Sean Miller met with the media today along with center Dusan Ristic to talk about the Wildcats coming off the loss to Gonzaga on Saturday. Here is an overview of the big topics discussed Monday.
* Arizona once again announced prior the press conference that there would be no comment on Allonzo Trier's status, but when asked Miller did open up about his sophomore guard more than he has in a long time. Miller was asked why he was able to make the trip to Los Angeles and the UA head coach said Trier was permitted to travel with the team by the NCAA and that is why he went. That had not been the case the prior two trips.
A follow up question was asked of Miller to clarify if that was a good sign for Trier's potential return and Miller simply said "no." The UA head coach then added that the only good news will be when Trier returns to the floor.
"The only good sign is when he walks out there and plays," Miller said.
* When it comes to the other big missing piece to Arizona right now Miller said it will be on the lengthy side for Parker Jackson-Cartwright and his high ankle sprain will keep him out "eight weeks" according to Miller.
"It's like putting the ATM card in and if there's none in there it's 'here we go,'" Miller said when describing how he now approaches the next two months. "We're going to make the best of it and figure it out, and that's what we're doing. We're figuring it out and we're making the best of it. We have a lot of players that came to Arizona to have big, big roles and believe me every one of them does right now."
* It was a newsy day for the Wildcats and one topic of note had to do with a player who isn't even on campus yet, DeAndre Ayton. The No. 1 recruit missed some time with his Hillcrest squad and a report came out that Ayton had visa issues getting back from the Bahamas. Miller had two words to respond to a question about it.
"He's fine," the UA coach said.
Miller added that at this point there should be no reason to be concerned about his top recruit.
* On the floor things continue to try and work themselves out as Arizona makes do with what it has available and right now that is seven scholarship players. One of the biggest issues that Arizona has had even for the last few years has been slow starts in particular against teams that are thought of as "good." It happened against Gonzaga on Saturday and played a big part in UA eventually losing that game.
"The disappointing part of that game is in a number of areas and one is just our start," Miller said. "We were apprehensive at the start. They were very, very confident they were ready. I don't want to say that we weren't ready, we were ready. I think we were a nervous team. We were a team that was unsure of itself."
Miller is hopeful that gets cleaned up as things move forward.
* Arizona's guards had trouble getting Lauri Markkanen the ball and the other bigs just weren't have the ball come there way as much in Saturday's game. Ristic said it is different when Parker Jackson-Cartwright isn't out there in how the ball gets to the front court players.
"It's absolutely different when you don't have your first point guard out there," he said. "The ball movement is a little different, but you know we have other players that are going to step up, Kadeem and Kobi in particular. I think they're going to be better and better the next games because Kadeem started the season playing the guard position so now he's back to point guard. He already has experience from last year and I think he'll be better from this point on. Same for Kobi."
* Arizona once again announced prior the press conference that there would be no comment on Allonzo Trier's status, but when asked Miller did open up about his sophomore guard more than he has in a long time. Miller was asked why he was able to make the trip to Los Angeles and the UA head coach said Trier was permitted to travel with the team by the NCAA and that is why he went. That had not been the case the prior two trips.
A follow up question was asked of Miller to clarify if that was a good sign for Trier's potential return and Miller simply said "no." The UA head coach then added that the only good news will be when Trier returns to the floor.
"The only good sign is when he walks out there and plays," Miller said.
* When it comes to the other big missing piece to Arizona right now Miller said it will be on the lengthy side for Parker Jackson-Cartwright and his high ankle sprain will keep him out "eight weeks" according to Miller.
"It's like putting the ATM card in and if there's none in there it's 'here we go,'" Miller said when describing how he now approaches the next two months. "We're going to make the best of it and figure it out, and that's what we're doing. We're figuring it out and we're making the best of it. We have a lot of players that came to Arizona to have big, big roles and believe me every one of them does right now."
* It was a newsy day for the Wildcats and one topic of note had to do with a player who isn't even on campus yet, DeAndre Ayton. The No. 1 recruit missed some time with his Hillcrest squad and a report came out that Ayton had visa issues getting back from the Bahamas. Miller had two words to respond to a question about it.
"He's fine," the UA coach said.
Miller added that at this point there should be no reason to be concerned about his top recruit.
* On the floor things continue to try and work themselves out as Arizona makes do with what it has available and right now that is seven scholarship players. One of the biggest issues that Arizona has had even for the last few years has been slow starts in particular against teams that are thought of as "good." It happened against Gonzaga on Saturday and played a big part in UA eventually losing that game.
"The disappointing part of that game is in a number of areas and one is just our start," Miller said. "We were apprehensive at the start. They were very, very confident they were ready. I don't want to say that we weren't ready, we were ready. I think we were a nervous team. We were a team that was unsure of itself."
Miller is hopeful that gets cleaned up as things move forward.
* Arizona's guards had trouble getting Lauri Markkanen the ball and the other bigs just weren't have the ball come there way as much in Saturday's game. Ristic said it is different when Parker Jackson-Cartwright isn't out there in how the ball gets to the front court players.
"It's absolutely different when you don't have your first point guard out there," he said. "The ball movement is a little different, but you know we have other players that are going to step up, Kadeem and Kobi in particular. I think they're going to be better and better the next games because Kadeem started the season playing the guard position so now he's back to point guard. He already has experience from last year and I think he'll be better from this point on. Same for Kobi."
