

Awaka, for one, expressed confidence they will.

“Definitely,� he said. “They more mature, more seasoned, more grounded in who they are. Much more mature for their years.�

With a season ahead that includes games against Florida, UCLA, UConn, Auburn, Alabama and the Big 12, the Wildcats could make it work, getting freshmen to play a significant supporting role to the veterans, if some of these things happen:

Bradley becomes a leader and scoring threat

While Bradley came off the bench behind Boswell in 2023-24 as a sophomore transfer from Alabama, then shared the backcourt with alpha guard Caleb Love last season, he has a team more of his own this time.

Bradley has also extended a welcome, respectful tone to the freshmen he will be leading.

“They love to work. They love to get better, very coachable, gym rats, you know,� Bradley said. “They can really play at a high level, physical, they fit right in with the system. Once we get everything in, they’re going to be all very special, for sure.�

While the soft-spoken Bradley is likely to share leadership with UA’s other veterans, he will be holding the ball pretty often, and he’s already a veteran of three high-major seasons, having spent his freshman season as a five-star recruit at Alabama back in 2022-23.

Last season, Bradley averaged 12.1 points and 3.7 assists while shooting 32.1% from 3-point range, and all those numbers are likely to rise in Bradley’s senior season.

“You need multiple go-to guys — you're not always going to be able to script something for one guy — but he's gonna definitely have the ability," Lloyd said of Bradley. "With the ball in his hands, you're gonna be able to trust whatever decision he makes at the end of games.�

While Bradley rarely left the floor when games were in question last season, the potential emergence of Nelson as a backup point guard could take pressure off the rotation. Otherwise, Burries is likely to slide over to the point when needed.

Burries has no idea he’s a freshman

Even though Bryant went No. 14 in the NBA Draft, Love was a bigger loss from the Wildcats’ team last season because of his willingness to take the ball in crunch time and make something happen.

He was the ultimate go-to guy who made the ultimate go-to shot last season, sending UA’s home game against Iowa State into overtime with an improbable 60-foot buzzer beater, then sinking two more 3-pointers in overtime to put the Cyclones away.

Though it was a small sample size, Burries appeared comfortable taking such a pressure-filled role during UA’s three exhibition appearances, counting the Red-Blue showcase, as well as games with Saint Mary's and Embry-Riddle. He had 17 of his game-high 22 points in the Red-Blue game after halftime, helping lead the Red team back from a double-digit deficit into a 45-44 win.

Burries also drove aggressively to the basket during UA’s exhibition wins, averaging 11.5 points though he missed all four 3s he tried over those two games. That wasn’t surprising for a guy who set a new California state championship game record with 44 points and was named the state’s Gatorade Player of the Year.

Burries is expected to start off the ball and possibly slide over to point guard on the rare occasions Bradley is out, but Lloyd started him at point guard on Oct. 27 against Embry-Riddle to give him a taste of that experience.

Lloyd's freshmen need to grow up quickly, after all, maybe nobody more so than Burries.

“He's that modern day combo guard — he can play with another point guard and he can handle those duties by himself,� Lloyd said. “I think it's important to remember he’s a really good player, but he's still a freshman. So we’ve got to help him by giving him some different experiences.�

Kharchenkov, Aristode diversify UA's wing attack

Lloyd invested heavily in Dell’Orso last season, starting him over Bryant for much of the season in part because the Aussie wing could stretch defenses at the beginning of games with his 3-point shooting threat.

The Wildcats also increasingly benefited from Bryant’s improvement as the season went on but this time have variable skillsets around Dell'Orso, including the well-rounded Kharchenkov and the bouncy potential of Aristode.

The buzz over UA’s seven-member class has revolved a lot around Peat, Burries and Bryce James — the son of NBA superstar LeBron James — but Aristode stayed under the radar in part because he sat out last season at New Hampshire’s Brewster Academy with a leg injury.

“I’ve been keeping receipts,� Aristode said during his introductory news conference at Arizona.

Though Aristode was still wearing a boot off the court earlier in the preseason, Lloyd said he had been a full participant in practices and later thought enough of him to give Aristode the start at small forward for UA’s exhibition game against Embry-Riddle.

Aristode had eight points and two rebounds over 20 minutes, while hitting 1 of 3 3-pointers, and showed 3-and-D potential. Lloyd said afterward Aristode could become one of the team’s 3-point threats.

Kharchenkov, meanwhile, drove inside with authority to average 13 points on 10-14 shooting over the Wildcats’ two exhibitions, establishing himself as a secondary scoring threat from multiple levels.

That was the emerging game he showed in a reserve role for Bayern Munich last season, when he averaged 5.2 points on 64.4% two-point shooting (though 21.5% from 3) over 39 Bundesliga games.

