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Arizona can dare to dream big again now that Allonzo Trier is back

Allonzo Trier was reinstated Friday night in time for Saturday's game at UCLA (AP)
Allonzo Trier was reinstated Friday night in time for Saturday’s game at UCLA. (AP)

No longer does Arizona have to temper expectations this college basketball season.

Now the Wildcats can take aim at capturing the Pac-12 title and even dare to dream of getting coach Sean Miller to his first Final Four.

Anything is now within reach after Friday night’s news that sophomore guard Allonzo Trier has been reinstated by the NCAA. Trier, the Wildcats’ leading returning scorer, sat out the team’s first 19 games this season while serving a PED-related suspension.

The NCAA notified Arizona on Friday afternoon that Trier’s most recent drug test was negative, paving the way for his immediate return to the court. Arizona (17-2, 6-0) subsequently released a statement late Friday night announcing that Trier will be available in time for maybe the 14th-ranked Wildcats’ biggest game of the season Saturday at UCLA (19-1).

Hailed as one of the top prospects in the 2015 class, Trier lived up to his hype as a freshman by averaging 14.8 points and evolving into a solid perimeter defender. The 6-foot-5 Seattle native used his strength and quickness to beat defenders off the dribble, yet kept them from sagging off him too far by hitting 36.4 percent of his attempts from behind the arc.

Adding Trier to its backcourt will eventually make Arizona deeper, better and less freshman-reliant. Rawle Alkins and Kobi Simmons no longer have to shoulder the majority of the perimeter scoring burden anymore. Now both prized freshmen guards can be secondary options in a backcourt that includes Trier, pass-first point guard Parker Jackson-Cartwright and defensive stopper Kadeem Allen.

Pair that perimeter corps with a frontcourt highlighted by elite freshman Lauri Markkanen and a pair of 7 footers, and Arizona has a roster that rivals any program from out West. At minimum, the Wildcats should pose a threat to a UCLA team that boasts maybe the nation’s most prolific offense and an Oregon team that has won 15 in a row since a rocky start.

Trier’s absence had cast a pall over the first two-thirds of Arizona’s season even as the Wildcats have piled up wins. They’re tied for first in the Pac-12, however they’ve yet to face either the Ducks or the Bruins in conference play and their most impressive non-league win of the season was probably a season-opening neutral-court victory over solid-yet-not-elite Michigan State.

At nearly every press conference he held the past three months, Miller fielded questions about why Trier was sitting out and the timetable for his return. More often than not, he declined comment, which only fueled rumors and speculation from those outside the program.

Finally, on Wednesday, college basketball’s worst-kept secret got out and the cause of Trier’s suspension went public. Trier subsequently released a statement describing himself as “shocked” when he tested positive for a trace amount of a banned performance-enhancing drug following a random drug test before the season

“I have never knowingly taken a banned substance,” Trier said. “After finding out that I was given a banned substance by a well-intentioned, but misguided person not associated with the University after an injury, I presented this information to the NCAA. The NCAA agreed that I had no knowledge of receiving the substance.”

Had Trier not won his appeal with the NCAA in December, he would have served a year-long suspension. Instead the NCAA ruled he could return to the court as soon as all traces of the drug disappeared from his system.

Now they have, and everything is suddenly within reach for Arizona.

A Top 10 ranking. A Pac-12 title. Even an elusive Final Four. They’re all tough but attainable goals for a fully stocked Arizona team that can dare to dream again.