When Rawle Alkins finally returned to the Arizona Wildcats on Saturday, happiness was spread all around.
There were the McKale Center fans, who roared with excitement when Alkins entered three minutes into Arizonaโs 88-82 win over Alabama.
There was UA coach Sean Miller, who now has all his scholarship players available for the first time this season and more leverage to yank underperformers.
There was junior guard Allonzo Trier, who now has a distraction for opposing perimeter defenses to potentially take some of the heat off him.
And there was the Wildcatsโ collective mental health, which received a boost from a player who is arguably the most colorful and aggressive one on the roster.
Alkins played 22 minutes Saturday and heโll likely play more as he continues to recover from his broken foot and work himself into game shape.
Thatโs where potential unhappiness can hit elsewhere.
On Saturday, just four days after posting a season-high 13 points against Texas A&M, sophomore guard Dylan Smith played just one minute. Freshman combo guard Alex Barcello played just three.
Senior Keanu Pinder, suddenly squeezed into a small role at power forward, played four. And freshman forward Emmanuel Akot, who drew defensive comparisons from Miller to Rondae Hollis-Jefferson earlier this fall, didnโt play at all.
Akot has knee tendinitis, but Miller has made it clear that isnโt solely whatโs keeping him off the floor.
โHis knees have been bothering him,โ Miller said. โHe wasnโt able to play (Saturday) and that doesnโt mean he wonโt play in the next game. I think itโs up to him to make it happen.โ
So essentially, Miller went with a seven-man rotation Saturday plus Pinder playing his spot minutes. The dropoff to the reserves was even more pronounced because, in the course of the close game with the Crimson Tide, Miller played all five of his starters more minutes than they are averaging.
But Miller said it may not remain that way.
โI told our team after the game that we donโt have things worked out yet,โ Miller said. โYou canโt judge us on tonightโs game, and (for) some of the guys who didnโt play much or at all, that doesnโt mean itโll be like that for the rest of the year. We have to continue to figure this out.
โItโs not as easy as everybody thinks to all of a sudden, (to say after going) 40-something practices and playing game 10 โ โOK, heโs back, make it work.โ It takes a little bit of time.โ
Although Miller will be making this transition earlier in the season this time, it could be similar to what the Wildcats went through last season, when Trier played his first game on Jan. 21 at UCLA after sitting out 19 games because of a positive PED test.
Trier averaged 31.9 minutes while playing the final 18 games of the season, and Miller compensated by trimming a number of playersโ minutes.
Most notably, Kobi Simmons dropped from averaging 30.1 minutes a game before Trierโs return to 16.1 after, while Pinder lost 6.3 minutes per game and even Alkins lost 5.3.
While Miller agreed that it will take some communication โ and maybe even consoling โ with players whose playing time gets cut this season, he also made it clear theyโll have to chin up a bit, too.
Playing time largely will be earned in practice, he said.
โThereโs a fine line,โ Miller said.
โThis is the University of Arizona. Not everybody gets to start and play, and some of the greatest players who played in our program never played as a freshman or werenโt nearly the player they became. But they fought and they earned what they got and they learned what they needed to get better.
โSometimes at 19 years old, youโre not as ready as youโre gonna be at 20 or 21, so with a program like ours you want to keep these guys practicing and getting ready.
โWe have a number of players a year from now that could be our leading scorer, one of our best players, or a starter โ and on this yearโs team maybe they donโt play as much. But our focus has to be on winning and being the best team that we can be.โ
While Simmons wound up leaving Arizona last spring and signing a two-way contract โ heโs currently averaging 16.7 points for Memphisโ G League team โ Miller warned that those who canโt take the heat probably wonโt fare well elsewhere.
โWhen nothing is given and you have to earn it, the cream will rise to the top,โ Miller said. โSometimes a guy panics, or (his) support system panics, and they run. But very seldom does a guy who runs make it.โ