Arizona Basketball: Wildcats Roster Additions Are Cause for Optimism
By Bryan Mauro
Arizona Basketball has done incredibly well so far in the college basketball off-season. Will it be enough to get them to another NCAA Tournament?
When Sean Miller and the Arizona Wildcats entered the current off-season the Wildcats possessed a roster devoid of talent, at least by Arizona’s standards. The FBI sanctions really seemed to take their toll on the Wildcats program. Coach Miller seeming to be losing recruits at an alarming rate. The only left for the Arizona staff to do was to go and recruit every kid that was transferring or had yet to sign with a team yet and hope for the best.
Once the FBI listed Arizona in its report the prized recruit for Arizona, Jahvon Quinerly decommitted and reopened his recruitment. The majority of the recruits on Arizona’s 2018 recruiting class would soon follow. This coupled with the loss of most of the high-caliber talent on the Arizona roster put Sean Miller in a really tough position, especially to field a competitive roster. The Wildcat faithful had grown restless after another listless performance and an early exit in the NCAA tournament.
Over the past few weeks Arizona has really turned around their fortunes. Coach Miller has been able to secure some high level recruits along with some great grad transfers. One of the recent commitments was a player who had originally decommitted from the Wildcats once the FBI probe was released. If Miller and his coaching staff can get this current roster to play as a cohesive unit, then Arizona is going to find themselves back at the top of the Pac-12 again.
One of the signatures of the Sean Miller era at Arizona has always been the presence of productive post players. Miller just recently had future NBA superstar and lottery pick DeAndre Ayton as well as 4 year player Dusan Ristic. He and Ayton are gone and out of the Arizona program. The Wildcats already had a potential star on the roster in Duke transfer Chase Jeter, but Miller needed another productive player and rebounder.
Arizona was able to secure the commitment of grad transfer Ryan Luther. He is a former Pitt Panther, announced his decision to transfer after Pitt parted ways with former coach Kevin Stallings. Luther missed all but 10 games last year due to an injury. When he was healthy Luther was as productive as they come. He averaged a double-double last year and led a dreadful Pitt team in scoring. If Luther can stay healthy, and shows he is completely over his foot injury, that caused him to miss time last year, he can provide Arizona with much-needed front court depth.
The Wildcats were able to secure the commitment of a player who was initially committed to Arizona, then decommitted and now has committed again. That player is top 50 ranked point guard Brandon Williams. Williams is going to step right in and play at ton of minutes for the Wildcats, who are trying to replace former point guard Parker Jackson-Cartwright. Williams has great floor vision which enables to make quick decisions passing the ball. He’s a good shooter and he is going to score at the major college level. He will be able to provide exactly what Arizona is looking for at the point guard position and that is a floor general, who won’t turn the ball over. The difference here is that Williams has the potential to score a lot of points.
Williams joins a recruiting class that is one of the better ones in the country. He joins recruits Devonaire Doutrive and Belgian wing Omar Thielemans. Doutrive is a sharp shooting guard who can fill a stat sheet. He’s also a really good passer and can be used as a point guard if needed. Williams and Doutrive are going to give Sean Miller some roster flexibility.
One reason that Miller is going to need added flexibility is that he was able to secure the commitment of another graduate transfer player. This player is Samford point guard Justin Coleman. He’s an experienced player who averaged 13.5 points per game last year to go along with 6.6 assists. Coleman is going to be a great asset for Arizona. He will start at the point, which means Williams will come off the bench, or he can be moved to the off guard position.
He’ll provide the stability for Arizona that he is experienced and the bright lights are not going to rattle him. The former Samford ball handler is another player who has strengths that fit the role of the point guard that Sean Miller is looking for. Coleman just like Williams is not going to turn the ball over, and is going to score.
Arizona is still awaiting the decision from the last remaining top recruit in the 2018 class. Jordan Brown is down to a final three of Stanford, Cal and Arizona. He could be a game changer for the 2018 outlook for Arizona as he is a skilled big man who would have a ton of depth behind him. Brown’s commitment would give the Wildcats a starting frontcourt of Brown, Jeter and Ryan Luther. It would remain to be seen then if Miller would favor the height with Brown and Jeter or if he would prefer athleticism of Brown and Luther and guards. He would have options and with Brown’s commitment that would make Arizona the favorite to finish at the top of the Pac-12 again.
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Sean Miller is still going to have his work cut out for him this year, to make this roster play as a cohesive unit. If he can minimize the learning curve of the young players and the new players to the program than the sky is the limit. The question still remains on if Miller will make his first final four? Will he be around at Arizona long enough to see that through? This roster as it is currently made up does have talent, but does not have the talent to make a final four run. Arizona’s outlook for the upcoming season went from grim to optimistic in a matter of days.