Pac-12 Basketball Preview: Arizona Wildcats

It’s here! The 2019 Pac-12 Basketball Preview! To get you ready for another season of Pac-12 hoops, here’s a preview of each and every squad in the conference, from the contenders…to the pretenders. 

Arizona Wildcats 

Head Coach: Sean Miller

2017-18 Record: 27-8

2017-18 Pac-12 Record: 14-4

Postseason: Lost in Round of 64 of NCAA Tournament

Key Losses: DeAndre Ayton (20.1 ppg, 11.6 rpg), Allonzo Trier (18.1 ppg, 3.2 apg) Rawle Alkins (13.1 ppg, 4.8 rpg), Dusan Ristic (12.2 ppg, 6.9 rpg)

Key Returners: Well…none, really.

Projected Starting Lineup

G: Justin Coleman (13.5 ppg, 6.6 apg, Transfer)

G: Brandon Williams (Freshman)

G: Dylan Smith (4.3 ppg, 1.6 rpg)

F: Ryan Luther (12.7 ppg, 10.1 rpg, Transfer)

C: Chase Jeter (2.6 ppg, 2.7 rpg)

Bench: Brandon Randolph, Ira Lee, Emmanuel Akot, Alex Barcello, Devonaire Doutrive

2018-19 Outlook: The 2018 Arizona men’s basketball team will go down as an all-time What the Hell Did We Just Witness college basketball squad. In fact, they might be cream of the crop, the greatest Nobody Has A Damn Clue What’s About To Happen daily content train in the history of college basketball. And they really ramped it up this past February. Can we just take a second and recount that glorious thirty day stretch where the Wildcats athletic program was more unstable than Heath Ledger’s Joker? Yes, we can. Here’s the quick-hitters (this will be fun, I advise you to keep reading):

• February 15: Sean Miller’s lead assistant coach, Emmanuel “Book” Richardson is still under FEDERAL investigation, but everybody’s seemed to have forgotten that for the time being.
• February 22: Allonzo Trier is caught AGAIN with performance enhancing drugs. It wasn’t surprising, really. With a back and shoulders ripped enough that he looked like Quasimodo, it was pretty clear the NCAA had an Ivan Drago situation on their hands.
• February 23: Mark Schlabach drops a “bombshell” (a phrase more overused than Jack Black in terrible comedies. Side note: as I was typing this, an Apple News alert popped up on my phone that used the word “bombshell.” Can I get a break?) that wiretaps intercepted Sean Miller discussing a $100,000 to DeAndre Ayton. Arizona suspends Miller for the upcoming bout with Oregon.
• February 24: a pissed off Ayton has his signature college “EFF YOU!” game and drops 28 & 18 in an overtime loss with Trier and Miller home on the couch playing Fortnite together.
• March 1: This happens (below) and Sean Miller strong-arms Mark Schlabach like he’s Vito Corleone, rejecting every single thing Mark reported in his piece. And, in his rejecting interview (again, below), Miller uses more qualifiers than Richard Nixon defending himself in Watergate.

• Also March 1: After eh…nine or so days, Trier is allowed back on the team after an Arizona appeal based on the idea that the PEDs in the test were merely remains from something he “accidentally” injected two years ago. Sure. he “unknowingly ingested” performance enhancing drugs. On an unrelated note, high schoolers “unknowingly ingest” funky tasking orange juice at parties. Wild, right?
• March 4: Ayton, Trier and Rawle Alkins declare for the draft…before the start of the tournament. Always a wonderful sign to see your star players announcing their intentions to leave your program right before the postseason begins.
• March 15: Buffalo kicks the crap out of Arizona, as a season that began full of championship dreams ends with the college basketball audience laughing their tails off at an ugly, ugly Arizona basketball situation.

What a time to follow Pac-12 basketball.

Best Case Scenario: The NCAA continues to treat the FBI scandal like Cinderella’s Stepmother treated her and we go yet another season without any real investigation into the guilty parties, giving Miller and Zona time to right the ship. Wiith some returning talent (not much, though) and a few transfers, the Wildcats claw their way to a tournament bid and hover around the top 20-25 all year. I know, this peak is probably a lot lower than most expected (especially Arizona fans), but I’m being realistic. There isn’t enough talent for them to be top 10-15. So, a tournament bid is certainly possible, given the newcomers contribute their fair share and the veterans improve, but they will not improve upon last season’s 4-seed.

Worst Case Scenario: You can spin a Wheel of Misfortune for this one. Pick any combination of terrible ways this season can go down for Arizona. Go ahead, there are plenty of options:

• Option 1: They lose Ayton, Trier and Alkins and simply don’t have much talent and stink it up all year long.
• Option 2: This team loses a guy or two the “Brian Bowen way” (clear evidence that guys got paid, whether by shoe companies or AAU teams) and flounders.
• Option 3: An un-refutable report drops that Sean Miller (as we all expected) has been cheating his butt off and he gets canned.
• Option 4: Sean Miller admits he’s the Zodiac Killer, motivating David Fincher to direct and produce Zodiac 2 starring Joe Lo Truglio (from Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Superbad) as Miller. Tell me this isn’t the most entertaining option?

Any one of the first three are plausible (but don’t rule out the fourth), and could all unfold in some way shape or form. And I’ll be here, sitting with my popcorn and soda, watching Blue Chips 2 or Zodiac 2 unfold right before my eyes.

Bottom Line: Buckle up, Arizona Fans, this season will be a ride you might not survive…or, you know, the Wildcats will earn an 8-seed and everyone fill forget about all this in four months time.