Chances are pretty good that Lauri Markkanen didn’t grow up in Finland concerned with Pac-12 Player of the Week awards, and maybe that’s just as well.
Until Monday, when the Arizona freshman finally received the conference’s weekly honor after leading the Wildcats to a sweep of USC and UCLA, Markkanen didn’t have one despite being the best player on an 18-2 team.
Not that the UA didn’t try. It nominated him after the second week of the season, when he averaged 24 points and 6.9 rebounds against Cal State Bakersfield and Sacred Heart — except Cal’s Charlie Moore had 38 points against UC Irvine and won it that week.
Markkanen was the school’s nominee after averaging 14.0 points and 7.4 rebounds in the UA’s Bay Area sweep over New Year’s weekend — except Dillon Brooks won it after averaging 25.5 points in the Ducks’ wins over USC and UCLA, while throwing in a game-winning three against then-unbeaten UCLA.
Markkanen was nominated again after dropping 30 points on 12-for-18 shooting against ASU on Jan. 12 — but UCLA’s Bryce Alford beat him out when he averaged 26.0 points in the Bruins’ road sweep of Colorado and Utah.
This time, after Markkanen’s usual offensive efficiency helped carry the Wildcats to an unexpected sweep in L.A., he finally won it, scoring 23 against USC and 18 in he UCLA game. Markkanen was awarded the honor over Utah’s Kyle Kuzma, among others, who averaged 20.5 points and 13.0 rebounds in the Utes’ road sweep at WSU and Washington.
“He earned it,” Miller said. “He’s had plenty of weeks I know he’s been a candidate, but the magnitude of the trip to USC and UCLA, and the quality of both teams playing that way I’m sure gave him the nod.”
Aside from the competition, two other factors make it difficult for Markkanen or any UA player to win the award: The Wildcats have a balanced offense and run a below-average tempo, meaning huge individual numbers are not easily accumulated.
But center Dusan Ristic could see it coming. “I’m not surprised at all,” Ristic said. “Lauri’s a great player and he had a great last two games for us.”
Markkanen, who was not brought to the UA’s weekly news conference, is averaging 17.1 points and 7.6 rebounds this season while shooting 52.4 percent. His numbers are even better in Pac-12 play: He’s averaging 18.9 points and 7.6 rebounds while shooting 60 percent from the field and 61.8 percent from 3-point territory.
Wildcats move to No. 7
UA jumped from No. 14 to No. 7 in The Associated Press Top 25 after its L.A. sweep.
The No. 7 ranking is UA’s highest of the season and the first time it has been in the Top 10 since the week before it lost to Butler on Nov. 25. The UA was ranked No. 10 in the preseason and rose to No. 8 after wins over Michigan State, Cal State Bakersfield and Sacred Heart, then fell to No. 16 after losing to Butler and to No. 20 after losing to Gonzaga.
Also in this week’s AP poll, UCLA fell to No. 8 and Oregon moved up to No. 10, giving the Pac-12 three teams in the Top 10 for the first time since Feb. 9, 1999.
In the USA Today coaches Top 25, the UA moved from 13 to 9.
Miller says NCAA was fair with Trier
During his weekly news conference Monday, Miller said the NCAA was “very fair and transparent” during what was an outwardly opaque four-month ordeal over Allonzo Trier’s positive PED test.
“It’s a process that had no history,” Miller said. “The NCAA did the best they could. They were extremely fair, really had, I think, the student-athlete welfare at the forefront of a lot of things. It might not have felt that way to the outside.
“They were very communicative, very direct, very cooperative trying to hold to the standards that they need to hold these types of issues to, but also being very fair and transparent at the same time.”
Outwardly, there was no communication on Trier from October until the sophomore wing admitted last Wednesday that he tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug.
Although Trier was conditionally cleared to play pending a clean drug test back in November, neither the UA or NCAA would comment on him. Miller said there were “too many unknowns” to comment at that point, even though there was a tentative resolution.
“The No. 1 thing here is to protect the student-athlete privacy of a situation that was very complicated and to not at all harm him in any way. There are no secrets. Nobody’s hiding anything.
“It’s just a matter of trying to do right by the young man, and if criticism comes on myself or somebody like Greg Byrne or our administration, we would much rather have the criticism pointed toward us than to do something to potentially harm a young person.”
Even though the UA’s lack of transparency created considerable speculation about what Trier did over the past few months, Miller disagreed when asked if that in itself hurt him.
“No,” Miller said. “No. And I’m not gonna say anything further.”
Trier has not been available for comment since UA’s Sept. 29 media day, other than his statement last Wednesday.
Trier could start soon
Miller said he would determine over the next few days whether or not to put Trier back in the starting lineup, saying he’s not going to keep him out if he’s one of UA’s best five players, even if Trier did miss 19 games.
Trier is Arizona’s top returning scorer from last season, and had 12 points, seven rebounds, four assists and only one turnover in his season debut against UCLA.
“Striking is how I would describe it,” Miller said of Trier’s performance at UCLA.
“The pressure of the game, there’s no practice for it, it’s just different. And when you have the opportunity to play for the first time after missing 19 games — and that game is at UCLA, it has all the makings of a disaster because that player can put so much pressure on himself to be perfect. It says a lot about how prepared Allonzo is and it’s a credit to our group. We’ve always treated him as if he could play the next game.”
“I think that’s helped his transition. He did a great job.”
