Arizona basketball roundtable: Should Parker Jackson-Cartwright and Allonzo Trier be back in the Wildcats’ starting lineup?

Probably shouldn’t mess with what’s working.

Parker Jackson-Cartwright has been back in the Arizona Wildcats lineup for seven games since suffering a high ankle sprain, but still hasn’t returned to the starting spot he had prior to the injury.

Allonzo Trier returned Saturday after what ended up being a 19 game PED suspension, and Sean Miller says that Trier could be a starter very, very shortly.

But does Miller really need to worry about changing the starting lineup? After all, Arizona hasn’t lost in nearly two months, or 12 games, whichever you prefer.

Do we want to see a change in the starting lineup? Well...

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Ryan Kelapire: I would leave it as is, mainly because I don’t think benching a freshman is a good idea. Trier is a better player than Kobi Simmons or Rawle Alkins, but you just don’t know how either of the two freshmen will react to getting benched. And right now they’re both playing well, so I wouldn’t change a thing.

That said, that does not mean someone like Trier can’t or won’t play more minutes than Simmons or Alkins. It just means that you leave the title of starting to Simmons and Alkins and keep PJC and Trier coming in off the bench.

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Steve Apter: I’d leave it. Arizona faces some bigger guards in their upcoming schedule (Tyler Dorsey 6’4”, Payton Pritchard 6’2”, and Markelle Fultz 6’4”). Playing off the bench isn’t easy and PJC has been effective in that role, plus he gets more run against 2nd units which are less likely to take advantage of his lack of height.

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David Potts: Leave it as it is. I think Ryan is right — you can always adjust minutes, if you need to — so Trier or PJC play more often, but there’s no reason to mess with what’s working in the starting lineup.

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Brandon Hill: I agree this is pretty fluid. Whether or not Trier starts he will still certainly get starter’s minutes or close to it. Of course you don’t want to affect chemistry given what the rotation has been up to this point, but certainly adding Trier to the mix has been a “problem” Arizona has been hungry for since the season began. Whether or not Trier starts games or halves, we do know he will be on the floor to finish them.

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Jason Bartel: I think it’s funny that this is always something that Miller gets asked, and now I’m being hypocritical by asking it myself. Whoever earns the minutes is going to get them. I mean, even Chance Comanche almost had as many minutes as Dusan Ristic in the first half of the UCLA game. Miller has been much better at proper rotation of players this year, and whoever starts is extremely insignificant these days.

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