During the Arizona Wildcats' exhibition win against Cal Poly Pomona on Sunday night, one thing stood out with Sean Miller's substitution patterns.
Arizona played all of its eligible scholarship players except one: 2014 National JUCO Player of the Year Kadeem Allen.
Miller addressed that after the game.
"We're debating right now on potentially redshirting him", Miller explained. "I know we could have played him and still redshirted him, but we're working towards that. We don't have to make that decision until Friday. But for the reasons that we decide to redshirt him, he can't play in any regular season games."
Allen is a junior as far as his eligibility goes, so if he is redshirted this year, there is the potential for him to play the next two seasons at Arizona, which would seem more beneficial for him and the program.
"I think for Kadeem's total career, and what we have on this year's team, I think that if we didn't redshirt him, we may not be putting him in the best position to be a really good player at Arizona, to leave with his degree and some things that could be very meaningful for him."
"It's not as if he's lagging behind," Miller continued. "It's just that you can only play so many players and looking at the team that we have, one of these guys will get an extra year that they would have never gotten if we didn't choose to do this."
Last season, while at Hutchinson CC, Allen was second in the country in scoring, averaging 25.9 points per game. He also averaged 5.9 assists and 2.3 steals a game. And he put up the first two triple-doubles in the history of the program, and set a new school record with 13 30-point games.
There's still a week for Allen's status to change, but it doesn't seem like we will see him on the floor for the 2014-15 season.
"We'll take this week to look and see and then potentially make that decision next weekend," coach added. "He's really okay with it, because I think he understands that not next year, but the year after, to be here for three years in our strength and conditioning program. The thing about him is he practices every day. He's going to end up being in a place in our program that maybe he wouldn't have gotten to if he didn't redshirt."
And then Miller made a pretty flattering comparison to former Maryland Terrapin Juan Dixon.
"I know that's a blast from the past in the ACC," coach said smiling. "He was a guy that followed that path at Maryland. In his first year, they sat him out, and look at where he ended. I think Kadeem has that kind of talent and upside."
This means that Elliott Pitts will retain that role of taking over at guard whenever Gabe York and Stanley Johnson are both out of the game for various reasons.
"I think Elliott is a valuable member of this team, and I think his role could grow as he settles in," coach explained. "We have a number of guys no question that could have very good seasons."