By Bruce Pascoe / Arizona Daily Star
Since he arrived at Arizona in 2009, coach Sean Miller has pulled in top-five recruiting classes with stunning regularity. But it’s always been a finger-in-the-dike sort of thing.
You know: One big-time player comes in the door, then leaves the following spring for the NBA Draft. Or he doesn’t play as much as he or his handlers think he should, so he transfers. Or maybe he just leaves, period.
All of that happened to Arizona over the last two springs. Justin Simon transferred to St. John’s in 2016; a year later, Lauri Markkanen went to the NBA Draft while Kobi Simmons and Chance Comanche departed only to go undrafted. Four underclassmen, all gone just like that.
But a little fate broke the Wildcats’ way last spring, and it could be the reason why Arizona makes a run all the way to its first Final Four in 17 years.
Rawle Alkins and Allonzo Trier came back for more.
Those two standout wing players are the key reason why, for once, Arizona has a strong core of talented veteran leadership — along with point guard Parker Jackson-Cartwright and center Dusan Ristic — to go along with a freshman class led by skilled 7-footer Deandre Ayton.
By the time Miller sat down with Alkins at a May press conference to discuss his return, it was clear what the coach had.
Just about everything.
“I think we have a blend of a number of characteristics,” he said. “We have a talented group of newcomers, not just guards, not just bigs, but a balance. Wings, shooting, frontcourt players and a lot of talent in the freshmen class.
“We also have a lot of proven players, experienced leadership. I think some players who have a healthy chip on their shoulder, whether it’s Parker to prove himself above and beyond what he’s already done. Or Allonzo and Rawle to prove they can be NBA players, to be the best they can in college.”
When asked if this year’s Wildcats were his best yet, Miller said they were “along the same lines” as the powerful teams he had in 2013-14 and 2014-15. A majority of preseason college basketball publications suggested they were even better, calling UA the No. 1 preseason team in the country.
That suggests Arizona could make its first Final Four since 2001, and maybe even win its first national championship since 1997.
Here are 10 ways it could happen: