UC Irvine guard Max Hazzard looks to shoot against Oregon during the first half of a second-round game in the NCAA men's college basketball tournament Sunday, March 24, 2019, in San Jose, Calif.

 Ben Margot / AP Photo

Max Hazzard’s commitment to Arizona on Monday gives the Wildcats two graduate transfers for the second straight season, and a whole bunch of guards.

How it will play out depends on a few things:

  • Whether Brandon Randolph plays professionally. He’s been expected to leave permanently for a while now but if he doesn’t, the Wildcats will need at least one other player to leave in order to accommodate Hazzard.
  • Whether Dylan Smith returns for his final season or seeks to become a grad transfer himself (or whether there is any other roster movement, for that matter).
  • Whether Arizona coach Sean Miller keeps sticking with three guards often next season, or maybe even uses four on occasion.

As it is now, Miller has the following guards and wings lined up for 2019-20:

  • Max Hazzard, 6-0, senior
  • Dylan Smith, 6-5, senior
  • Alex Barcello, 6-2, junior
  • Brandon Williams, 6-2, sophomore
  • Devonaire Doutrive, 6-5, sophomore
  • Nico Mannion, 6-3, freshman
  • Josh Green, 6-6, freshman
  • Terry Armstrong, 6-6, freshman

How they could settle in:

At point guard: Mannion and Brandon Williams are expected to be the primary point guards. Barcello played an emergency point guard role last season and could do the same this season, if Hazzard isn’t needed there.

At shooting guard: Assuming he’s fully healthy, Williams could play a similar role as he did last season, starting at off guard and sliding over when Mannion is on the bench. Hazzard and Smith would likely be the team’s best perimeter shooters, both likely to play off the bench or in spot starts.

At small forward: Green’s athleticism and skills suggests he’s a definite starter at either wing spot, most likely small forward, while Armstrong, Doutrive and Smith could also play that position.

What will also be interesting to see is whether the Wildcats slide one of their bigger wings into the power forward spot at times. As it is now, the Wildcats have five players between the power forward and center spots: Chase Jeter, Stone Gettings, Ira Lee, Zeke Nnaji and Christian Koloko, though Koloko is expected to be more of a longer-term prospect.

Hazzard will be the seventh grad transfer to play for Miller at Arizona. Gettings was the sixth, joining UA last December as grad transfer but waiting to play all of next season.

Hazzard's potential impact might be comparable to that of Mark Tollefsen, who arrived from San Francisco in 2015-16 and served as a part-time starter for the Wildcats.

The five previous grad transfers:

Mark Lyons (2012-13): Started all 35 games and led Wildcats in scoring with an average of 15.6 points per game, with 2.8 assists. Played third-most minutes while Lyons (2.8 assists) and Nick Johnson (3.2) were UA’s primary ballhandlers.

Tollefsen (2015-16): Part-time starter at power forward who helped stretch defenses by hitting 35.6 percent of his 3-pointers. Averaged 7.0 points and 3.0 rebounds while playing 21.9 minutes, the sixth most on the roster.

Talbott Denny (2017-18): Tore his ACL and missed the 2016-17 season before being granted a sixth college season to spend at Arizona but he played only six total minutes over three games for the Wildcats in 2017-18.

Ryan Luther (2018-19): Started 20 of 32 games at power forward, playing the fifth-most minutes (24.9) while being the Wildcats’ most accurate 3-point shooter (37.5 percent) among players taking at least one attempt per game. He averaged 8.4 points and 4.3 rebounds.

Justin Coleman (2018-19): Stepped in immediately as Arizona’s point guard, leading the Wildcats in minutes per game (30.8) while averaging 8.9 points and 3.8 assists.

(Ryan Anderson led UA in scoring during his one season for UA in 2015-16 but was a standard redshirt who sat out in 2014-15 after three years at Boston College).

ESPN's updated 2020 NBA Mock Draft now has both Mannion and Green as lottery picks. Its January mock had Mannion just outside at 17, but Mannion shot up to No. 6 after playing well during McDonald's week and in the Hoop Summit game.

"Mannion demonstrated an ideal blend of scoring and passing from a modern guard, knocking down deep jumpers while proving capable of getting into the paint and finishing creatively around the rim," ESPN's Jonathan Givony wrote. "He is already extremely advanced operating out of ball screens, changing speeds instinctively and using well-timed bounce passes or lobs while seeing both sides of the floor. He plays with toughness and intelligence, which his teammates respect.

"Mannion will need to continue to work on his body and maximize his athleticism to maintain this lofty projection, as he isn't blessed with prototypical physical tools for a NBA point guard with his negative wingspan and 179-pound frame. He struggled at times defensively and can't always get by better defenders one-on-one, things that will be tested more in college."

Dusan Ristic enjoyed an ABA (Adriatic) championship in his first year in professional basketball. His Red Star club also qualified for the 2019-20 EuroLeague.

USA Basketball still hasn't announced its official list of invitees to camp for the U19s this summer, but Nnaji says he's thankful to have received a shot.

Oregon, ASU and Colorado are among the schools who have reportedly reached out to Jahvon Quinerly, the former UA commit who left Villanova after one season.

Another Sean Miller (sort of) has joined the Pac-12.

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Contact sports reporter Bruce Pascoe at 573-4146 or bpascoe@tucson.com. On Twitter @brucepascoe