2016–17_Arizona_Wildcats_men's_basketball_team

2016–17 Arizona Wildcats men's basketball team

2016–17 Arizona Wildcats men's basketball team

American college basketball season


The 2016–17 Arizona Wildcats men's basketball team represented the University of Arizona during the 2016–17 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The team was led by eighth-year head coach Sean Miller, and played their home games at McKale Center in Tucson, Arizona as members in the Pac-12 Conference. Coming into the '16-'17 season Arizona has been ranked in 78-consecutive AP polls & 81-straight coaches polls. The 97-consecutive weeks in the AP poll is currently the second-longest streak in the nation behind Kansas at 161 weeks.[1] They have been ranked every week in the 2016-2017 season, bringing those totals to 97 weeks for the AP & 100 weeks for the coaches poll. Arizona won its first 10 conference games, the best start since the '97-'98 season when they started 16-0. They finished the season with at record of 31–4, tied at 16–2 with Oregon in Pac-12 play for first place to win their 3rd Pac-12 regular season championship title for the 15th time. The Wildcats entered the Pac-12 Tournament as a 2-seed, the Wildcats defeated 7-seed Colorado in the quarterfinals, 3-seed UCLA in the semifinals and 1-seed Oregon (avenged from 85–58 loss on February 4 in Eugene, OR) in the championship game, Wildcats won their 2nd Pac-12 Tournament championship title for the 6th time since 2002. Arizona received as an automatic bid to the 5th straight NCAA tournament (34th NCAA tournament appearances) as a 2-seed in the West regional, The Arizona Wildcats defeated the 15-seed North Dakota 100–82 in the first round, 7-seed Saint Mary's 69–60 in the second round before being upset by 11-seed Xavier 71–73 in the Sweet Sixteen.

Quick Facts Arizona Wildcats men's basketball, Pac-12 tournament champions Pac-12 regular season co-champions ...
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Due to 2017–18 NCAA Division I men's basketball corruption scandal, all wins from this season have been vacated.[2][3]

Previous season

The Wildcats finished the 2015–16 season with a record of 25–9, 12–6 in Pac-12 play to finish in a tie with California for third place. The Wildcats entered the Pac-12 tournament as a 4 seed where they beat Colorado in the quarterfinals, but fell in the semifinals to Oregon in overtime. Arizona received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament, the program's 33rd overall appearance, as a No. 6 seed in the South Region. They lost in the First Round to Wichita State.

Off-season

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Incoming transfers

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2016 recruiting class

Kobi Simmons at the 2016 McDonald's All-American Game

Arizona's recruiting class has been ranked among the top 5 in the nation. However, due to eligibility concerns, five-star recruit Terrance Ferguson chose to play internationally and not attend Arizona.[11]

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More information US college sports recruiting information for 2017 recruits, Name ...

Personnel

Roster

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  • Aug 24, 2016 – Talbott Denny will miss the 2016–17 season after tearing his left ACL.[12]
  • Nov 1, 2016 – Allonzo Trier suspended indefinitely for a test positive for PED.[13] On Jan. 20, it was announced Trier would make his return for the UCLA game after 19 game absence.[14]
  • Nov 1, 2016 – Sean Miller announced in a statement that Chance Comanche suspended indefinitely due to academic reasons.[15] Suspension was lifted by season opener.[16]
  • Nov 3, 2016 – Ray Smith tore his ACL in his right knee in the team's first exhibition game on November 1. Two days later, Smith announced on Twitter that he will end his basketball career.[17]
  • Nov 30, 2016 – Parker Jackson-Cartwright suffered a high ankle sprain during game against Texas Southern.[18] Made return for conference opener on December 30.

