Arizona began its weekly news conference today with the usual notice that it won’t answer questions about Allonzo Trier’s status, the same way it has for nearly every news conference all season.
So Trier has been the elephant in the room, every time, for nearly three months now.
But Trier was cleared by the NCAA to travel with the team a month into the season, according to UA coach Sean Miller, and Trier’s antics on the sideline during home and road games have been noticeable. So when Saul Bookman of the Daily Wildcat asked Sean Miller about it today, Miller addressed that at least.
(Read between the lines if you wish):
“I wish I could talk more about Allonzo,” Miller said. “Hopefully 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.
“He’s engaged and he’s been that way in practice. You have to realize today is our 51st practice, 52nd maybe, and he’s been a part of every practice. He’s not injured. He practices with great spirit and energy and competitiveness that’s helped our team as well, and we’ll see.”
There’s been a lot of speculation that the NCAA might reinstate Trier at or immediately after the midway point of the season, which is this weekend. Specifically, Arizona’s game Thursday against Utah will be No. 16 of 32 (The Pac-12 Tournament counts as game No. 32) so the Colorado game on Saturday will be game No. 17, or just over 50 percent.
Even if there's a possibility that Trier is somehow cleared for Thursday’s game, just before the 50-percent mark is reached, Utah coach Larry Krystkowiak says it won’t affect his scouting.
According to a Tweet from Salt Lake Tribune’s Kyle Goon, Krystkowiak says there are too many other guys on Arizona to worry about and no recent game film of Trier to watch.
The Arizona rotation is already changing, with Parker Jackson-Cartwright back in it last weekend. Miller said he hasn’t yet arrived to a decision point on whether to start PJC again, but indicated that Kobi Simmons could return to his sixth-man role at some point.
No doubt, a return by Trier would further shake up things, too. Miller noted how fleeting things are – good and bad – for his rotation this season when asked about Simmons.
“He could” return to the bench, Miller said. “I think for us, especially in the situation that we been in this season, I think it’s important we take it one day at a time -- that this is the team we have today. A lot of times that’s changed in one day. So we have to coach the team that we have today.
“Parker is very much making his way back. We like the progress that he’s made and there might be a time when he starts but right now I think it’s important that he feels good about himself and that he impacts the game in a positive way like he did this weekend.”
In part by holding both Cal and Stanford under 37 percent shooting last weekend, Arizona has moved up to No. 9 in Kenpom’s defensive efficiency rating. UA allows only 90.8 points per 100 opponent possessions.
Miller said the improvement has a lot to do with his team’s buy-in to the defensive side of the court
“I feel like we have a much better defensive team than we had a year ago, which is really striking,” Miller said. “I think as I look back a year ago, that was part of our frustration that wouldn’t allow us to ever take that next step. We had a very good season and we were a few plays away from having a great year but we never ever were able to be a team that embraced the defensive side of the ball, improved, got big stops.
“In fact, at the end of the year we might not have been as good as we were at some point in the middle. This year with so many newcomers you worry about your ability to defend. But I feel like we’ve improved. I don’t know if we’re a top 10 defensive team I feel like we have more of an upside because of our youth, and we have a coachable team. We have a group of guys who don't fight the coach at what we’re trying to become better at.”
