LOS ANGELES -- Arizona freshman point guard Josiah Turner has been suspended indefinitely for a violation of team rules, the Arizona athletic department announced Wednesday evening.
"Josiah Turner has been suspended indefinitely from our basketball team for a violation of team rules," said head coach Sean Miller in a press release. "I am disappointed in Josiah for his actions. Unfortunately this suspension comes at a time of great excitement and opportunity for our team. However, the standards of our program will not be compromised under any circumstances. Hopefully, Josiah will learn a valuable lesson from this experience."
Of course, this is the third time he's missed time for similar reasons this season. Turner was benched in the first half of the Duquesne game earlier this year for being late to a shootaround prior to a game, then sat out the next contest against Ball State.
He later missed an entire game against the Florida Gators in Florida.
And as much as Miller has said Turner isn't a bad kid following those two ordeals, strike three comes with more questions. An indefinite suspension very well could lead Turner to having the same fate as short-lived Wildcat Sidiki Johnson.
Perhaps, he'll never play for Miller again: Wrote CBSSports.com's Jeff Goodman wrote on Twitter:
Don't expect Arizona guard Josiah Turner back this season and don't be surprised if he never wears a Wildcat uniform again.
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanCBS) March 8, 2012
At the very least, this is a sign the guy hasn't learned his lesson.
We can speculate on his position with the team later, but for now, this is what we know: Arizona is without its starting point guard and even though back-up Jordin Mayes has returned from injury, he's been off and on the court since summertime, when he underwent foot surgery.
But don't think this will be a major blow to the Wildcats. Josiah's play has been so inconsistent that he's disappeared from games that he hasn't been suspended from.
The likely bet is Nick Johnson taking over the starting point guard duties, similar to his role in the Florida game earlier this season -- remember, Arizona took the ranked Gators to overtime without Turner then.
UCLA head coach Ben Howland, whose Bruins will play Arizona on Thursday, wasn't feeling much better about facing the Wildcats despite them missing their starting point guard.
"Josiah's a very good player," Howland said after his Bruins defeated USC. "I just heard that as I was walking over here. I don't know who starts in his place ... they'll rally. They're coming off a tough loss. They played very well without him. I don't think they'll skip a beat in that respect."
The suspension also increases the role for Brendon Lavender, whose hot shooting could be of high value with a short bench and the loss of Turner's 6.8 points per game.