Depth chart

  • before Jan. 20
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  • after Jan. 20
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Coaching staff

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Schedule and results

In Arizona's non-conference schedule the team hosted Cal State Bakersfield, Grand Canyon, New Mexico, Texas Southern, UC Irvine, Northern Colorado and Sacred Heart. Arizona had one true road game against Missouri. The Wildcats also played five games in four neutral sites. They played Michigan State in the Armed Forces Classic at Joint Base Pearl Harbor–Hickam in Honolulu, Hawaii (later announced that game was moved to Stan Sheriff Center to accommodate more fans[19]), Gonzaga in the first ever HoopHall LA event at Staples Center in Los Angeles, California, Texas A&M at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas, and also played at Orleans Arena as part in the Las Vegas Invitational in Las Vegas, where they face off against three of the following: Butler, Santa Clara or Vanderbilt.[20]

In the unbalanced 18-game Pac-12 schedule, the team will face neither the Rocky Mountain teams (Colorado/Utah) on the road, nor the Oregon teams (Oregon/Oregon State) at home.

Arizona's pre-season Red-Blue scrimmage took place on October 14, 2016 at McKale Center. The Red team beat the Blue, 53–49.

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Ranking movement

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*AP does not release post-NCAA tournament rankings

Player statistics

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Awards and honors

Preseason Award Watchlists

Midseason awards

Season awards

  • Sean Miller
    • 2017 Werner Ladder Naismith Men's College Coach of the Year semifinalist (March 3, 2017)[30]
    • Pac-12 Coach of the Year (March 7, 2017) [31]
    • Coach of the Year (Bleacher Report, Fox)[32]
      [33]
    • AP Pac-12 Coach of the Year (March 7, 2017) [34]
    • NABC District 20 Coach of the Year (March 22, 2017)
  • Lauri Markkanen
    • 2017 Wooden Award Top 15 Finalist (March 4, 2017) [35]
  • Allonzo Trier
    • Pac-12 Tournament MOP (2017)

Weekly awards

  • Lauri Markkanen
    • 2x Pac-12 Player of the Week (January 20, 2017 – February 20, 2017)[36]
      [37]
    • Oscar Robertson National Player of the Week (January 24, 2017) [38]
    • Naismith Trophy National Player of the Week (February 20, 2017)
    • Wayman Tisdale National Freshman Player of the Week (February 20, 2017)

All-Conference Pac-12 team

  • Lauri Markkanen
    • All-Pac-12 Freshman team (2017)
    • All-Pac-12 first team (2017)
    • All-Pac-12 tournament team (2017)
    • AP All-Pac-12 first team (2017)
  • Rawle Alkins
    • All-Pac-12 freshman team (2017)
  • Kadeem Allen
    • All-Pac-12 defensive team (2017)
    • All-Pac-12 second team (2017)
  • Allonzo Trier
    • All-Pac-12 second team (2017)

All-American teams

  • Lauri Markkanen
    • 2017 All-American 3rd team (AP, USA Today, SN, NBC, B1G Man)
    • District IX All-District team (2017)
    • NABC All-District First Team (District 20, March 22, 2017)