Then there’s Dell’Orso, who was by far UA’s best 3-point percentage shooter (41.3%) of those taking at least one per game last season, but who figures to gain even more attention from opponents’ perimeter defenses this season, especially with Love and Bryant off to the NBA.

Dell’Orso may have raised some concerns by going 1 for 7 from 3-point range against Saint Mary’s and he didn’t take a 3 against Embry-Riddle. But Lloyd said he was confident that Dell'Orso's “1 for 7 is gonna be 4 for 7 on a lot of nights� and noted that Dell'Orso had four steals against the Gaels, showing a physical improvement that can help him on both ends of the court.

“His physicality has allowed him to be a little bit more effective on the ball,� Lloyd said. “With that being said, teams are gonna maybe be aggressive trying to (make him) drive a little bit. So he's got to answer that bell.�

Peat is as advertised

While making the move from Chandler to Tucson last summer, Peat detoured through Switzerland to help the Lloyd-coached Team USA win gold in the FIBA U19 World Cup.

Peat helped USA win gold in two youth Americas qualifiers while also doing the same for U19 and U17 teams in FIBA World Cups. Domestically, he also led Gilbert Perry High School to four state championships, and was named Arizona’s Gatorade Player of the Year three times. And a McDonald’s All-American, of course.

Also because he comes from a family of college and pro athletes, who gave him a first name that means "warrior" in Hawaiian, Peat carries himself with a maturity not common for somebody who won’t even turn 19 until January.

In interviews, he’s approachable but never surprising or controversial, just the way coaches like it.

“I think it’s just giving 110% every night, working the hardest I can, and just becoming the best version of myself,� Peat said. “Then I think everything else will help me in the long run.

That’s what Peat said in the preseason when asked how he would make his mark, but there are more specific traits he is expected to bring: Namely, a physical touch around the basket, combined with unusual quickness for his size and a high basketball IQ that ensures he’s often in the right places at the right times.

In the preseason, Peat spoke of how his first day as a Wildcat was “pretty tough,� having to guard Awaka and other challenges, but Peat already has 235 pounds on a 6-8 frame, has a father and brother with significant NFL experience, and has played FIBA ball all over the world.

He can deal with it.

“I would say the physicality is kind of like FIBA,� Peat said. “Guys are really strong in college, so I feel like I've adjusted to that pretty well, and that's basically it. “

Krivas and Awaka find harmony

The Wildcats have several other freshmen with long-term potential, namely James, forward Mabil Mawut of South Sudan and rangy Senegal native Sidi Gueye, who could wind up eventually introducing another dimension to the frontcourt.

But the biggest question in the post, and maybe with the Wildcats as a whole, is whether Krivas and Awaka can settle into significant roles together.

Krivas was a projected first-round NBA draft pick last fall who missed most of the preseason with a stress-related foot injury, while Awaka entered as a well-regarded transfer from Tennessee.

But both of them bounced around somewhat uncomfortably in the rotation early last season while Arizona stumbled to a 4-5 start. Awaka didn’t really begin turning into an honorable mention all-Big 12 player until Krivas was shelved for the season last December with a foot injury.

Their debut together this season, a four-minute stint against NAIA Embry-Riddle, also wasn’t really a success, either: The woefully undermanned Eagles managed to hit four of their first five 3s and trailed just 13-12 at the first media timeout.

“You could say you're playing the two bigs, and you can make it like this is most important thing ever, but I believe they can get better," Lloyd said. "Can't they get better? Or if they give up two 3s in the first game, does that set the course all year for how they're going to defend?�

Maybe not, but the offensive side may also need an adjustment: Awaka played best last season and later in the Embry-Riddle game when he had a clear path to and around the basket.

So while Awaka and Krivas could split minutes equally at center, having them play effectively together, with Awaka as a power forward, may take some development. Or it may become a thing Lloyd deploys only against similarly sized opponents, or those without stretch forwards.

But the desire to make it work seems to be there: Both Krivas and Awaka say they can play together.

“I love playing with Mo,� Awaka said after the Embry-Riddle game. “He kind of helps me unlock my game, and I can do the same thing for him. I think we're a really good 1-2 combo and I love sharing the court with him.�

Lloyd's leash gets longer

No matter what, at least one UA freshman is likely to be on the court at all times this season. So Lloyd can’t bury them all on the bench if things go sideways for a moment, a half or even a stretch of games.

But during offseason and preseason interviews, Lloyd has hardly sounded like the sort of guy who would want to. He has consistently praised his freshmen, their skills, their personalities and their background stories.

“I'm not anticipating any more challenges than a normal season,� Lloyd said. “The challenge for us is always going to be in the competition that we're playing. … I think when our young guys get out on the floor and play, their performance will speak for itself.