The McKale Center doors opened at 6:30 p.m. Thursday. As the Arizona Wildcats started firing some early practice shots, a pair of fans made a beeline down the stands facing center court.
They looked for Allonzo Trier, noticed he wasnβt wearing game shorts, and turned to a couple of press row folks for confirmation.
Nope, he wasnβt playing β for the 16th game this season.
Speculation suggests Trierβs NCAA suspension might be lifted Saturday for the Arizona-Colorado game, since the Wildcats have reached the halfway point of the season.
Until it is, this is what life has become for some Arizona followers: seeing what kind of pants Trier is wearing before the game.
Are they game shorts? Sweats? Khakis? Or something else?
βTHOSE ARE TEARAWAY PANTSβ the Zero Facts Podcast tweeted Thursday in reply to a photo posted by the Star.
Maybe, but the fact was he didnβt play.
So thatβs how it goes. Analyzing clothing, body language or parsing words along Trierβs social media trails, whatever, anything, in the great vacuum created by Arizona, the NCAA and student-privacy laws.
Back on Nov. 21, Trier had a few folks going when he tweeted out scripture from Matthew 5:16: βLet your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your father which is in heaven.β He did not return to the spotlight of the court in the days that followed.
On Jan. 1, while staying with the Wildcats in Palo Alto in advance of a game at Stanford that night, he posted the words βDay Oneβ on his Twitter page. It looked like a simple New Yearβs Day tweet β¦ that could have been interpreted as something else. But he didnβt play against the Cardinal, either.
Though other βhintsβ have popped up via Instagram and Snapchat, the only thing known on the record is what the eye tells you: Trier has missed 16 games, half of UAβs 32 regular-season games (counting the Pac-12 Tournament as one game).
Why? The NCAA has declined to comment on Trier, and UA has remained steadfastly quiet.
UA athletic director Greg Byrne responded to a series of Trier-related questions from the Star on Friday with an email saying he was βgoing to stay consistent and not comment on this subject.β
Coach Sean Millerβs press conferences have been prefaced by a spokesman telling all assembled media that questions about Trier wonβt be answered.
Trier has not been made available for comment since UAβs Sept. 29 media day. Miller acknowledged rumors about Trier following the teamβs Oct. 14 Red-Blue Game, but would not comment further. Trier was swapped out of Arizonaβs appearance at the Oct. 21 Pac-12 media day for Kadeem Allen, with Miller declining to say why.
Multiple public-records requests filed by the Star with UA so far have given no indication about Trierβs situation, because the school determined the information sought β including that of appeals β fell under student-privacy laws.
The school wrote to the Star saying, βStudent records cannot be produced to protect the privacy interests of student-athletes, including under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), which mandates the University to maintain student education records in confidence.β
In that case, maybe some process-of-elimination thinking is in order:
- Except for two minor traffic issues, Trierβs name has not surfaced in any local court records. That likely indicates thereβs no off-campus concern.
- Miller said after the fall semester ended that Trierβs situation has βnothing to doβ with the school calendar, suggesting it is not an academic issue.
- The NCAA cleared Trier to travel with Arizona for its Dec. 3 game against Gonzaga, after Trier had not been cleared for November trips to Honolulu and Las Vegas. That suggested there was some element of progress, since ineligible players are usually not allowed to travel without paying their own way. Miller, however, said the NCAAβs decision meant nothing.
- The NCAA hasnβt announced an investigation, finding or penalty for extra benefits or other violations, as it often does in such cases. Those situations can be resolved quickly, especially if the violation occurs in-season. The NCAAβs penalty for a failed drug test is suspension for up to a full year, though it can be reduced or eliminated on appeal.
Trier has enthusiastically supported his teammates at nearly every UA game and practice, plus all road trips since he was cleared to travel β except Dec. 10 at Missouri, when fall semester finals were finishing up. If Trier wasnβt returning β or didnβt think he might return β he might have considered signing a pro contract overseas instead of staying at Arizona.
Trierβs general effort, in fact, is the one thing Miller has addressed recently.
βI wish I could talk more about Allonzo,β Miller said on Tuesday. βHopefully in time I can but, I mean, the only thing you have to do is just watch him during the games to see how much he cares about winning, how bad he feels about not being able to play, and I think how much he really cares about Arizona and his teammates. β¦ He practices with great spirit and energy and competitiveness thatβs helped our team as well, and weβll see.β
