Arizona Basketball: Impact of Allonzo Trier suspension
The Arizona Wildcats may be without guard Allonzo Trier for the rest of the year after a suspension for a banned substance.
For the Arizona Wildcats, their season changed course on Thursday night with the news regarding Allonzo Trier.
For the second time in his collegiate career, the star guard ran afoul of the NCAA.. He reportedly had a “trace amount” of a banned substance in his system when he was tested last month.
Unsurprisingly, the school is appealing the suspension.
Similar circumstances unfolded last season, when a PED suspension resulted in Trier missing the first 19 games of the season. The Wildcats were remarkably even with and without him, going 17-2 in his absence and 15-3 after his return, including postseason play.
That suggests the team will be just fine in his absence, should the appeal fall on deaf ears.
But this year’s Wildcats team is not the same as last year’s Sweet Sixteen outlet.
Trier emerged as one of the best players in the Pac-12 this season, averaging 19.6 points per game. That’s just a tenth of a point behind teammate DeAndre Ayton for best scoring average in the conference.
The team has struggled all season with depth problems, especially in their backcourt. Rawle Alkins and Parker Jackson-Cartwright are the only other guards averaging even five points per game. After those two, the next guard up is Dylan Smith, he of 4.5 points and 1.2 assists per game on .364 shooting.
It’s not a pretty picture.
The lack of guards to fill in for Trier will force Sean Miller to rely more on his big man lineup, featuring Ayton and Dusan Ristic. That’s all well and good now, but there will be teams talented enough to exploit the forthcoming mismatches in the NCAA Tournament.
Before this news came out, we listed Arizona as a sleeper national championship pick.
Without Trier, their ceiling becomes the Sweet Sixteen – again.