Officially, Arizonaβs basketball season ended nine weeks ago with a loss to Xavier in the NCAA Tournament.
But it never did feel that way to coach Sean Miller and his staff. Itβs just that the drama shifted off the court and largely behind the scenes until this week, when Rawle Alkins opted to return and recruit Emmanuel Akot decided to join the Wildcats a year early.
March Madness? How about May Madness, with a little April Anxiety in between?
βToday represented the end for us,β Miller said on Monday, when discussing his postseason activity. βBut if you would have asked me two weeks ago how it would have ended I could have given you three or four versions of it. We didnβt know. We just tried to work to the end to do the best we could.β
Pitt transfer Cam Johnson and high school wing Brian Bowen were two of those possible final answers, but the UAβs door closed without them on Monday when the Wildcats hit the 13-player scholarship maximum.
Hereβs how it all played out from what was a 12-man roster at the end of last season:
- One senior departure (Kadeem Allen)
- One medical retirement (Ray Smith)
- Six guys thinking of going pro early
- Three guys returning back from that process (Alkins, Dusan Ristic and Allonzo Trier).
- Three guys opting to stay in (Lauri Markkanen, Chance Comanche and Kobi Simmons).
- One sixth-year waiver approved (Talbott Denny).
- Two spring recruits (Akot, Duke transfer Chase Jeter) to join four fall signees (DeAndre Ayton, Alex Barcello, Brandon Randolph and Ira Lee) and make up a six-member recruiting class.
And all that doesnβt count the swap of associate head coaches, with former Washington head coach Lorenzo Romar replacing Joe Pasternack, who left to become UC Santa Barbaraβs head coach. Nor does it count the addition of forward Shareef OβNeal β Shaqβs son β to the class of 2018.
What was left, as it turned out, was a blend of just about every skill, size and experience level possible, making up what could be the preseason No. 1 team in the nation.
βI think we have a blend of a number of characteristics,β Miller said. βWe have a talented group of newcomers, not just guards, not just bigs, but a balance β wings, shooting, frontcourt players, and we have a lot of talent in the freshman class, DeAndre in particular because of his physical size.β
Millerβs other freshmen all bring different skills, too: Barcello is an aggressive combo guard, Akot is a big wing who can pass, Randolphβs an athletic shooter in the backcourt, while Lee is a high-motor power forward.
Then thereβs the veterans. Because Trier and Alkins opted to return, they will join three senior rotation players (Jackson-Cartwright, Ristic and Keanu Pinder) to give UA an experienced core.
βWe also return a lot of proven players, experienced leadership,β Miller said. βI think some players who have a healthy chip on shoulder, whether itβs Parker (Jackson-Cartwright) to prove himself above and beyond what heβs already done, or Allonzo and Rawle to prove they can be NBA players, coveted players, the best that they can be in college. Or Dusan, who is as good of a scorer in low post as a senior center as maybe Iβve seen.β
βWe have a lot of different qualities and some of the teams Iβve had here that have made a run, that have had a high (NCAA Tournament) seed, have the same types of qualities where you have the combination of experience and talent in the freshman class.β
All that is one reason why Alkins, in addition to having the chance to raise his NBA draft stock, has something to look forward to next season.
βWe all have experience and we have depth, and we have a great recruiting class, and we have great leaders coming back,β Alkins said. βI think our team is going to be special.β
Hereβs how Arizonaβs spring transition season played out:
March 23: The Wildcatsβ season ends with a Sweet 16 loss to Xavier in the NCAA West Regional.
March 28: One of UAβs top remaining spring recruits, five-star wing Brian Bowen of Michigan, says heβs waiting to see how the rosters at Arizona and his other potential choices play out before making a decision.
April 4: Associate head coach Joe Pasternack is named the head coach at UC Santa Barbara. Ten days later, he posts a photo to Twitter with a view of the ocean and says βIncredible view from our dorms! #beachliving.β
April 5: UA freshmen Kobi Simmons and Chance Comanche both leave for the NBA draft, with Simmons doing so irrevocably by signing with an agent and Comanche initially leaving the door open for a possible return.
April 13: Allonzo Trier announces he will return for his junior season after contemplating, but not formally entering, the NBA draft. Trier missed half of his sophomore season because of a positive test for a performance-enhancing drug.
April 14: Center Dusan Ristic says heβll return for his senior season. While Ristic isnβt a projected NBA pick, he always had the option of signing a lucrative pro deal in Europe because of his size, skills and a Serbian passport that would make him a non-import in many cases.
April 15: UA coach Sean Miller pulls in former Washington coach Lorenzo Romar as associate head coach a month after Romar was fired following 15 years as the Huskiesβ head coach. Romar said Miller opened discussions about the job by saying, βThis might be out of left field.β
April 19: Five-star forward Shareef OβNeal, the son of basketball legend Shaquille OβNeal, commits to the Wildcats for the class of 2018.
April 28: Kadeem Allen earns an invitation to the NBA combine after performing well in the seniors-only Portsmouth Invitational tournament earlier in the month. Markkanen, Simmons and Alkins are also invited (Markkanen declines) but Comanche is not.
May 3: Possibly sensing that Comanche would stay in the NBA draft pool, Miller tells a UA fan gathering in Tempe that he will add two more recruits β a prediction that turns out to be accurate with the additions of Chase Jeter and Emmanuel Akot.
May 5: Comanche announces he will stay in the NBA draft pool. βThere wasnβt much room for him with those four bigs, and also (Emmanuel) Akot, who can play the four no problem,β said Draft Express President Jonathan Givony, accurately forecasting that Akot would move from the class of 2017 to 2018 after committing to UA in March.
May 11: In his first NBA combine game, Alkins scores 18 points on 7-for-10 shooting, generating speculation he might stay in the draft pool. βItβs 50-50, and depends on the feedback that I get,β Alkins said.
May 16: Former Duke forward/center Chase Jeter, a former five-star recruit sought by the UA out of Las Vegasβ Bishop Gorman High School, says heβll transfer to Arizona. Jeter never regularly cracked the Blue Devils rotation in two seasons but Miller, who coached him with USA Basketball in 2014, says landing him was as big as any βcoupβ the UA had this spring.
May 21: Alkins announces on social media that heβll return for his sophomore season, after working out at the combine and for the Nets and Raptors. He opted out of a May 20 workout in Utah because he was leaning toward returning. βAround that time I spoke with coach and ... I ended up making that decision (to stay),β Alkins said. βCoach Miller and I had our cheers and stuff. We were happy.β
May 22: Akot announces he will reclassify, skipping his senior season at Wasatch Academy in order to join the Wildcats next season, having found he was in good enough shape academically to do so.
May 22: Miller holds a news conference to discuss the changes, also confirming that forward Talbott Denny was cleared for a sixth year of eligibility after suffering two-season ending injuries. Arizonaβs roster is therefore full at 13 for 2017-18, with Bowen and another top UA target, Pitt transfer Cam Johnson, remaining undecided.
βWe had a lot going on but at the end we have those who have returned and we have quite a few guys who havenβt been there yet,β Miller said. βIt has the makings of a really exciting season.β
