For the second consecutive season, the Arizona Wildcats will be without star guard Allonzo Trier for a large portion of the season. On Thursday, he was deemed ineligible after testing positive for a banned substance and is now suspended indefinitely.
It’s a sizable blow to the Wildcats, who are currently ranked No. 14 in the AP Poll with a record of 21-6. The oddsmakers at BetDSI had them posted at 12/1 to win the NCAA Tournament. However, those odds are expect to become much longer if he’s not able to participate the rest of the season.
Trier was suspended the first 19 games of last season, so he is a second-time offender. His loss is not a minor one as he is one of the integral reasons why the Wildcats are the top team in the Pac-12. He had been averaging 19.6 points per game this season, good for second on a team that’s considered a strong Final Four contender. That average is not only second-best on his team, it’s second-best in the Pac-12 overall and Top 50 in the country.
In terms of what he’s worth on the betting lines, it will really depend on the opponent. Against a lowly opponent like Oregon State – the team that Arizona faces on Thursday night – the betting line only moved by a half-point on the news. When they get tested against better opponents later on in the Pac-12 Tournament or March Madness, the difference is likely to be a point to 1.5 points. In terms of their futures, the Wildcats are likely to move into the vicinity of 20/1 to win the March Madness Tournament.
For now, the University of Arizona is appealing the ruling in hopes of a change. In their eyes, the test “revealed the reappearance of a trace amount of a banned substance“, which means that maybe there is a slight chance that he gets back on the court this season. At this point, it’s unclear whether they would be arguing for a shorter suspension or to have the suspension removed completely.
The Wildcats will finish up the season with a game at the Oregon Ducks on Saturday followed by home games against the Stanford Cardinal and California Golden Bears.
