Arizona basketball: Lute Olson thinks Allonzo Trier will be eligible to play in the spring semester

Does Lute know something that we don’t?

Allonzo Trier missed Wednesday’s win against Grand Canyon as he continues to sit out for undisclosed reasons.

Trier has missed all 11 of the Arizona Wildcats’ games this season, and the UA has yet to make a comment on his status, and there is no timetable for his return.

But former Arizona head coach Lute Olson thinks the sophomore is close to returning.

“With Allonzo, none of us know what’s going on there, but I do think he’ll be eligible in the second semester,” Olson told a KVOA reporter.

Lute Olson's about as well connected as anyone to @APlayersProgram. He dropped this nugget on Allonzo Trier earlier today. #BearDown http://pic.twitter.com/hxhvSSzoiR

— Jeff Beamish (@jeffbeamish) December 15, 2016

It is amusing how Olson prefaced his comment with “none of us know what’s going on” but then said something that sounds like he has inside info.

One has to think that Olson still has plenty of connections within Arizona basketball, though it’s possible he is just being optimistic.

Olson was also in this exact same situation in 1997. Miles Simon missed Arizona’s first 11 games in what was the program’s championship season before returning to the team for the start of the spring semester.

Like Trier, Simon was Arizona’s leading returning scorer. However, Simon’s issues were of the academic variety, and that is not the case with Trier.

Still, if Olson’s prediction is true, Trier would be back sometime in early January as the UA’s spring semester formally begins on Jan. 11.

Sean Miller has said that we’ll know Trier is back when he is actually suited up on the court and not in sweats.

That moment has to yet to come, so Arizona will have to make do with what it has in the meantime.

Olson also gave his take on that.

“Well, I think Sean has indicated the problem that they only have seven scholarship guys dressed and then it’s walk-ons after that,” Olson said. “With Parker (Jackson-Cartwright) having that high-ankle sprain, that takes longer (to heal) than a fracture would.”

The 19th-ranked Wildcats are 9-2 with a challenge coming up in Houston on Saturday as they face Texas A&M (7-2).

Tip-off is set for 10 a.m. MST and it will be televised on ESPN2.

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