For over three months last season, Allonzo Trier lived in NCAA limbo.
Sometimes, it was hard to breathe.
βYou become so magnified in the media and youβre not really a normal person because youβre a high-level college basketball athlete,β Trier said during the Pac-12 Tournament last season, seven weeks after he was cleared to return from a previously undisclosed positive PED test. βBut at that point, I was living in a glass house. Everyone was looking at me.β
Trier missed half his sophomore season, since the NCAA had required he test clean before he was cleared to return in January. He opted to come back to Arizona for what he figured would be a full junior season.
Now, Trier β and his entire team β are stuck in a glass house.
Thereβs no telling at this point whether the FBI allegations involving Arizona could turn into NCAA sanctions this season or in the future, or if there will be nothing at all that will affect the Wildcats on the court.
And while the UA may still be the nationβs No. 1 team entering the season, there will be even more attention on what happens to them ahead on and off the court.
Trier has been there.
βYou gotta be strong,β Trier said Thursday about what he learned last season. βYou gotta learn to fight back. Itβs not going to go your way. Itβs not going to be easy. Itβs going to be tough.
βBut itβs how you respond to it that shows who you are as a person. I think we have a chance to respond to this by focusing on us as a team and coming together and really pushing each other to new heights.β
In a way, Trierβs absence early last season affected all the Wildcats.
They had to adjust without him on the court, deal with questions about him off it and watch him sit out games, his ever-striking competitive fire clamped to the bench.
Then they had to readjust when he came back.
It wasnβt easy for anybody on the Arizona roster. This season wonβt be easy, either.
βItβs some adversity for us. Itβs nothing weβre new to,β Trier said.
βWeβre gonna focus on what we can control now and thatβs how much better we can get every day in practice. ... I think this will all bring us closer together in the end.β
The Wildcats have already run into adversity on the court, too: The same day that assistant coach Book Richardson was arrested on federal bribery and fraud charges, starting forward Rawle Alkins was lost for 8-12 weeks with a broken foot.
The best-case scenario for the Wildcats has Alkins returning just in time for the Battle 4 Atlantis over Thanksgiving weekend.
The worst case puts Alkins back just before Pac-12 play begins on Dec. 30 against ASU.
βWe have an understanding in our program that when weβre faced with adversity or someone goes down, itβs βnext man up,ββ Trier said. βSo that next man at that position, which happens to be Brandon (Randolph) and Emmanuel (Akot), we understand that theyβre going to have to come around a little bit faster.
βBut with us pushing hard in practice, theyβre going to be able to help us, and hopefully down the road when Rawle joins us β which he will β we will be that much better as a team.β
Maybe by then, the Wildcats will also know more about whether they can proceed ahead without fear of immediate NCAA sanctions.
While Arizona coach Sean Miller declined to say whether he believed NCAA issues could hit the Wildcats this season, he made it clear that Trier will be one of the teamβs key leaders.
He also made it clear he thought Trier could be playing on an All-American level this season.
βIn my mind, heβs positioned himself to be one of the best at what he does,β Miller said.
βHeβs been through his fair share of adversity. He and I have talked a lot this offseason and our hope together is that he can have one of those seasons that are memorable, and one where he can string it together from start to finish, Day 1 all the way to the last game.β
