It’s mid-May now and Arizona still hasn’t said a word about Elliott Pitts’ future, but that’s OK.
The numbers say it all.
With the addition of Aussie forward Keanu Pinder over the weekend, the Wildcats now have reached their full allotment of 13 scholarship players – in addition to Pitts.
Pitts, who left the Wildcats in February for an undisclosed off-court reason, appears to be quietly trying to find a new home where he’ll have to sit out a year while having only one year of eligibility remaining (unless he has success via waiver asking that the seven games he played last season be ignored).
Arizona has a tentative roster of 16 players for next season, counting three walk-ons (Trey Mason, Paulo Cruz and Jake DesJardins) and a redshirt transfer (Dylan Smith) who won’t be eligible to play until 2017-18.
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Here’s how the UA 2016-17 roster looks, now that it appears to be all but complete:
Rawle Alkins G 6-4 200 Fr. New York (Word of God Academy, Raleigh, N.C.)
Kadeem Allen G 6-3 200 Sr. Wilmington, N.C. (Hutchinson CC)
Chance Comanche C 6-11 205 So. Beverly Hills, Calif. (Beverly Hills HS)
Paulo Cruz* G 6-4 195 So. San Diego (Francis Parker School)
Talbott Denny F 6-6 210 Sr. Tucson (Lipscomb)
Jake DesJardins* F 6-6 185 Fr. Henderson, Nev. (Coronado HS)
Terrance Ferguson G 6-7 190 Fr. Dallas (Advanced Prep International)
Parker Jackson-Cartwright G 5-11 170 Jr. Los Angeles, Calif. (Sierra Canyon HS)
Lauri Markkanen F 6-10 215 Fr. Jyväskylä, Finland (Helsinki Basketball Academy)
Trey Mason* G 6-2 195 Sr. Los Angeles (Loyola HS)
Keanu Pinder F 6-8 195 Jr. Perth, Australia (Hutchinson, Kan., CC.)
Dusan Ristic C 7-0 255 Jr. Novi Sad, Serbia (Sunrise Christian Academy, Wichita, Kan.)
Kobi Simmons G 6-6 185 Fr. Alpharetta, Ga. (St. Francis HS)
Dylan Smith** G 6-5 170 So. Mobile, Ala. (UNC Asheville)
Ray Smith F 6-8 210 Fr. Las Vegas (Las Vegas HS)
Allonzo Trier G 6-5 210 So. Seattle, Wash. (Findlay Prep)
* Walk-on
** Ineligible to play in 2016-17 under NCAA transfer rules.
The roster gives UA coach Sean Miller the ability to easily put together a five-man scout team and still have two five-man teams who can face it. Most likely, Dylan Smith will join the three walk-ons and another player on the scout team, while it appeared earlier this spring that scraping together that kind of depth would be rough.
But Miller added six scholarship players this spring, plus DesJardins, giving him flexibility in practice and, of course, in games. Miller said at the Pac-12 meetings earlier this month he could move to a more “positionless” system considering all the similarly sized talent he has.
Not only does UA have a glut of perimeter players who could push their way into the power forward spot, but the Wildcats have three entirely different types of point guards in “true PG” Parker Jackson-Cartwright, “scoring-minded PG” in Kobi Simmons and “combo guard" Kadeem Allen.
“I think you have a collection of guards, a collection of wings and one low post player,” Miller said. “That doesn't mean two low-post players can’t play together like Chance (Comanche) and Dusan (Ristic), but you have to adapt to the personnel you have. When you look at our personnel, we have very versatile wings and guards.”
UA still has not announced the addition of Ferguson, Denny, Dylan Smith and Pinder, though it certainly looks here like Pinder has signed. If Ferguson is going to sign a letter-of-intent (he doesn't have to but is expected to show up on campus next month regardless), he'll have to do so by Wednesday, the end of the spring signing period.
Since Denny and Smith are transfers, they don't sign LOIs (just financial aid agreements) and it's not clear yet whether they have.
Big-time home-and-home series may be getting rarer, but UCLA pulled off one with Michigan that begins at Pauley Pavilion next season.
After improving his draft stock as a sophomore at Utah, Jakob Poeltl measured at 7-foot-1 but with short arms for a player of that size.
Valentine Izundu will transfer from WSU to SDSU, with Que Johnson already headed for Western Kentucky.
Finally, a few items about Pinder if you missed any of them: We had a news feature on his background and decision to attend UA, while the Hutchinson News looked into his roots last season. There's also the above-mentioned blog post from an organization Pinder was affiliated with.
