Arizona will have to play its first three regular-season games without a likely starter after Courtney Ramey lost an appeal regarding his participation in a seniors-only pre-draft camp last spring.
Ramey will be eligible to play in the Wildcats’ exhibition on Tuesday against Division II Western Oregon and in the Thanksgiving-week Maui Invitational, but will miss home games on Nov. 7 against Nicholls, Nov. 11 against Southern and Nov. 17 vs. Utah Tech.
A fifth-year senior from St. Louis, Ramey appeared to venture into a legislative gray area last April when he played in the Portsmouth (Va.) Invitational, which is not certified by the NCAA but hasn’t needed to be because until this year it was played exclusively by seniors who had exhausted their college eligibility.
The Portsmouth Invitational was not played in April 2020 or April 2021 because of COVID concerns but, after the NCAA gave “COVID year” participants an extra year of eligibility, that first created the possibility that seniors who played in 2020-21 such as Ramey might try play in Portsmouth and later return to school.
The 6-foot-3 Ramey, a transfer from Texas who was both testing the NBA Draft and considering other schools at the time of his participation at Portsmouth, was the only player there who returned to college this season. Because the event was not certified, he was penalized one game for each of the three Portsmouth games he played in.
Ramey withdrew from the NBA Draft on June 1 and committed to UA nine days later. He appealed the NCAA’s decision, but the suspension was not eliminated or reduced, meaning Ramey will have to go into the high-caliber Maui Invitational without having played alongside his teammates in any games except the Wildcats’ closed scrimmage on Oct. 22 against Saint Mary’s and their exhibition against Western Oregon.
Courtney Ramey (0) and forward Dylan Anderson jump for a rebound during the Red-Blue Game in September. Ramey will miss the first three games of the regular season after being suspended Monday.
However, when made available for interviews on Oct. 28, Ramey indicated that he has been working well with backcourt mate Kerr Kriisa. While Kriisa is expected to continue as the Wildcats’ starting point guard, Ramey is expected to start off the ball but also take a share of point guard duties, especially when Kriisa is on the bench
“I think we do a good job and we’re just letting each other have it,” Ramey said. “Sometimes I want (the ball), sometimes he wants it, and I think we’re both good shooters too, so we can play off each other.
“We’ve got a great relationship. Before I even committed to the school we communicated every day. We hang out pretty much every day.”
Although the three games of Ramey’s suspension are expected to be among the least competitive of the Wildcats’ season, it is possible playing without him will force the Wildcats to ask more from Kriisa and starting wing Pelle Larsson, who played point guard for Utah as a freshman in 2020-21.
Arizona could also turn to freshman combo guard Kylan Boswell, who has been cleared to participate fully but may not participate in the exhibition game after having summertime surgery to repair a broken foot. UA coach Tommy Lloyd said on Oct. 28 he wasn’t sure if he would play Boswell.
Backup wings Adama Bal and Filip Borovicanin could also play bigger roles without Ramey while guard/forward Cedric Henderson Jr., the Wildcats’ other grad transfer, is a likely candidate to start in place of Ramey in what would be a bigger lineup featuring Kriisa, Larsson, forward Azuolas Tubelis and center Oumar Ballo. A 6-foot-6 grad transfer from Campbell, Henderson has spent time with the Wildcats’ first team in practices during the preseason.
Ramey’s absence will also cost the Wildcats one of their best defenders: Ramey was known to be one of the best on-ball defenders last season in the Big 12, which is known for tough-minded teams.
Ramey played a big role in keeping Kansas star Ochai Agbaji to just 19 points over two games against the Longhorns. Offensively, Ramey averaged 9.4 points and 3.5 assists.
Western Oregon has ties to Murph
The Wildcats are playing Western Oregon in large part because head coach Wes Pifer and assistant Bryan Fisher both worked under associate head coach Jack Murphy when Murphy was the head coach at NAU. Pifer worked his way up to associate head coach at NAU while Fisher spent three seasons as NAU’s director of operations.
Pifer “is a very results-oriented guy, very driven, an unbelievable family man and a great mentor for our guys at NAU. He’s an outstanding coach, too, ” Murphy said. “Brian is just an amazing human being and I knew he’d be a great coach. I’m really proud of both Wes and Bryan and what they have become.”
Western Oregon finished 9-18 last season but won four of its final six regular-season games and then defeated both Western Washington and regular-season champ Saint Martin’s in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Tournament.
Last week, Western Oregon senior guard Cameron Cranston was named the GNAC’s preseason player of the year.