See also

2016–17 Arizona Wildcats women's basketball team


References

  1. "Arizona Media Guide" (PDF). ArizonaWildcats.com. Retrieved January 27, 2017.
  2. Pascoe, Bruce. "Arizona basketball: Simple math says Pitts is gone". Tucson.com. Arizona Daily Star. Retrieved May 16, 2016.
  3. Encinas, Gabe. "Arizona basketball: Elliott Pitts transferring to Diablo Valley College". azdesertswarm.com. Retrieved October 20, 2016.
  4. Pascoe, Bruce. "UA basketball: New policy cleared way for Miles Simon to be honored". Tucson.com. Arizona Daily Star. Retrieved August 31, 2016.
  5. Pascoe, Bruce. "Arizona basketball: Guard Justin Simon to transfer". Tucson.com. Arizona Daily Star. Retrieved March 28, 2016.
  6. Pascoe, Bruce. "Former Salpointe standout Denny commits to Arizona Wildcats". Tucson.com. Arizona Daily Star. Retrieved April 26, 2016.
  7. Pascoe, Bruce. "Wildcats land Australian post Keanu Pinder". Tucson.com. Arizona Daily Star. Retrieved May 14, 2016.
  8. Pascoe, Bruce. "Arizona basketball: UNC Asheville transfer commits to Wildcats". Tucson.com. Arizona Daily Star. Retrieved May 12, 2016.
  9. Rosenblatt, Zack. "Arizona basketball: Recruit Terrance Ferguson turns pro". Tucson.com. Retrieved June 30, 2016.
  10. Pascoe, Bruce. "Arizona Wildcats forward Talbott Denny to miss season with knee injury". Tucson.com. Arizona Daily Star. Retrieved August 31, 2016.
  11. Pascoe, Bruce. "Arizona Wildcats basketball: Allonzo Trier, Chance Comanche out for tonight's exhibition game". Tucson.com. Arizona Daily Star. Retrieved November 1, 2016.
  12. Pascoe, Bruce. "Update: Suspended Wildcats guard Allonzo Trier to play Saturday vs. UCLA". Tucson.com. Arizona Daily Star. Retrieved January 20, 2017.
  13. Pines, Seth. "Arizona hoops: Comanche suspended indefinitely". KGUN9.com. Retrieved November 2, 2016.
  14. Kelapire, Ryan. "Arizona basketball: Chance Comanche will play against Michigan State". AZDesertSwarm.com. Retrieved November 11, 2016.
  15. Pascoe, Bruce. "Ray Smith's career over after Arizona Wildcats confirm he tore ACL". Tucson.com. Arizona Daily Star. Retrieved November 3, 2016.
  16. Presnell, Kelly. "Arizona Wildcats win, but lose Parker Jackson-Cartwright for 'considerable amount of time'". Tucson.com. Arizona Daily Star. Retrieved December 1, 2016.
  17. Pascoe, Bruce. "Cats will have more aggressive schedule next season, Miller says". Tucson.com. Arizona Daily Star. Retrieved April 7, 2016.
  18. Sills-Trausch, Alec. "Arizona basketball: Allonzo Trier named to the Jerry West Award watch list". AZDesertSwarm.com. Retrieved October 18, 2016.
  19. Kelapire, Ryan. "Arizona basketball: Lauri Markkanen named to the Karl Malone Award watch list". AZDesertSwarm.com. Retrieved October 20, 2016.
  20. Pascoe, Bruce. "UA-Cal State Bakersfield pregame: Markkanen named to Wooden Award Watchlist". Tucson.com. Arizona Daily Star. Retrieved November 15, 2016.
  21. "John R. Wooden Award Reveals 2016-17 Midseason Top 25". John R Wooden Award. Retrieved January 12, 2017.
  22. Decker, Ryan. "Markkanen on watch list for Oscar Robertson and Wayman Tisdale awards". Arizonasports.com. Retrieved January 23, 2017.
  23. "Karl Malone Award". hoophallawards.com. Retrieved February 2, 2017.
  24. "Naismith Trophy Top 30". Retrieved February 9, 2017.
  25. "John R. Wooden Award Reveals 2016-17 Midseason Top 20". John R Wooden Award. Retrieved January 12, 2017.
  26. "Miller earns Pac-12's top coaching honor for-third". Tucson.com. Retrieved March 7, 2017.
  27. "Bleacher Reports 2016-17 College Basketball Awards". Bleacher Report.com. Retrieved March 3, 2017.
  28. "John R. Wooden Award". Wooden Award.com. Retrieved March 4, 2017.
  29. Vasquez, Gary A. "Arizona's Markkanen is latest freshman to earn Pac-12 weekly award". Pac-12.com. Retrieved January 23, 2017.
  30. Vasquez, Gary A. "Pac-12 weekly award Arizona's Markkanen ties most ever freshman". Pac-12.com. Retrieved February 20, 2017.
  31. Kelapire, Ryan. "Arizona basketball: Lauri Markkanen named Oscar Robertson National Player of the Week". AZDesertSwarm.com. Retrieved January 24, 2017.

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