If there’s anybody who has benefited from the nonstop postponements of Arizona’s early season schedule, it’s Ira Lee.
Since he’s now scheduled to return Saturday against Eastern Washington from a concussion, the senior will have wound up missing only one game.
But even he’s been bummed out.
“It’s hard staying locked in when you don’t even know when your next game is going to be,” Lee tweeted Tuesday, when UA’s scheduled Pac-12 opener against Colorado was postponed. It came one day before Northern Colorado backed out of Saturday’s game, and before Arizona lined up Eastern Washington instead.
In other words, it was a regular COVID-19-era type of week for the Wildcats: Practice, preparation, postponements, more practices and then who knows what?
“I think all of us are upset because ... we’re taking care of what we need to do to be prepared for these games and then a day before it gets canceled,” senior guard Terrell Brown said Friday on a media Zoom call. “So we’re kind of upset by that part, but coach tells us we’re still going to play the same amount of nonconference games as anyone else.”
That’s the plan, at least. Arizona originally had seven nonconference games scheduled, and thanks in part to the juggling skills of basketball operations director Ryan Reynolds, now has six mostly different games on the nonconference schedule after one was played so far, UA’s 74-55 win over Grambling State on Nov. 27.
In the past week, the Wildcats rescheduled NAU from Nov. 25 to Monday, replaced a canceled Nov. 29 game with UTEP with a Dec. 12 matchup against New Mexico State, then subbed out Eastern Washington for Northern Colorado — while the Pac-12 moved their postponed league opener against Colorado from Dec. 2 to Dec. 28.
“Obviously he’s done a poor job here initially getting us some games,” Miller joked of Reynolds, grinning. “I’m hoping that he can bounce back in the next week.”
Miller was joking, naturally, since all of the postponements were all out of the Wildcats’ control, because of COVID-19 issues with their opponents.
But their problem now is that if they actually do wind up playing their reworked nonconference schedule as planned now, they’ll be pretty busy.
Arizona now has four games scheduled over the next eight days, with Eastern Washington on Saturday, Northern Arizona on Monday, Cal State Bakersfield on Wednesday and New Mexico State next Saturday.
That’s good, and bad. A lot of work, but a lot of work they’ve long been waiting to do.
“Knock on wood, I’m hopeful we can get four games in here in the next eight days,” Miller said. “That alone will be quite a challenge for a group like ours as young and inexperienced as we are, moving from one game to the next.”
The rhythm of games is less than ideal, too. Instead of having three lower-level opponents to warm up against before facing Colorado, the Wildcats will now have to shake off an eight-day lag and immediately prepare to face Eastern Washington, a veteran team that is widely expected to win the Big Sky Conference.
“You can’t worry about that, the fear of losing,” Miller said. “All that’s gonna do is allow us to lose. It’s about play to win and be the most ready you can. We have confidence in ourselves.”
At the same time, Miller said how much he respected Eastern Washington after watching game video of them since the game was suddenly added on Wednesday. The Eagles also have managed to get in only one game, losing at Washington State by just three points despite using only six guys thanks to its own COVID issues.
“They were a late addition to our schedule but, man, I tell you we’re playing a really good team,” Miller said. “They’re efficient. They’re good on offense. They’re solid on defense. They have a style and confidence that you can tell they really believe in themselves … they remind you sometimes of the NCAA Tournament where you have to play that experienced, older, veteran group.”
The Wildcats will get a dose of much-needed experience Saturday if Lee takes the floor as expected. The senior suffered a concussion over a month ago and missed the Grambling State game but rejoined the Wildcats in practice afterward.
He has been gradually improving to the point that Miller said Lee has been “full blast” in practice recently.
“At first, we took it very slow,” Miller said. “It’s almost like a rehabilitation process. There’s the rest, there’s being in a quiet room so that they can recover. Then you start to ramp up your heart rate and take inventory of where the young man is after a certain period. You grow it and built it, and you’re checking with him constantly to see how his symptoms are.”
However, the Wildcats will still be without freshman guard Kerr Kriisa, who could have helped them against Grambling State when combo guard Jemarl Baker ran into foul trouble. Kriisa returned to Tucson on Thursday night after playing in his native Estonia for his national team last Saturday, but Miller indicated he is still not cleared by the NCAA Eligibility Center.
Kerr Kriisa
Having traveled internationally, Kriisa also must run through COVID-19 protocols before he can even be around and practice with the Wildcats again. While Miller declined to say how long that might take, UA players had to isolate for a week before beginning workouts after they arrived late last summer.
“I can confirm that Kerr Kriisa is back in the city of Tucson, Arizona and in the United States of America. He’s not in Europe,” said Miller. “Will he be eligible? That’s not for the coach to determine. I’m gonna coach the team. I’ll allow that to our team doctors and trainers to decide on when he can practice and move forward.”
